Starring Mario Lanza, Vincent Price, Joan Fontaine, and Sara Montiel
Directed by Anthony Mann
Music and Lyrics by various
Lanza's temperamental and erratic behavior on the set of Because You're Mine didn't make him popular with pretty much anyone on the MGM lot. His difficulty with his ballooning weight and his temperament ultimately cost him the title role in the operetta The Student Prince, where he had the indignity of dubbing another actor. Warners picked him up when MGM put him on suspension and tossed him into this cauldron of opera sequences and overheated melodrama. They also gave him the up-and-coming Mann as a director, a James M. Cahn story, and Fontaine and Price, two of the biggest actors in Hollywood, in the cast. How does an opera singer's affair with an older socialite look today? Let's begin at the grape vines of Napa Valley, California, where one young opera hopeful is about to get a job that will change his life, and find out...
The Story: Damon Vinceni (Lanza) gets a job at a local restaurant known for hiring opera hopefuls. It's here that he meets socialite and producer Kendall Hale (Fontaine) and her companion Charles Winthrop (Price). She tags him for an opera star the moment she sees him. He gets singing lessons she paid for and, with their help and hers, is able to make his debut at the San Francisco opera. He truly loves Kendall, but she's known for being fickle. When she turns her attention to handsome young sculptor Marco Roselli (Vince Edwards), he has a nervous breakdown and walks off-stage during a performance of Otello.
Traveling to Mexico to recover and regain his voice, he falls for beautiful bullfighter's daughter Juana Montes (Montiel) and marries her. His manager Tonio (Harry Bellaver) calls him back to perform at that same local restaurant again. Damon brings Juana, but she feels out of place among San Francisco's opera elite. She thinks she's lost him when Kendall and the San Francisco opera seemingly take him back. It's not until tragedy strikes and Damon almost loses Juana that he finally realizes which woman he truly cares about.
The Song and Dance: Lanza and Fontaine make a surprisingly sharp couple in this operatic melodrama. Her brittle sass helps cut through his temperamental bravado. Vincent Price plays off both of them beautifully as the sarcastic friend caught in the middle of their tryst. Gorgeous costumes (especially in the opera sequences) and vivid cinematography of the real Mexico helps ground the romance. Mann, mostly known for his action movies, does manage the occasional interesting touches, once again mostly during Damon's sojourn in Mexico.
The Numbers: We open at the vineyard, with Damon singing "Nessun Dorma" to the other workers while driving a tractor. "Dio Ti Giocondi" from Otello is his number at the restaurant. He sings "Serenade" and "My Destiny" for Kendall and Charles. We get "Il Mio Tesoro" from Don Giovanni at singing practice, then a lovely "Ave Maria." Next up is a montage of Damon's great opera roles, including the Italian Tenor Aria from "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Di Quella Pira" from "Il Trovotore." The Otello number is reprised...but not finished before Damon walks off the stage in frustration. "Tono a Surrento" is Damon's big number in Mexico after he's recovered his voice and married Juana. "O Paradiso" is his number at the nightclub after he gets his job back there. He sings "O Soave Faniculla" from La Boheme before tragedy strikes. We end the movie with him reprising the title song onstage.
What I Don't Like: Not only is this overheated melodramatic mush, but it apparently doesn't have much to do with the James M. Cain book that inspired it. There, the impresario and socialite is male and gay, Damon is far less ethnic, and the Mexican woman he falls for is a prostitute who wants to open a brothel for him. The movie is also way beyond too long at over two hours. This load of operatic hogwash barely has enough going on for one hour, let alone two. Montiel lacks the charisma of her co-stars, coming off as bland rather than young and passionate.
The Big Finale: Unless you really love Lanza, I'd leave this one stranded onstage. You're better off looking for the film's soundtrack instead.
Home Media: Once again, easily found on streaming and DVD, the latter from the Warmer Archives.
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