The Great Caruso

The Great Caruso

Original film poster
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Produced by Joe Pasternak
Written by William Ludwig
Starring Mario Lanza
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • April 16, 1951 (1951-04-16)
Running time
109 mins
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,853,000[1]
Box office $9,269,000[1]

The Great Caruso is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Mario Lanza as Enrico Caruso. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenplay by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig. The original music was by Johnny Green and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. Costume design was by Helen Rose and Gile Steele.

The film is a highly fictionalized biography of the life of Caruso.

Cast

The film also features a large number of Metropolitan Opera stars, notably sopranos Teresa Celli, Lucine Amara and Marina Koshetz, mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom, baritone Giuseppe Valdengo and bass Nicola Moscona.

Factual discrepancies

The film, while following the basic facts of Caruso's life, is largely fictional. The Caruso family successfully sued MGM for damages because of this. Here are a few of the factual discrepancies:

Reception

Box Office

The Great Caruso was a massive commercial success. According to MGM records it made $4,309,000 in the US and Canada and $4,960,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $3,977,000.[1] It was the studio's biggest success of the year and the most popular movie at the British box office in 1951.[2]

Critics

Newsweek wrote that, "Lanza brings to the role not only a fine, natural and remarkably powerful voice, but a physique and personal mannerisms reminiscent of the immortal Caruso." According to Bosley Crowther, the film is "perhaps the most elaborate 'pops' concert ever played upon the screen"; Blyth's voice is "reedy" but "Lanza has an excellent young tenor voice and...uses it in his many numbers with impressive dramatic power. Likewise, Miss Kirsten and Miss Thebom are ladies who can rock the welkin, too, and their contributions to the concert maintain it at a musical high." Crowther says "All of the silliest, sappiest clichés of musical biography have been written by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig into the script. And Richard Thorpe has directed in a comparably mawkish, bathetic style."[3]

Nearly 40 years after its release, Caruso's son, Enrico Jr. reminisced that, "Vocally and musically The Great Caruso ...has helped many young people discover opera and even become singers themselves."He added that, "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." The film has also been cited by tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras as having been an inspiration for them when they were growing up and aspiring to become singers.

Awards

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards; at the 24th Academy Awards ceremony, Douglas Shearer and the MGM Studio Sound Department won for Best Sound.[4] The film was also Oscar-nominated for its costume design and its score.

Soundtrack

A tie-in record album, also called The Great Caruso was issued by RCA Victor on the 45, 78 RPM and LP formats. The album featured eight popular opera arias sung by Lanza, accompanied by Constantine Callinicos conducting the RCA Victor Orchestra. It was the first operatic LP to sell over one million copies and remained continuously available after its original 1951 release. It was reissued by RCA Victor on compact disc in 1989.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. "Vivien Leigh Actress Of The Year.". Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld.: National Library of Australia). 29 December 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  3. Crowther, Bosley (May 11, 1951). "Great Caruso Makes Its Debut". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  4. "The 24th Academy Awards (1952) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
Bibliography

External links

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