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(More customer reviews)Serenade is far and away Mario Lanza's most interesting movie, and has a great deal more going for it than Time Magazine and other habitual Lanza-knockers would care to admit. While undeniably flawed, Serenade contains moments of greatness that redeem its shortcomings, and successive viewings only enhance one's appreciation of this underrated work.
Most people would nominate The Great Caruso as Lanza's best movie, and certainly it's a much more consistent film than Serenade. The Great Caruso also takes far fewer risks, featuring a "safe" choice of familiar operatic standards, and a screenplay that is little more than a series of entertaining vignettes. There is no real dramatic pulse to The Great Caruso at all, with a clichéd script that leaves Lanza few opportunities to flex his acting muscles. On the positive side, the tenor is in exceptionally beautiful voice, and it is this combination of gorgeous vocalism and undeniable charisma that holds the whole thing together so well.
While The Great Caruso would probably be most Lanza aficionados' first choice as an introduction to the tenor, Serenade has so much more meat on its bones that it invariably makes the stronger impression, warts and all.
"I didn't know Lanza could act!" was one friend's response to this movie. And the tenor's acting is one of the big surprises in Serenade. For aside from some superb singing, Lanza succeeds more often than not in a performance that should have been a revelation to moviegoers at the time, accustomed as they were to the tenor's fluffier cinematic vehicles. Not that he was given much credit for his efforts, with some critics preferring to comment on his appearance rather than acknowledge any real acting potential. "He looks like a colossal ravioli set on toothpicks," sneered Time Magazine in a typically mean-spirited and inaccurate review.
To be objective, Lanza's acting does veer towards hamminess at times - a fault which director Anthony Mann should have corrected - but there are many scenes in which he is highly effective. These include those with supporting actor Vincent Price in the role of Lanza's acid-tongued impresario. Interestingly enough, in the novel it is Price's character with whom the singer falls in love initially. In adapting Serenade for the screen, the scenarists retained the implication that Price's character is gay, but transferred the object of Lanza's desire to his wealthy sponsor Kendall Hale, played by Joan Fontaine.
Miss Fontaine would not have been my first choice for the role. Although she oozes vindictiveness, there is little chemistry between her and Lanza - a vital aspect if one is to believe that the tenor is hopelessly infatuated with her. She should positively exude sexual power (a la Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct), but instead she merely seems conniving.
The highlight of the film, both vocally and visually, is the Otello Act III Monologue (Dio! Mi Potevi Scagliar) scene. Superbly filmed with one exception (an unnecessary - and clumsily inserted - "E` la!" from the performer playing Iago), we see the skyscrapers first as the orchestra roars the thunderous opening bars of the Monologue, followed by a sweeping shot inside the opera house that pans from an opened score of Otello to the stage itself, where Lanza is rehearsing Verdi's sublime aria. Everything is superb about his acting and singing here, as he adroitly conveys Otello's inner turmoil, ranging from a resigned weariness to maniacal joy, and concluding with a stunning "O GIOIA!" that must have left cinemagoers dumbstruck by its brilliance. It is an extraordinary scene, and a poignant reminder of what the tenor could have done with the role on stage. "Mr. Lanza never was in better voice," A.H. Weiler of The New York Times would later observe, and Mario's rendition of the Otello Monologue is arguably his greatest operatic achievement. As the critic John Cargher once remarked, the Otello Monologue alone would "assure Lanza of immortality."
Also appearing in the film is the fiery Sarita Montiel in the role of Juana, sanitized here as a famous bullfighter's daughter rather than as the novel's common prostitute.
Montiel is excellent in almost every scene, and restores much of the storyline's credibility. The same cannot be said of Lanza's performance, however, which is frankly uneven in several of the key Mexican scenes between himself and Montiel. Quite possibly he was unsure of himself in the initial stages of filming, but whatever the reason a retake should definitely have been made of the confrontation scene in which Montiel passionately tells him: "You lived through the fever, but your heart is dead!" Clearly nervous here, he overacts - a great pity given the spectacular location filming (in San Miguel de Allende) and atmospheric mood in this scene.
Lanza's Ave Maria redeems everything, however. Looking pale and very overweight, he enters a church where Sarita Montiel is quietly praying. Speaking (conveniently!) in English, her words visibly affect Lanza, and in a very subtle piece of acting, he kneels before the altar and quietly begins Schubert's famous hymn. This is the first time that Montiel's character has heard Lanza sing, and her reaction is beautifully captured. Most impressive of all is the way Lanza looks at her at the conclusion of the piece, breaking her heart (and ours) with his simple dignity and sweetness. It is a magical moment that never fails to move me.
But enough of the plot. I hope I have whetted prospective viewers' appetites for this much-overlooked musical melodrama. Let me end by saying that Serenade is certainly deserving of rediscovery, and that vocally, at least, it is in a class of its own.
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