Serenade (1956 film)

Serenade
Original movie poster
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Written by	Ivan Goff Ben Roberts John Twist
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Starring	Mario Lanza Joan Fontaine Sara Montiel Vincent Price Joseph Calleia Vince Edwards Harry Bellaver
Cinematography	J. Peverell Marley
Edited by	William H. Ziegler
Music by	Nicholas Brodszky
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	March 23, 1956 (1956-03-23)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,585,000 (US)

Serenade, a 1956 Warner Bros. release, was tenor Mario Lanza's fifth film, and his first on-screen appearance in four years. Directed by Anthony Mann and based on the 1937 novel of the same name by James M. Cain, the film also stars Joan Fontaine, Sara Montiel (billed as Sarita Montiel), and Vincent Price.

Plot

Serenade tells the story of poor vineyard worker Damon Vincenti (Mario Lanza), who becomes an operatic tenor, and is involved with two women — one a high society hostess, the other a Mexican bullfighter's daughter, Juana Montes (Sara Montiel). Highly melodramatic in nature, the film features a large amount of operatic music, all of it sung by Lanza. Of note are the Act III Monologue from Verdi's Otello and an extract from the duet "Dio Ti Giocondi" from the same opera featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Licia Albanese. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, A.H. Weiler wrote that, "Mr. Lanza, who was never in better voice, makes this a full and sometimes impressive musical entertainment."

The movie differs greatly from the James M. Cain source novel. In the book, the male protagonist is John Howard Spring, a professional opera singer who has lost his voice and fled the United States to Mexico in a crisis of confidence after being sexually wooed by a male socialite and impresario. Juana Montes is a Mexican prostitute who sees him as gay and thinks he would therefore be a trouble-free partner to open a brothel with. But after having sex in a deserted church with Juana, Spring recovers his voice and his preferred sexual identity. The two come into conflict with the local police and flee to Los Angeles, where Spring renews his singing career more successfully than ever. But once they move to New York, Damon must struggle against the renewed blandishments of the gay impresario, whom Juana eventually murders with a torero's sword. As none of this material could be made into a popular movie in the US in 1956, the story becomes instead that of an opera singer torn between an overbearing, worldly but female patron of the arts (Joan Fontaine as Kendall Hale) and a Mexican bullfighter's virtuous daughter. The tenor has a breakdown because of his unrequited love for the society woman, but finds love (and a happy ending) with the Mexican girl.

Cast

• Mario Lanza as Damon Vincenti
• Joan Fontaine as Kendall Hale
• Sara Montiel as Juana Montes (as Sarita Montiel)
• Vincent Price as Charles Winthrop
• Joseph Calleia as Maestro Marcatello
• Harry Bellaver as Tonio
• Vince Edwards as Marco Roselli
• Silvio Minciotti as Lardelli
• Frank Puglia as Manuel Montes
• Edward Platt as Everett Carter
• Licia Albanese as Desdemona in 'Otello'
• Jean Fenn as Soprano in San Francisco

Reception

The film made a purported loss of $695,000.

References

Cesari, Armando. Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy. (Fort Worth: Baskerville 2004)

External links

• Serenade at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• Serenade at the TCM Movie Database
• "Serenade - An Underrated Treasure", by Derek McGovern