Great Caruso [VHS]

Great Caruso [VHS]
by Richard Thorpe

Great Caruso [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Mario Lanza, Richard Hageman
Director: Richard Thorpe
Cinematographer: Joseph Ruttenberg
Editor: Gene Ruggiero
Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Producer: Joe Pasternak
Writer: Dorothy Caruso
Writer: William Ludwig
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Original recording remastered
Running Time: 109 minutes
Release Date: 1992-12-04
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Studio: MGM (Warner)

VHS Movie Reviews of Great Caruso [VHS]

Movie Review: The best I have seen in a long time
Summary: 5 Stars

I have waited a long time to get this film, mine broke years back, but at last I have a good copy. Thanks.

Movie Review: Disappointing purchase....
Summary: 2 Stars

Hello. I made this purchase for an older friend of my Aunt. She was very excited to be receiving this video, for she has memories from her youth of not only this actor, but the times she and her father would watch this movie. I was disappointed to discover this weekend that the video did not play in its entirety. She did not even make it through the entire film before it went black (?). I know this was not a new copy, but we did expect it to at least play. She has such a joy in her heart & eye for this movie, that she is looking to purchase another copy. Prayfully, we have have different results.

Movie Review: Handsomely mounted opeartic biopic
Summary: 3 Stars

This is a highly fictionaliased and heavily sentimental portrait of the great operatic tenor .It is lavishly mounted and has many popular ingredients which all helped in making it a major commercial hit in its day.

There is the rags to riches nature of the story as Enrico Caruso rises from poverty on the back streets of Naples to becoming the darling of New York society ,overcoming the death of his mother while still a child and building a carrer in the opera houses of Europe before his US debut.There is the theme of his falling in love with a scion of New York society ,in the face of unbending parental disapproval .There are lots of popular operatic arias and a strong dose of religiosity ,with the Bach -Gounoud "Ave Marie" a particular standout ..for those with more populist taste there is a strong pop tune in "The Loveliest Night of the Year" added to the mix. Add to this the performance of Lanza at the peak of his powers and you have all the ingredients for a well received "highbrow"musical.

The movie treats of his life in a superficial way and biographical accuracy has been substituted for historical accuracy ,his real life being a great deal more dramatic than we see here on the screen .The movie for example makes no reference to his first marraige preferring instead to concentrate on his relationship with his second wife ,Dorothy Benjamin (fetchingly played by Ann Blythe)and the clash with her snobbish father (Carl Benton Reid ,giving another of his solid turns as a patrician paterfamilias -his archetypal role in movies).The rise to fame with attendant pressures are but lightly touched on.

What we do get is a sterling performance by an ideally cast Lanza at the peak of handsomeness and voacl prowess ,a fine performance from Dorothy Kirsten as a soprano who befriends Caruso ,and above all that magnificent music ,magnificently sung .It is not a great movie but it is well made ,sumptuously staged and entertaining .Read a biography if you want a detailed life of an interesting and comlex artiste -that dimension is missing from the movie

Movie Review: Mario Lanza - one of my first loves!
Summary: 5 Stars

All these years later, I still love him - and the story of the great Caruso is as tender and touching as it was fifty years ago. And, pardon me, but doesn't Mario Lanza make some of our present day tenors sound thin and reedy? I may have crossed the line there, but, for me, there is nothing like the robust, full, rich voice of Mario - singing all of our favorite arias. I learned to love opera through Mario Lanza - and, like Caruso, his life was too short. The story of Caruso is interesting - his rise from singing in Italian cafes to the Metropolitan Opera. Who doesn't love a rags to riches story? If you want a trip back in time - through a timeless story - get your hands on The Great Caruso - you'll play it, as I do, again and again. We are so fortunate that so many of these wonderful early films have been preserved.

Movie Review: Overwhelming Music Sang by an Overwhelming Tenor.
Summary: 5 Stars

I was a kid when this film was released and saw it with undivided attention and was instantly in love with opera music and I still are! Some time later my Grandfather bought 78 rpm disk suite of the movie score and we played interminably. So I'm a sort of addict to this movie.
It was directed by Richard Thorpe, a prolific artisan with 186 films in his account. He has started directing movies in the silent period. He was very versatile, directed Johnny Weissmuller in four Tarzan's chapters.
Between 1951 till 1953 he delivered at least four successful movies: "The Great Caruso" (1951), "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1952), "Ivanhoe" (1952) and "The Knights of the Round Table" (1953). He retired in 1967.

The story is quite simple it follows Caruso's (1873-1921) life since childhood, his first steps as a singer, his jump to fame, his first encounter/disencounter with NYC's opera lovers, his love crash at first sight with Ms Doro, his clashes with Doro's father, his runaway, his triumphal return and love fulfillment.
Is that all? Well... no there is opera music and Mario Lanza outstanding performances. Incredible and unforgettable. Such great arias as "Vesti la Giuba" from "I Pagliacci", "E Lucevan le stelle" from "Tosca", the quartet from "Rigolleto" and more and more till the viewer has seen a full opera introduction.

Ann Blyth is delicious playing Ms Dorothy Benjamin with a very delicate touch reminding me of Audrey Hepburn at her best. Dorothy Kirsten adds her beautiful voice fleshing opera singer Louise Heggar.

Last but not least cinematography in charge of Joe Ruttenber who won four Oscar and was nominated for six more between 1939 and 1961 is luminous.

It is a great film for opera music lovers and general public. Do not miss it!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

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