get cvs log to show nothing if a file isn't on a branch?

[Tyler]

I'm using cvs log to aggregate logs of what has gone into a specific
build (determined by datespec). I'm only interested in one branch at a
time. The log invocation is something like this:

cvs -q log -N -r$BRANCH -d "$DATE1<$DATE2"

The problem is that if a file doesn't exist on $BRANCH (like it was
added to the trunk sometime after the branch was cut), cvs log returns
that file's entire history.

I can't actually imagine a scenario where you'd want the entire history
for a file just because it doesn't meet your filtering criteria.
I'm most willing to accept that it's because rlog is old and was written
in the halcyon days of heavy cocaine use amongst UNIX developers. 

But is there a way to suppress this behavior? Am i going to have to add
logic that looks at all the tags associated with the file and ignores
cvs log's output if $BRANCH doesn't show up there? Is there an easier
way?

TIA,
tyler