At a time when
Barry Manilow can top the charts singing pop songs of the 1950s and
Rod Stewart can sell millions covering the Great American Songbook, it's no wonder that others would try their hand. French film and TV actress
Arielle Dombasle, who was actually raised in Mexico, went after South of the Border pre-rock pop standards on her 2004 set Amor Amor (released in the U.S. earlier in 2006); here, she takes on quasi-French material of the 1930s-1950s like
Cole Porter's "C'Est Magnifique" and the
Doris Day hit "Que Sera Sera." In fact, she seems to have a thing for her cinematic predecessors, giving listeners her own versions of songs -- delivered in a heavily accented, keening, birdlike voice -- introduced by the likes of
Ginger Rogers,
Marlene Dietrich, and even
Carmen Miranda. ~ William Ruhlmann