Great Caruso, The (1951)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: Richard Thorpe
Starring: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth

By way of the silver screen Louis B. Mayer delivers to a new audience many of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s monumental productions of the past here recreated in the biopic The Great Caruso. Starring the popular vocalist Mario Lanza, this prestige picture lavishly paints a motion picture of showbusiness of a bygone era in an unapologetically over-polished account of Enrico Caruso, the famed tenor from the turn of the century. Similar to many biographical features produced in Hollywood to this point the film would be more of a fluff piece that plays loosely with facts in order to showcase the of a bygone era glitzy, attractive nature of the profession that fascinated audiences for such pictures.

 

The Great Caruso is a biographical musical loosely depicting the life and career of opera tenor Enrico Caruso. From humble beginnings Enrico (Mario Lanza) spends much of his life fighting and clawing his way to find love, acceptance, and his place in society. His gifted singing voice and his pursuit of career in the medium clash with him achieving that which he seeks most other of life making it a struggle despite his success. While singing for his choir he misses the final moments with his mother before her death, and as a young man he misses marrying his first love, Musette (Yvette Duguay), due to conflict with her father over his profession as a singer. Gaining financial success Caruso clashes with critics and experiences a bumpy transition to the American market as he strives to appeal more to the common man rather than the elite. Eventually the heart of the story is Enrico meeting and  falling in love with Dorothy (Ann Blyth), the daughter of an American opera producer, yet another man that clashes with his persona. The two marrying and have a child, news he dramatically receives with great joy while in mid performance. Later Caruso develops growing soreness of the throat which he attempts to downplay, but through his pride performs through until one final performance where he collapses and perishes to the mourns of admirers.

 

Wonderful Technicolor capturing the period costuming while excellent sound recording deliver the multitude of musical and operatic scenes making the film is feast for any opera lover of the period. To the silver scene the picture becomes a veritable highlight reel recreating the majesty and lavish quality of many famed operas in Caruso’s long and storied career. However, as entertaining these moments can be as a feature film it can been alleged as falling short as a completely well-constructed narrative and overall movie. Where the film falls short is in connecting to audience with any true drama, and on top of that even recalling facts of Caruso’s life. The movie is nothing short of a vehicle to delivering a multitude of opera numbers wrapped in a package of a melodramatic love story that lacks any distinctive perceived conflict. The life story of Enrico Caruso is delivered in a manner of a near fairytale, a commoner that rose to become the Great Caruso, a man of passion who eventually dies doing what he loves. It is predictable and uninspired. Worst of all, it was almost entirely manufactured. But this was the formula of an MGM biopic to this point.

 

Personally chosen for production and overseen by studio head Louis B. Mayer, The Great Caruso was meant to be a prestige picture for MGM. Selected to direct the lavishly produced picture was mainstay of the studio Richard Thorpe who had built up a lengthy resumé and a musical based director of choice for the famed studio and this picture. Mayer spared no expense to delivering the operatic experience this picture was indented to be, with big sets, lavish costuming, and a multitude of popular musical numbers that accompanied the production, a genuine showcase of opera for the silver screen.

 

The picture proved to be a perfect marriage of star and film. Philadelphia born tenor Mario Lanza shared many similarities with Enrico Caruso from their Italian heritage and humble beginnings to their respective tragedies later in life. Lanza said he idolized Caruso as a child, learning to sing while listen to Caruso record albums. Believing in his greatness Lanza attempted to enter Hollywood with pushback until Mayer witnessed a performance of his at the Hollywood Bowl and signed him to a contract. on set Notoriously insistent with cast and crew on set and his struggle with fluctuating weight Lanza proved to be troublesome  during production. His constant weight changes kept tailors on standby to alter his costumes  depending on how much he indulged over the prior days. Where he lacked in professionalism he made up in his warmth performing and vocal talents on screen, even receiving praise from Caruso’s son years later that no other man could have done a better job of depicting Caruso musically.

 

It is difficult to study the remainder of the cast as the picture is so focused on Caruso and we do not get much of a feel for the rest of the individuals in the story. Of all the supporting players we get to know would be Dorothy, the wife of Enrico, played by the beautiful and vocally talented Ann Blyth in a sugar-coated role that is agonizingly flat, making for a very uninteresting character to depict. Her greatest contribution to the picture is singing the film’s sole original “The Loveliest Night of the Year” which was given to her after Lanza stubbornly refused to perform for the feature to focus on his operatic skill. The song would become a hit, after which Lanza agreed to make his own recording.

 

The Great Caruso would prove to be a box office success for MGM, breaking records during its run at Radio City Music Hall, just about a mile from where most of the operas depicted successfully ran. It did well internationally and later ran on regular theaters to profits while were generally favorable to the feature for its musical scenes. The biggest detractors of the feature would actually be the Caruso family, who sued MGM over many inaccuracies the film painted, mainly historical details of opera release dates.

 

The fact was the film nearly a complete fabrication of Caruso’s life story, a 100% fictionalization. From his rise to fame to the order of events of his life, the inconvenient facts are scattered throughout the film, including his multiple marriages and children before meeting Dorothy, his weight and health issues, to his far less glamorous,  the cinematic vision of the man was nearly to deify him and his craft and airbrushing any other ancillary facts that do otherwise.

 

The film was the great success both MGM and Mario Lanza were seeking. However, fortunes for both studio and star would swiftly change in the immediate future. Louis B. Mayer would go on to oversee one more feature at MGM, another lavish musical in Show Boat (1951), but was dismissed soon after from the studio he helped found. Lanza continued to quarrel with producers at MGM over his status and his weight issues. The relationship between studio and star became so problematic that during the production of The Student Prince, which reunited Lanza with Blyth, Lanza was dismissed from the role. This move led to an immediate spiral in Lanza’s life and career, losing confidence in himself and indulging more in food and alcohol lending directly to heart issues and an premature death in 1959 at the age of 38.

 

All these years later The Great Caruso leaves behind a mostly forgotten legacy, yet another flashy, overly fictionalized biographic picture out of MGM’s late golden era. Not a classic film viewers would typically go seeking for, its reenactments of opera numbers, many which featured a handful of actual cast from the original operas performing within them, being the greatest contributions to the heritage it leaves behind. For its time the soundtrack was one of the most successful records and stands as the greatest mark in the short career of one of Hollywood’s short-lived musical stars. It is as if Mario Lanza lived purely for this film.