For the First Time (DVD)

[Derek McGovern]

Since we have separate threads for the DVDs of The Great Caruso and Serenade, I thought I'd give For the First Time one as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sound quality will be as least as good as what we enjoyed on Serenade. The DVD of For the First Time will be out on June 19th, as Steff reported on our Miscellaneous Lanza thread last week.

Here's the link to the Warner Bros DVD shop:

http://www.wbshop.com/product/for+the+first+time+1000311280.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search

Annoyingly, Warner Bros won't send DVDs to customers outside of the US, but I'm pretty sure that ccvideo.com or amazon.com will stock this title, as they've done in the past.

I was just looking at the cover. Oh dear! We know that poor old Mario looks a little worse for wear in some scenes of the film, but they've made him a little too ruddy here!

Not to worry, though :)

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: While we're waiting for the DVD to come out, don't forget that we have this thread on Lanza's films (which includes discussion on For The First Time), photos from the film here, costume designs for the movie's operatic scenes here, and an essay on the movie here.

In terms of great singing, the film's right up there with The Great Caruso for my money (Serenade, of course, being the pinnacle). It's nice to know that it was nominated for a Grammy, even if the album itself was a bit of a mish-mash, with its trite pseudo-Neapolitan instrumentals by George Stoll filling up room that could have been taken up by the Cosi' Fan Tutte trio.

Incidentally, I was surprised to stumble upon a capsule review of "Come Prima" (with "O Sole Mio" on the flipside) recently in the Billboard of January 5, 1959. I had no idea that RCA had released "Come Prima" so far ahead of the film, which didn't appear in the US until August that year. (It was released in Germany, however, in February 1959.) Billboard gave "Come Prima" three stars (equivalent to "good sales potential"), noting that it had been a "semihit" for other singers. I'd be curious to know how well it did sell.

[Derek McGovern]

Just a reminder that For the First Time will be released on DVD next Tuesday (June 19). It's currently only for sale to people in the US via Warner Bros' online store, but, as I wrote earlier, I'm sure it'll be available at Amazon before too much longer.

If any of our American members do buy it in the meantime, I would really appreciate hearing what the sound and picture quality are like.

Cheers
Derek

[Armando]

Hi Derek: For the First Time as well as Seven Hills of Rome can be pre-ordered from Movies Unlimited.Here’s the link: http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/browse_list.asp?cid=mu&dept=Mario+Lanza&media=D

 Both in glorious mono sound! :-)

[Derek McGovern]

Grazie, Armando!! And how interesting that Movies Unlimited is also offering Seven Hills of Rome on DVD (and on the same day: 29 July). After all, there's no listing of that title at Warner Bros' online store. Curious!

I'm not sure if I'll bother with Seven Hills, as I already have the widescreen laserdisc of that film. Plus, of course, it's the very worst Lanza movie! Is anyone here planning to buy it?

Cheers
Derek

[leeann]

While we're waiting for the release of For the First Time on DVD, I got to wondering about that Grammy nomination. There's a lot of disjointed information about the album throughout Billboard in 1959 and 1960, as Derek points out. Interestingly, by mid-1960, the album was still on the pop charts, but eclipsed by "Lanza Sings Caruso Favorites" that hit the #1 classical spot in both mono and stereo!

But, back to the Grammy awards, held in November 1959, just weeks after Lanza's death. These were only the second Grammy awards ever, and the first televised Grammy event. (I've wondered how it was that the first Grammy awards were only a few months earlier in May 1959.)  Just for fun, an account of the award ceremony and winners is attached.

Only two nominees appeared in the Best Soundtrack Album, Original Cast Motion Picture or Television field--Lanza and Andre Previn's version of Porgy and Bess. Somehow it doesn't sound like a fair fight--no matter how spectacular Lanza's singing was, Porgy and Bess seems like a formidable opponent and really, a different genre--despite the extraordinary controversies that swirled around the opera and the film. Previn also won the Oscar for Porgy and Bess--Best Scoring of a Film.

Apparently the film of Porgy and Bess hadn't done all that well at the box office (although the stories behind its making and its reception in the segregated social climate of that time are fascinating), but Samuel Goldwyn and the Gershwins had no question about the impact of Previn's sound track. Goldwyn told Previn, "You should be goddam proud. You should never do another thing in your life." (Goldwyn: a Biography by Samuel Berg).

Nonetheless, music and albums from For the First Time seem to have maintained a very respectable showing on sales charts for an extended period of time.  I'm really looking forward to listening in the context of the entire film.  Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: That's interesting about the US chart performance of the soundtrack to For the First Time. It certainly did a lot better than the poor old Mario! album, which was released the same year. I've just been looking through random 1959-1960 issues of Billboard in their archive section, and it was impressive to see For the First Time---some months after its release---holding strong in the #9 position for stereo LPs in January 1960.

Did the album deserve to win a Grammy? Well, it contains some great singing all right---the Otello Death Scene, Vesti la Giubba, O Sole Mio, etc---but it's hardly a cohesive album, with Pineapple Pickers followed by Pagliacci and those silly Stoll non-Lanza fillers (Mazurka, Neapolitan Dance, Tarantella) contributing to its musical unevenness. I can understand why the Grammy voters went for the Porgy and Bess soundtrack instead.

Of course, the Mario! album---had enough voters actually heard it and recognized it for what it was---would have been a shoo-in for a Grammy in an ideal world. And Caruso Favorites at least deserved a nomination!

Mind you, the Grammys have often been criticized for focusing on albums and songs that are commercially popular---and it certainly seems to be much harder for a lesser-known work to be even nominated. It's not surprising, then, that the Mario! album wasn't recognized!

