To me, Giuseppe DiStefano is the greatest operatic tenor of all time. I have dozens of his recordings on record albums, tapes, and CDs. His period of greatness, however, lasted only about 14 years or so. I saw him in person in Boston after his prime, and the audience actually booed him. I felt terrible for him, but he should have quit sooner. This movie certainly did not enhance his acting career, in fact, it kept him from becoming a movie star like Mario Lanza. But his stage career was tremendous. This movie was a bitter disappointment. First of all, it was in Italian with English subtitles. But the subtitles were all washed out and disappeared into the background, so you couldn't read them and know what was going on. Although he got top billing, he was hardly in the movie. He would appear, strut around a bit, and then be gone for long periods of time. And then the singing or lack of it! The ads stated "thrilling singing" but there was hardly any singing at all. And then, as a most major insult, every time he did sing, people would talk and laugh out loud, blocking him off so that you couldn't hear him. What a disgrace! The director should be shot! I hope DiStefano protested, but if he did, it must not have done any good. Did you see Serpico? DiStefano sang on the radio and Al Pacino mentioned him by name. In Mean Streets, he sang 3 songs. And in Goodfellas, he sang two arias in the background. I'm sorry that this film wasn't a lot better. If you are an opera buff, you won't be happy with this movie, but if you like DiStefano, at least it gives you a chance to see what he looks like.
