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The Great Caruso

  • 1951
  • Approved
  • 1h 49m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
Ann Blyth and Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso (1951)
This film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to one, because he sings; to Dorothy's, because he is a peasant.
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The film explores the life of tenor Enrico Caruso, a vocalist who faces rejection from Musetta and Dorothy, and struggles to find acceptance in New York.The film explores the life of tenor Enrico Caruso, a vocalist who faces rejection from Musetta and Dorothy, and struggles to find acceptance in New York.The film explores the life of tenor Enrico Caruso, a vocalist who faces rejection from Musetta and Dorothy, and struggles to find acceptance in New York.

  • Director
    • Richard Thorpe
  • Writers
    • Sonya Levien
    • William Ludwig
    • Dorothy Caruso
  • Stars
    • Mario Lanza
    • Ann Blyth
    • Dorothy Kirsten
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    1.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Richard Thorpe
    • Writers
      • Sonya Levien
      • William Ludwig
      • Dorothy Caruso
    • Stars
      • Mario Lanza
      • Ann Blyth
      • Dorothy Kirsten
    • 34User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 4 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos1

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    Trailer 2:59
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    Photos40

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    Top cast99+

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    Mario Lanza
    Mario Lanza
    • Enrico Caruso
    Ann Blyth
    Ann Blyth
    • Dorothy Benjamin
    Dorothy Kirsten
    Dorothy Kirsten
    • Louise Heggar
    Jarmila Novotna
    Jarmila Novotna
    • Maria Selka
    Richard Hageman
    • Carlo Santi
    Carl Benton Reid
    Carl Benton Reid
    • Park Benjamin
    Eduard Franz
    Eduard Franz
    • Giulio Gatti-Casazza
    Ludwig Donath
    Ludwig Donath
    • Alfredo Brazzi
    Alan Napier
    Alan Napier
    • Jean de Reszke
    Pál Jávor
    Pál Jávor
    • Antonio Scotti
    • (as Paul Javor)
    Carl Milletaire
    • Gino
    Shepard Menken
    • Fucito
    Vincent Renno
    • Tullio
    Nestor Paiva
    Nestor Paiva
    • Egisto Barretto
    Peter Price
    • Caruso (as boy)
    • (as Peter Edward Price)
    Mario Siletti
    Mario Siletti
    • Papa Caruso
    Angela Clarke
    Angela Clarke
    • Mama Caruso
    Ian Wolfe
    Ian Wolfe
    • Hutchins
    • Director
      • Richard Thorpe
    • Writers
      • Sonya Levien
      • William Ludwig
      • Dorothy Caruso
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews34

    6.51.5K
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    Featured reviews

    didi-5

    engaging opera biography

    By far the best thing about 'The Great Caruso' is not its stodgy script or its slightly silly plot (not very likely that much of this equates to the true story of Enrico Caruso, the first opera star to have his voice immortalised for all time), but the first rate singing throughout. Mario Lanza of course was a great asset to MGM through the late 1940s and early 1950s, with a fabulous voice and an attractive personality on the screen. This film also gives us the opportunity to see the lovely Dorothy Kirsten, who seems to have made very few films, and a sweet performance from Ann Blyth as the main love interest for Caruso.

    We watch the young Enrico (played with charm by Peter Edward Price) grow into an enterprising young man who realises his voice is potentially his fortune. As the young talent flourishes and develops we follow his rise to fame through to his eventual inevitable ending. I didn't get much sense that the character we were seeing in this film was 'Caruso'; having heard his recordings he projected a very different personality than that we see in Lanza; still, this production is entertaining enough.
    patlong

    Excellent!!!!! Lanza was & still is the greatest!!!!

    I remember seeing The Great Caruso at a Cinema in Melbourne when I was 9 & I've never forgotten it!!!! Unfortunately they don't make movies like that anymore. Ironically that same theatre was where they had the Melbourne Premier of Mario's last film For The First Time on October 7th 1959 the day that Mario Lanza died. I beleive that I speak for most Mario fans around the world, when I say that Mario Lanza was the greatest tenor of them all!!!! I say that with all due respects to Pavartti Carrears & Domingo & many others. I'll never forget you Mario!!!!!
    BobLib

    Magnificent Mario at his best!

    Let me just say this, and then feel free to comment: I truly don't think that the late, great Mario Lanza ever had a better cinematic vehicle for his talents than "The Great Caruso." His larger than life personality and magnificent voice were never better served than here.

    Like Caruso before him, and long before the Three Tenors and Andrea Bocelli, Lanza became THE tenor superstar of his generation. If there is anyone who wants to know why, just listen to him sing some of the magnificent arias in this film. "Cielo e Mar," "E Lucevan le stelle," and especially his matchless "Vesti la Giubba," are evidence enough that Lanza could, indeed, have become bigger than Caruso, had not his excesses caught up with him at such a young age.

    I have just a couple of negative comments to insert here. First, the plot, while it makes for a good story, actually has very little to do with Caruso's life (Read Enrico Caruso Jr.'s "Caruso: My Father and My Family" for a good, readable biography. He even compliments Lanza and his performance!). For one thing, Caruso didn't die on stage, but several months after that last performance at the Metropolitan. Second, the "Italian" mannerisms in this movie are straight out of the Henry Armetta/"Life with Luigi" school, stereotyped to the hilt.

    But, given the overall scheme of things, these are relatively minor complaints. As to the rest, I say that, for those of you who've never heard Lanza and wonder why he was so great, this film will give you ample proof. For those of you who were there when Lanza was in his prime, here's a chance to live it all over again. A great film, and a matchless tribute to TWO of the legendary voices of our time.
    TxMike

    "A man thinks he owns a voice, but the voice owns him. Whenever he wants to be somewhere, the voice requires him to be somewhere else."

    "The Great Caruso" is truly a magnificent movie. Mario Lanza does the role flawlessly, and his singing is in top form. Throughout he is depicted as a thoughtful person who went out of his way to be kind and helpful to others. Like playing Santa Claus the first night on his return to NY after a world tour. Or giving jobs to friends who had fallen on hard times. My favorite scene is where he proposes to Doro, his expressions as he pleads with her to say something, then her saying "I loved you from the first moment you sang." Ann Blyth was beautiful as his love interest. All the operatic production numbers are first-rate. I can easily see why Mario Lanza was so popular.
    9bkoganbing

    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.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      This was the next-to-last completed MGM film under Louis B. Mayer's supervision (the last was Show Boat (1951), released in the summer of that year). A proxy fight soon after would see him removed as the head of the studio he helped to found. He was replaced by his former chief of production, Dore Schary. Mayer ran MGM for 27 years, Schary for barely 6.
    • Goofs
      Opening credits: The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms is purely coincidental. Says it ALL.
    • Quotes

      Enrico Caruso: It is true, Señor Barretto, that right now I sing for pennies. Pennies are not very important in a big house like this. But the singing, that is important everywhere. It makes people feel good inside, takes away the ugliness, the sadness, and it fills the empty place here. That too is something Señor, isn't it?

    • Crazy credits
      Opening credits: The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms is purely coincidental.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (1951)
    • Soundtracks
      The Loveliest Night of the Year
      Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

      Music adaptation by Irving Aaronson

      Also performed by Ann Blyth (uncredited)

      Adapted from "Sobre las olas" (uncredited)

      Music by Juventino Rosas

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 17, 1951 (Australia)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Der große Caruso
    • Filming locations
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA(studio: made in Hollywood, U.S.A.)
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 49 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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