The Great Caruso (1951)

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writer:

William Ludwig (suggested by book "Biography of her Husband" by Dorothy Caruso)

Release Date:

16 April 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

The Intimate Story of a Man with a Voice as Great as His Heart!

Plot:

Loosely traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples...

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Tenor | Beautiful Woman | Loss Of Mother | Fame

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Mario Lanza	...	Enrico Caruso
Ann Blyth	...	Dorothy Benjamin
Dorothy Kirsten	...	Louise Heggar
Jarmila Novotna	...	Maria Selka
Richard Hageman	...	Carlo Santi
Carl Benton Reid	...	Park Benjamin
Eduard Franz	...	Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Ludwig Donath	...	Alfredo Brazzi
Alan Napier	...	Jean de Reszke
Pál Jávor	...	Antonio Scotti (as Paul Javor)
Carl Milletaire	...	Gino
Shepard Menken	...	Fucito
Vincent Renno	...	Tullio
Nestor Paiva	...	Egisto Barretto
Peter Price	...	Caruso as a boy (as Peter Edward Price)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1972)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In October 1951, MGM was distributing this film on the drive-in theater circuit on a double bill with the Lassie movie The Painted Hills (1951).

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Ultimate Film (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Recitativo

The Centerpiece of Mario Lanza's Career

Since musicals have both gone out of fashion and are incredibly expensive to make without all the talent needed to make one under contract to a studio, I doubt we will ever get a real life story of Enrico Caruso.

But if everything else was in place it was no accident that no Hollywood studio attempted the task until Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had Mario Lanza under contract. No one else could have done it, I doubt whether it will ever be tried again.

And why should it. I think Enrico Caruso himself would have been satisfied as to how his singing was portrayed on screen. For his tenor voice was his life, his reason for being on the earth.

To say that liberties were taken with his life is to be modest. Caruso, like the man who portrayed him, was a man of large appetites although with a lot more self discipline. He had numerous relationships with several women and fathered two out of wedlock sons who are not in this film.

His contribution to the recording industry is treated as almost an afterthought. He's shown in a recording studio once late in his life. Actually he started recording right around the turn of the last century and together with Irish tenor John McCormack for RCA Victor made the recording industry what it became.

When Caruso and McCormack were at their heights you had to practically inherit a ticket to see either of them perform live. But a lot of immigrant Italian and Irish families had a phonograph and a record or three of either of these men. It's why both became the legends that they are.

What the film does have is some beautifully staged operatic arias done by Mario Lanza, a taste of what he might have become had he the discipline of a Caruso to stick to opera. The Great Caruso won an Oscar for sound recording and received nominations for costume and set design.

Mario himself helped popularize the film with an RCA Red Seal album of songs from The Great Caruso. Unfortunately due to contractual obligations we couldn't get an actual cast album with Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, and Jarmila Novotna also.

Though Blyth sang it in the film, Lanza had a big hit recording of The Loveliest Night of the Year further helping to popularize The Great Caruso.

If you're looking for a life of Enrico Caruso, this ain't it. If you are looking for a great artist singing at the height of his career, than you should not miss The Great Caruso.