LA NUIT AMERICAINE / UNE BELLE FILLE COMME MOI

In collaboration with Warner Chappell Music France, Music Box Records presents for the first time on CD the two original soundtracks composed and conducted by Georges Delerue for films by Francois Truffaut: La Nuit americaine (Day for Night, 1973) and Une belle fille comme moi (A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, 1972).

With La Nuit americaine, Georges Delerue reunites with Francois Truffaut two years after Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent (Two English Girls, 1971). For the film, the composer wrote one of the most emblematic pieces of his career and of his collaboration with the director: Grand Choral. Built through successive instrumental layers that converge toward a harmonic climax, this Baroque-inspired theme evokes the successive stages of filmmaking and creates an effective contrast with the contemporary action. A landmark in Truffaut’s career, the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1974. The score, previously available only as a few excerpts in various compilations, is finally presented here in full.

Shot in 1972, Une belle fille comme moi is a humorous crime comedy starring Bernadette Lafont alongside Charles Denner, Guy Marchand, Claude Brasseur, Philippe Leotard, and Andre Dussollier in his first major screen role. Delerue composed a main theme for banjo, in a lightly country style, that perfectly captures the lively and unpredictable Camille. He also wrote numerous lively pieces for strings and provided the budding romance between Stanislas and Camille with a broad lyrical theme. This reissue includes numerous previously unreleased tracks compared with earlier CD editions, allowing a full rediscovery of one of Georges Delerue’s most inventive and colorful scores.

Remastered by Christophe Henault from the master tapes courtesy of the composer’s archives - the only sources available to date - this edition offers for the first time a substantially expanded version of both scores. It provides a fine showcase of the grace, delicacy, and musical humour so characteristic of Georges Delerue. The album includes a 12-page booklet featuring exclusive liner notes by writer Sylvain Pfeffer discussing the films and the scores. The CD release is limited to 1000 units.

LA NUIT AMERICAINE (1973)
1. La Nuit americaine (1:47)
2. Amours fragiles (1:51)
3. Tournage vu du ciel (0:41)
4. Entre deux vols (0:55)
5. En route pour le tournage (1:20)
6. Grand Choral (2:23)
7. Reve de cinema (1:45)
8. La Victorine (2:08)
9. Alphonse et Stacey (2:13)
10. Les acteurs sont vulnerables (2:25)
11. Moviola (1:03)
12. Scene deguisement (1:20)
13. Pamela (0:58)
14. Les rushes (0:59)
15. Mauvaises nouvelles (1:01)
16. Clap de fin (1:17)
17. Repetition (3:51)
Time: 28:41

UNE BELLE FILLE COMME MOI (1972)
18. Une belle fille comme moi (Generique) (1:51)
19. Une belle fille comme moi (version courte) (2:07) - Performed by Bernadette Lafont
20. Les femmes criminelles (2:34)
21. Clovis et la vieille Isobel (1:46)
22. Madame Sam Golden (1:49)
23. Stanislas sous le charme (1:20)
24. Arthur, le deratiseur (2:48)
25. Camille ouvre le gaz (1:43)
26. French cancan (1:52)
27. Arthur sauve Clovis et Murenne (2:33)
28. Stanislas courtise Camille (0:58)
29. La preuve (1:35)
30. Revelations (1:14)
31. Une belle fille comme moi (Generique fin) (0:49)
32. Generique debut (version alternative) (1:45)
33. Les publicites (1:34)
34. Sam’s Song (2:46) - Performed by Guy Marchand
35. Une belle fille comme moi (2:41) - Performed by Bernadette Lafont
Time: 34:29
Total Time: 63:13