The great Caruso
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The great Caruso |
| Original title | The Great Caruso |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Thorpe |
| script |
Sonya Levien , William Ludwig |
| production | Joe Pasternak for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| music | Johnny Green |
| camera | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| cut | Gene Ruggiero |
| occupation | |
| |
The Great Caruso is an American feature film from 1951 directed by Richard Thorpe , which describes the life of tenor Enrico Caruso , played by Mario Lanza . Ann Blyth plays the female lead.
action
The film begins in Caruso's childhood when he sings in a children's choir in Naples . The older Caruso sings in a pub for pennies and falls in love with Musette Barretto, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Poor Caruso starts working for Barretto's company to make himself popular. By chance he met the singers from the San Carlo Theater who were interested in his voice. He took on an engagement in this theater and began to sing in the choir. Then it goes uphill with him. He took on his first leading roles as a soloist and finally sang at La Scala in Milan . He finally came to the United States via the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden , London, with the aim of singing in the New York Metropolitan Opera . Right at the beginning of his stay there was an embarrassing situation when he was introduced to the soprano Louise Heggar. He calls the man by her side her father, but in fact he is her husband Park Benjamin and one of the main sponsors of the MET. From then on, offended, he tried everything to drive Caruso out of the MET. Caruso is supposed to apologize to him and drives to him, falling in love with his daughter Dorothy. His debut becomes a failure due to the criticism influenced by Benjamin. Benjamin tries to persuade the MET director to fire Caruso. He hears about it and can prevent his dismissal by giving notice. When Dorothy finds out about this, she persuades him to continue. The next premiere will be a huge success and Caruso can no longer be terminated. He then goes on a major world tour and when he comes back he wants to marry Dorothy. Her father is still against it and when they get married, he breaks up with the daughter. The two are happy and nothing seems to separate them. But Caruso is now a sick man. When he collapses during a performance in the presence of Dorothy, he dies a little later at the age of only 47.
background
The Italian-American tenor Mario Lanza had reached the peak of his career with The Great Caruso . In 1949 the well-known opera star made his film debut and immediately achieved a huge success. Although his films were not of significant artistic quality, they made Lanza the most popular singer in the United States. However, the success with The Great Caruso seemed to go to his head. He was already comparing himself too much with the legend Caruso and his film work was made difficult by his diva-like behavior. As a result, he even lost roles such as the lead in The Student Prince , where he would have played again alongside Ann Blyth. Edmund Purdom took over his role .
The Caruso film is only very vaguely based on the biography of Enrico Caruso. He'd rather make up a love story than show the real Caruso, who was already married in Italy , and when he married Dorothy Benjamin the popular belief was that this was more of a money marriage. The focus of the film, on the other hand, is the music and singing of Mario Lanza. He sings excerpts from Rigoletto and Aida by Giuseppe Verdi , La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini , Der Bajazzo by Ruggero Leoncavallo , Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti or Martha by Friedrich von Flotow . In addition to Lanza, the soprano Dorothy Kirsten is particularly impressive with duets and arias. Especially at the end of the film, Ave Maria von Bach / Gounod moves you to tears.
criticism
“A mixture of history and entertainment elements in a pleasant setting. A pleasure for lovers of Italian opera music. "
Awards
Douglas Shearer , sound engineer of MGM , received at the Oscar ceremony in 1952 the Oscar for Best Sound. In addition, the costumes and the music were nominated for an Oscar.
Web links
- The Great Caruso in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The great Caruso. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 11, 2017 .