 | This movie can truly be called life-changing. It certainly changed my life; I was quite ignorant of opera before a chance viewing of the film on television introduced me to this greatest of all musical genres. As it turned out, I was in illustrious company! For the number of singers inspired by this movie includes many of the biggest operatic stars of the last 30 years: Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti, Leech, Hadley, and Alagna – to name but a few.
It¡¯s easy to pinpoint the reason for The Great Caruso¡¯s lasting impact: Lanza. His vibrant personality dominates every one of his scenes, and his singing is for the most part perfection itself. He is the film. This is, after all, a movie that is neither distinguished directorially nor in terms of its screenplay. Its scenario frankly bears little resemblance to the real Caruso's life, and the film is unashamedly corny in the grand tradition of Hollywood musicals. And yet none of this gets in the way of what Caruso¡¯s own son, Enrico Jr, called ¡°vocally and musically [...] a thrilling motion picture.¡± The success of the film, Enrico Jr, went on to declare, was due entirely to Lanza.
Essentially the film provides Mario with a solid framework against which to sing some of the greatest arias, duets and ensembles that have ever graced a single movie. He¡¯s assisted by a who¡¯s who of operatic talent: mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom, baritone Giuseppe Valdengo, bass Nicola Moscona, tenor Gilbert Russell, and sopranos Dorothy Kirsten, Marina Koshetz, Lucine Amara, and Olive May Beach. (Oddly, MGM failed to credit some of these singers, and at the same time deleted a fascinating rehearsal scene from Rigoletto with soprano Jarmila Novotna.)
Vocally and stylistically, Lanza is in brilliant form, producing the most ravishing singing of his three films to date. Solo highlights include a fine La Danza, a superb Vesti la Giubba, exciting snippets of Cielo e Mar and the second half of Che Gelida Manina, his best version of the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria, and the most rapturous of his four known renditions of Because. Among the duet and ensemble work the Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor, extracts from the Santuzza/Turiddu duet from Cavalleria Rusticana, the Quartet from Rigoletto, and the Finale from Marta - meltingly phrased by Lanza - stand out. (¡°The singingest movie ever made,¡± enthused one movie historian.)
The distinguished Austrian character actor Ludwig Donath provides excellent acting support as Mario¡¯s manager, while Dorothy Kirsten and Ann Blyth are the nominal leading ladies. In her only film appearance, Miss Kirsten is wooden as an actress, but acquits herself well in the singing department. Ann Blyth is an endearing Dorothy Caruso. As an actor, Lanza does what he can with the vignette-like nature of the script, capturing – as Newsweek observed – the ¡°personal mannerisms of the immortal Caruso¡±. While some commentators have complained that Mario¡¯s Italian accent in the film seems to come and go; in fact, his sporadic adoption of a ¡°foreign¡± accent makes sense, since he only employs it when he is speaking in English. At other times, when his character is supposedly speaking in Italian to his fellow countrymen, he drops the accent. Logical!
The Great Caruso loses none of its magic on repeat viewings. Pavarotti has said that he watches it ¡°every year¡± – true testament indeed to the enduring genius of Lanza. As Enrico Caruso, Jr wrote some 20 years ago, ¡°I can think of no other tenor, before or since Mario Lanza, who could have risen with comparable success to the challenge of playing Caruso in a screen biography.¡±
Well said, Enrico Jnr, and viva il grande Lanza!
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