Strictly Dishonorable ** (1951, Ezio Pinza, Janet Leigh) – Classic Movie Review 13,440

The 1951 MGM romantic comedy film Strictly Dishonorable is based on the 1929 hit Broadway play by Preston Sturges, and stars Italian opera singer Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh.

Writer/ producer/ directors Norman Panama and Melvin Frank’s 1951 MGM romantic comedy film Strictly Dishonorable is based on the 1929 hit Broadway play by Preston Sturges, and stars Italian opera singer Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh.

American girl Isabelle Perry (Leigh), a naïve music student from Mississippi, is deeply infatuated with an Italian singer, amorous opera star Count Augustino ‘Gus’ Caraffa (Pinza), who weds her to maintain her honour after a news photographer catches them having a kiss.

This heavy-handed comedy is reliant on a very slim plot, dubious tatty racial stereotypes, and the undoubted appeal of the lovely young Leigh and of Pinza, the tuneful but unsuccessful star of four films in Hollywood, though hugely successful star of New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera,.

Janet Leigh.

There are admittedly a few laughs, but sadly almost no wit is to be found in this generally unfortunate, none too honorable, bowdlerised Hollywood version of a clever play from the pen of Preston Sturges. However, it is maybe worth a look for Pinza and Leigh.

It was MGM’s second film with Ezio Pinza, but released first, and flopped, recording a loss of $664,000. After Mr Imperium (1951) also bombed, MGM cancelled Ezio Pinza’s contract. Pinza went on to make only one more film, Tonight We Sing (1953), this time for 20th Century Fox. He had previously appeared as himself in the 1947 film Carnegie Hall.

It is the second film based on Preston Sturges’s play, following Universal Pictures’ 1931 film Strictly Dishonorable. Sturges pitched the idea of a film remake of his play with Ezio Pinza to MGM, who paid him $60,000 for the rights, but refused to hire him to write the screenplay.

It was shot from mid-January to mid-March 1951 and released on 3 July 1951.

Ezio Fortunato Pinza (May 18, 1892 – May 9, 1957).

Ezio Pinza (May 18, 1892 – May 9, 1957) enjoyed 22 seasons at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and 20 seasons from 1927 to 1948 at the San Francisco Opera, He also sang to great acclaim at La Scala, Milan, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

The cast

The cast are Ezio Pinza as Count Augustino ‘Gus’ Caraffa, Janet Leigh as Isabelle Perry, Millard Mitchell as Bill Dempsey, Gale Robbins as Marie Donnelly, Maria Palmer as Countess Lili Szadvany, Esther Minciotti as Mme Maria Caraffa, Silvio Minciotti as Uncle Nito, Arthur Franz as Henry Greene, Sandro Giglio as Tomasso, Hugh Sanders as Harry Donnelly, Mario Siletti as Luigi, Millard Mitchell. Gale Robbins, Maurice Cass, Ken Christy, Jack Daley, Bert Davidson, Charles Evans, Beverly Garland, Alex Gerry, Frank Gerstle, Inez Gorman, William E Green, Wally Maher, Carl Milletaire, Bert Roach, James Seay, Cecil Stewart, Clarence Straight, and Renata Vanni.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,440

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