This Portuguese three-CD boxed set seems to be drawn, for the most part, from the actual soundtracks of Hollywood films released between the 1930s and the early '50s. European copyright law places recordings more than 50 years old in the public domain, so the 2001 set cuts off strictly at the start of the '50s. This is, therefore, an unauthorized, if not technically illegal set, and "buyer beware" reservations apply. Sound quality is variable; most of the tracks are in mono, some muffled, although there are occasional stereo recordings, suggesting that the compilers have simply lifted a track from one of Rhino/Turner's compilations of MGM movie soundtracks. Since the material is mostly taken from the films themselves, the performances are sometimes incomplete, conforming to the dramatic dictates of the onscreen story. For example, Betty Grable's rendition of "I Can't Begin to Tell You" from The Dolly Sisters is little more than a fragment imbedded in a scene with plenty of dialogue, and, oddly, also included on the track is a big piece of the next scene, which doesn't feature Grable or the song at all. The album's sparse annotations often fail to credit prominent male performers joining the women who are the album's reason for being. For example, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter is really a duet between Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams, not a Williams solo, and "Paducah" from The Gang's All Here begins with the clarinet and lead vocals of an uncredited Benny Goodman before giving way to Carmen Miranda. So, this is a sloppily edited, random gathering of film music (and it could have fit on two CDs instead of three), but it contains performances by many of the major female musical stars of the golden age of Hollywood movies, and it is relatively inexpensive. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide