The Great Caruso *** (1951, Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten) – Classic Movie Review 10,217

MGM’s 1951 Technicolor musical drama The Great Caruso stars Mario Lanza in a quasi-biopic that depicts the life of the great Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) in typically distorted Hollywood fashion.

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1951 MGM Technicolor musical drama The Great Caruso stars Mario Lanza in a quasi-biopic that depicts the life of the great Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) in typical distorted Hollywood fashion. The family sued MGM and won.

The film won an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording (Douglas Shearer) and was nominated for Best Costume Design, Color (Helen Rose, Gile Steele) and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (Johnny Green and Peter Herman Adler).

The poverty-to-wealth story, in which the son of a poor Italian peasant family, loves Musetta Barretto (Yvette Duguay) in his home town of Naples, and then after an initial struggle, rises to worldwide fame and marries the beautiful, rich young woman Dorothy Benjamin, (Ann Blyth), the daughter of Park Benjamin (Carl Benton Reid), one of the Metropolitan Opera’s patrons, distorts the less colourful aspects of the real Caruso’s life.

The screen story follows the basic facts of Caruso’s life but many of the characters and incidents are fictional. So Caruso family members in Italy were able to sue MGM and gain damages, and the studio was ordered to withdraw the film in Italy temporarily.

However, music lovers will certainly enjoy the 27 songs and operatic excerpts beautifully sung by Lanza, with stars from the Met, and with outstanding work on the musical direction by Johnny Green (composer background score / musical supervisor) and Peter Herman Adler (conductor operatic numbers).

For the real thing, many of Caruso’s recordings are available and now beautifully restored, as he was, happily, one of the first singing stars to make gramophone records.

Also in the cast are Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Carl Benton Reid, Eduard Franz, Richard Hageman, Ludwig Donath, Alan Napier, Paul Javor, Carl Milletaire, Shepard Menken, Vincent Renno and Nestor Paiva.

The Great Caruso is written by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig, suggested by Dorothy Caruso’s biography of her late husband, Enrico Caruso His Life and Death. However, the opening credits state: ‘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.’ So, the film is a highly fictionalised take on the life of Caruso, though, yes, it still does follow the basic facts of Caruso’s life.

The cinematography is by Joseph Ruttenberg and the costume design is by Helen Rose and Gile Steele.

The conductor Richard Hageman, who plays Carlo Santi, knew Caruso and led performances with him at the Metropolitan Opera, including the 1918 War Relief Benefit re-created in the film.

It was a was a massive box-office hit and led Ann Blyth to leave her studio Universal and sign a long-term contract with MGM in December 1952. She was meant to be reteamed with Lanza in The Student Prince (1954), but he was fired by MGM and replaced Edmund Purdom.

The box office was $9,269,000 against a budget of $1,853,000, and MGM couldn’t believe their luck, scoring their biggest hit in 1951. Perhaps more surprisingly, it was the most popular film at the British box office in 1951.

Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928).

Ann Blyth was born on 16 August 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York. Her last film was the title role in The Helen Morgan Story (1957) directed by Michael Curtiz, co-starring Paul Newman. She officially retired after appearing in Murder, She Wrote in 1985.

The cast are Mario Lanza as Enrico Caruso, Ann Blyth as Dorothy Park Benjamin, Dorothy Kirsten as Louise Heggar, Jarmila Novotna as Maria Selka, Ludwig Donath as Alfredo Brazzi, Carl Benton Reid as Park Benjamin, Eduard Franz as Giulio Gatti-Casazza, Pál Jávor as Antonio Scotti, Alan Napier as Jean De Reszke, Shepard Menken as Fucito, Carl Milletaire as Gino, Vincent Renno as Tullio, Nestor Paiva as Egisto Barretto, Argentina Brunetti as Signora Barretto, Yvette Duguay as Musetta Barretto, Ian Wolfe as Hutchins, Richard Hageman as opera conductor Carlo Santi, Peter Edward Price as Caruso as a boy, Angela Clarke as Mama Caruso, Mario Siletti as Papa Caruso, and Peter Brocco as Father Bronzetti.

The Great Caruso is directed by Richard Thorpe, runs 109 minutes, is made by MGM, is released by Loew’s Inc, is written by William Ludwig, is shot in Technicolor by Joseph Ruttenberg, is produced by Joe Pasternak, and is scored by Johnny Green.

Release date: April 27, 1951.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,217

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