Cain Not Able to do anything for Mario

bkoganbing

For his one and only film away from an MGM release, Mario Lanza went to Warner Brothers in 1956 to star in a film adaption of James M. Cain's novel Serenade. It's the story of an opera singer discovered and then abandoned by society girl Joan Fontaine and then redeemed by the love of a good woman played by Mexican film star Sarita Montiel.

James M. Cain was an author who had given the screen a few classic films from his work like Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. But Cain was unable to give the screen anything more than a turgid melodrama with Serenade. It was not in the class as a novel or a film as those other three works.

However one watches a Mario Lanza film to hear him sing and he's in good voice with the usual mixture of classical opera, Italian folk songs, and a pair of new songs by Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn who had already given him Be My Love and Because You're Mine. Mario sings the title song and My Destiny from Brodzsky and Cahn and they're good, but not in the league with those two other classics identified with him. My favorite out of the score is La Danza which is sung toward the beginning of the film. Lanza did an outstanding record of this as did his idol Enrico Caruso in the early days of commercial recording.

The Code was still firmly in place or Vincent Price's character as the opera impresario would be more obviously gay. As it is Price gets the best lines in the film and makes the most of them.

If watching Serenade I'd fast forward to Mario's songs and listen to them. They're what gives Serenade any lasting popularity.

score 5/10

bkoganbing 2 February 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2559757/