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

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, the film features a great deal 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 (not unsuccessfully, though details are vague) by a male socialite and impresario. Juana Montes is a Mexican prostitute who sees Spring as gay and therefore 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 lovers come into conflict with the local police and flee to Los Angeles, where Spring reestablishes his singing career, more successful than ever. But once they move to New York, the singer 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 considered suitable for an American movie 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

Production

Film rights to the novel were bought in 1946 by the production company of Michael Curtiz.

Reception

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

See also

• List of American films of 1956

References

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

External links

• Serenade at IMDb
• Serenade at AllMovie
• Serenade at the TCM Movie Database
• "Serenade - An Underrated Treasure", by Derek McGovern