1h 36min | Musical, Romance | 22 September 1949 | Color
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Kathryn Grayson, José Iturbi, Ethel Barrymore, Mario Lanza, Keenan Wynn, J. Carrol Naish, Jules Munshin, Thomas Gomez, Marjorie Reynolds, Arthur Treacher.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041956/
Soundtracks lists many songs, some with performance info, others not. Unlikely that I can assist this one unless I start learning the names and music of more arias.
ML is more of an actor than I thought he would be, and/but didn't always sing as a full-throated tenor (finale). KG always gave full-throated soprano.
EB does more with a raised eyebrow that most can do with full body acting.
I really like JI: his piano playing the most, but he is also very functional acting (usually as himself). Unfortunately, this is his last American film (of 9); he released 1 more in '51 that is Filipino. I saw 7 films in this quest; 1 of the missing has him as "piano dubber", which is not going to be onscreen; the other looks like it's straight musical performance; neither is online or on disc. Does a replacement for JI emerge?
This film was more enjoyable than expected, but it's not recommendable. The tantrum/destruction scenes with JM & TG are frown-worthy. The romantic thread of the plot, where ML allows MR's misunderstanding to turn into an engagement seems silly, and only there to prolong the film. Then the onstage reconciliation of KG & ML, when she destroyed "his" roses in her dressing room less than an hour before, seems odd (as does the method for getting him onstage).
But we get some nice singing and piano playing.
MGM, dir. Taurog; 6+
