Mario Lanza sings and stars in his last film, "For the First Time," which has beautiful music sung against some of the most glorious scenery in the world on the Isle of Capri.
Lanza plays opera star Tonio Costa who is seemingly always in trouble -- on the night of a concert, he doesn't show up and is found standing on a taxi singing for the people who couldn't get into the theater.
He seems to have developed a bad reputation along the way. So his manager (Kurt Kasznar) sends him away for a vacation and to straighten himself out. He goes to Capri, and while there, he meets a young deaf woman (Johanna von Koczian). They fall in love, but she refuses to marry him until she can hear him.
The story is sappy, but it's just an excuse for the music. Lanza's voice is much darker here, with the middle voice really opened up. As a singer myself, I will say this normally happens about 15 years after it happened to Lanza. With age, the vocal cords thicken. Many singers find new warmth and power in the middle, while the top notes become more difficult. I attribute these changes in Lanza to his drinking and hard lifestyle, which I suspect included smoking.
At any rate, here he sings "Come Prima," "La Donna e mobile," "Vesti la giubba", the final scene of "Othello", the beginning of the Rigoletto quartet, a partial duet from Cosi fan Tutte, the Triumphant March from Aida, and Neopolitan and Bavarian songs. And with all that, I could have used more.
As usual, the repertoire is strange - you don't give Cosi to a spinto tenore, and you don't give that role to one of Costa's supposed stature, nor should he have been singing Othello.
Yes, singers can start out their careers with a lyric Mozart role, and as the voice develops, sing spinto roles - not a month later, but years later -- and possibly end their careers with an Othello, which is a dramatic tenor role, but again, not a month later.
Lanza is bloated in many closeups and wears a suit jacket or a robe the entire movie, apparently to cover weight gain which isn't really that evident.
How many young men did Mario Lanza inspire to take up operatic singing? How many people did he introduce to opera? One can only look at him here and say, what a waste.
Since he was living in Rome, he was offered operatic stage roles. Imagine if he had lived to do them. One can only wonder why some gifted people are like fireworks, flaring up and then fading.
The young woman in the movie, Johanna von Koczian, is "introduced" here and a superficial knowledge of movies is enough to tell you she didn't make it in Hollywood. However, she had, and is still having, a wonderful, full career in Germany. Her daughter is an actress as well.
Highly recommended if you love opera and especially for Lanza fans.
