Songcatcher

One thing about belonging to an online DVD rental club is you come across movies you never heard of, so you take a chance on putting them in your selection list and hope for the best.

I really didn't know what Songcatcher would be about because the brief description/synopsis mentioned it was set in the 1910s and I love period movies. It seemed charming so I took a chance. I wasn't disappointed!

The feel and flavor of the movie reminded me a lot of the short-lived TV series of Christy that was adapted from the novel by the same name, written by Catherine Marshall.

The main character goes into the deep mountains to be with her schoolteacher sister who has set up a school to educate the mountain children. Much to our main character's surprise, who has a doctorate in music, she discovers the mountaineers have carried with them through the generations the old love ballads of their native Scotland and England.

She takes to scientifically recording as many songs as she can acquire from the hesitant mountain folk. Everything seems to be going well for her until it is discovered by two of the mountain men that her sister is seen kissing the other schoolteacher who helped establish the school. The ignorant men burn down the school and in the fire all of the songs are lost.

By then our main character is ready to leave the mountain and return to the life of the outlanders. Her plan is to take her newly found love who sings and plays banjo and guitar and they will sell recordings to people who are finding all things from the mountain people to be quaint and charming.

The songs are sung similarly to those popularized in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and have a catchy quality to them. So check out the movie. I think you will enjoy it!