MovieChat Forums > I Need To Know > Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FORE...

Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FOREVER AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY]


I'm sure somebody has posted about this before because it's seemingly such a big mystery (see http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/forum/displayquestion.php?topicid=7598, http://en.allexperts.com/q/Classic-Film-2786/Cole-Porter-Sleuth-movie.htm, and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/board/thread/10107549), so, if there is another thread about this, it would help me a great deal if someone can post a link to it.

The mystery is that just about no one seems to know who sang three Cole Porter songs--"Just One of Those Things," "You Do Something to Me," and "Anything Goes"--in the movie Sleuth (1972). Here's a link to a video of Laurence Olivier's character dancing to them in a scene from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_VVr8ScGOc. One would think that by this time someone would have some idea of who sang them, but the identity of the singer just seems a mystery despite some promising leads over the years, none of which have panned out. Even more curiously, there is no singer identified in the end credits, and the three songs did not appear on the movie's soundtrack.


From what I could find, the last time that someone could look into this question was at the website "Soundtrack Collector" on March 5 of this year; the last poster stated that he had found "the exact song" of "Anything Goes" on Amazon Music for $1.29. After checking Amazon Music and looking through/previewing the many different versions of "Anything Goes," I was unable to find the song to which he referred and could not find the version from Sleuth. The poster immediately before him suggested that "You Do Something to Me" was on the soundtrack for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, but, after checking that, I discovered that that version was sung by Frank Luther for Leo Reisman's orchestra, a candidate considered since the beginning--and not the actual singer from Sleuth. The weird thing about the whole thing is that it seems so mysterious. Why should it be so difficult to find who sang three songs? Why wasn't the singer's name in the credits? Why didn't the soundtrack include the songs?


My only guess--and I concede that this is far-fetched--is that it's on purpose. The film is all about tricks, games, mysteries, puzzles, etc., and, unlikely as it sounds, I wonder if director Joseph Mankiewicz and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer made this mysterious singer so hard to find on purpose. That is to say, I wonder if the versions were specially created for the film or put together from other recordings (somehow)--or that it's someone whom we wouldn't suspect of being a singer (someone suggested Michael Caine himself, though I very much doubt it). More likely, of course, no one ever thought that anyone would be trying so hard to find this guy--but that still leaves the above questions unanswered. I apologize for going on so long, but I did want to provide all the background that I could. Thank you all very much--it would be great if someone could finally put this old question to rest!

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The first song is from 1935. By then the style would have been outmoded in both the musical arrangement and the singing.

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Only about half of the original thread is on here, but nevertheless, as the original poster, I'd like to thank whoever created this site for having the foresight and energy to copy a large number of the IMDb posts on here. A few things. If anyone here has any suggestions, the crux of the entire thread is available here: http://imdb2.freeforums.net/thread/1408/singer-sleuth. Also on IMDf and several other "IMDb-esque sites" created in the wake of the forum's deactivation/elimination. I hope someone will be able to come up with an answer some day!

Best,

Salzmank


P.S. I thought I'd also just clarify that all the posts above are wildly out-of-order. The person who didn't know about the "Sleuth" posts on IMDb would be very confused if reading these for the first time!

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I suppose you've tried to reach the producer? They can be accessible. He or she would know.

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Out of interest have you tried to 'Shazam' them?

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@ Louise Bayera

Unfortunately, the producer, Morton Gottlieb, passed away in 2009, and it seems that his company, Palomar Pictures, went with him. I have tried several different ways to find this out because it has fascinated and puzzled many people for years, but no such luck as yet. If you're interested, there's a pretty detailed conversation about it going on here: http://imdb2.freeforums.net/thread/195/singer-sleuth-unsolvable.

@ Helenelisechat

Apologies if I'm ignorant of it, but what's "Shazam"?


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In that case, then, yes! Both someone on the "Soundtrack Collector" forum and I have tried one of those "tell you what the music is" sites. Unfortunately, mine came back with "could not find match," or some such thing, and the other person's came back with Frank Luther's version, which is what we originally thought at first but which has been substantiated is not the version in "Sleuth." WillEd, some of whose posts are above, albeit wildly out-of-order, thought it was Luther's at first before he eventually came to the conclusion that it was somebody singing like Luther in particular. That opinion was verified by two '30s music experts.

I've tried sending e-mails both to the BYU Music Film Archive, which has composer John Addison's papers (Addison wrote the music for "Sleuth"), and Warner Bros. Music Publishing, which is credited in the movie's credits as "by arrangement with." As yet, though, no response from either one.

Thanks for your interest!

Salzmank

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Just chiming in again to let everyone here know I'm still here. I don't know if I'm allowed to link to another site, but https://www.imdbarchive.com/board/p/12213/1/ has the complete archived "Sleuth" board from IMDb, just in case anyone's interested. Any thoughts, recommendations, etc. are very, very welcome!

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Oh goody, another stickler I can search the hell out of...I love it! I will surely let you know IF I happen to find out! 😊

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