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Hi Lee Ann,

It is really amazing that the category “Best Soundtrack of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television” was the only category with only two nominees! All other categories had four or five nominations. Any idea why the selection was so limited in this particular category? And what was the official statement as to why “Porgy and Bess” won out over “For the First Time”?

Incidentally, have you ever seen this website?

 

http://www.awardsandshows.com

 

 with the complete listing for the 1959 Grammy nominations ad winners:

http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1959-239.html

 

Steff

[leeann]

Hi, Steff.  I don't really know enough to have answers to those questions--although there's certainly a great deal of material online alone, including your link to comprehensive listings of nominees and winners.

I wonder, though, whether there simply were no other films that qualified!  Lil Abner apparently could've and was already in theaters; however, that album was released at such a time that it qualifed for nomination at awards the following year.

And as for official statements--since voting for these kinds of awards--Grammys, Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys, etcetera--are done by secret ballot among members of certain professional associations, I imagine the reasons are as different as the people who vote. I'm not sure official statement exist.

But I think Derek probably hit it on the head--for one thing, it's the issue of cohesiveness. Even though Lanza's voice was, as Armando says in An American Tragedy, "extraordinarily rich and big", all of the music wasn't. And the music itself wasn't embedded into the plotline--writers and directors might have chosen any number of different selections that would've served the film well.

This must have been a difficult category, though--it only lasted three years as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences worked through what the Grammys would be and how to represent all the varied musical genres--and the recording industry--appropriately, and in those early times, to negotiate the balance between classical and pop. And the categories certainly continue to change along with popular culture and with the industry!  Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

And as for official statements--since voting for these kinds of awards--Grammys, Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys, etcetera--are done by secret ballot among members of certain professional associations, I imagine the reasons are as different as the people who vote. I'm not sure official statement exist.

Hi Lee Ann: I completely agree with you. An official statement as to why a certain album won a Grammy would be meaningless (not to mention insulting to those members who didn't vote for the winning album), since it would be pure conjecture.

I think we have to bear in mind that the category that For the First Time was nominated for wasn't a vote on Lanza's singing versus the performances of the various artists who'd recorded the Porgy and Bess soundtrack. It would have been more about the music, and, as I wrote earlier, the four Stoll numbers (which included "Pineapple Pickers") would have undermined whatever chances the album had of winning against the great Gershwin's Porgy and Bess score. No contest really.

But if there had been a Grammy category in 1959 for best classical vocal performance, then Mario would certainly have deserved to win on the basis of his singing in For the First Time.

I have to say, though: I detest Grammys and Oscars and all the rest. There are so many dubious factors involved in determining who and what gets nominated---popularity, sentimental reasons, etc---that quality is seldom the single most important consideration. Even Elvis Presley didn't win Grammys for what are generally considered his two best albums of the 1960s (though he did win Grammys for a couple of gospel albums). And Andrea Bocelli has been nominated no fewer than three times for Grammys while far greater singers have been left in the cold.

Cheers
Derek

[leeann]

Hi Derek, It would be really interesting to have some kind of clue about why the Mario album apparently didn't break into the charts, but remained relatively obscure after its release--speaking of dubious factors.  It wouldn't seem that it was because of the musical genre since Caruso Favorites did rather well for an extended period of time.

But on a lighter note, the Warner Brothers email newsletter announcing the new Lanza releases just shot through cyberspace. There's no lack of hyperbole there to encourage people to buy the newly remastered  Seven Hills of Rome and For the First Time.  Here are a couple of quotes and links for those who might not have seen it:

SEVEN HILLS OF ROME (1958) An aerial archeological tour with operatic accompaniment? Check. A sly send up of popular singing sensations by the world’s leading tenor? Check. A sweet and sly storyline spacious enough to leave room for the views and time for the toe-tappers (including the beyond boffo hit “title” track “Arrivederci, Roma”)? Check. Face it, bambina — you’ve hit the jackpot!  [it continues, but they had me at archeological tour with operatic accompaniment :-)]

and

FOR THE FIRST TIME (1959) Mario widens his tenor travels in this second extravaganza with an opera tour of Europe’s greatest cities and music palaces. Mario Lanza plays world renowned opera singer Tonia Costa who is as brilliant as he is profligate...[it continues]

A screenshot's attached, and another link to the Warner Archive Collection website. Best, Lee Ann

[leeann]

The newly-remastered DVD of For the First Time arrived, and I sat down at watched the film--almost for the first time, since I'd only seen it a few years ago on a really, really bad VHS version. I didn't expect to be so engaged. (I'm writing this without going back to read your Derek's essay "Sweet Little Swansong" on it yet, which I'm pretty sure I'll consider definitive--the title certainly sums it up.) The thing is, it's an awfully well-done movie for the genre, isn't it.

It's tight. It's well-edited. Lovely scenery, props to so well bespeak the era. And Lanza acts well, really. The music is formidable.  Yes, there's the corny element, even super-corny, but this was 1959. By today's standards, there was a lot of corny in popular films of all kinds.  I'd ALMOST say this might have been among Lanza's best acting ventures.  Perhaps even among operatic singers doing movies--among the best of them all.

I don't know enough to know about the remastering bit. As with previous films--colour continuity comes and goes. There are times when muted tones reign and conversely, times when maybe that (probable) Chianti looks llike tomato juice, it's just that red. And some of the magnificent scenery appears more two-dimensional than three. But those are quibbles. Vince di Placido's video work with the operatic scenes included with Steff's find, the sketches of the costumes from the film on the website definitely foreshadowed the potential of a good remastering!

But all in all, it's a great period piece.  I can't help thinking how that last year of Lanza's life left a heritage of such enormous growth and fulfillment, of  promise and potential at the same time. Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Many thanks for your thoughts on For the First Time, Lee Ann.

You know I have a soft spot for this film, and I do agree that it's one of Lanza's better acting ventures. When he does veer into ham territory, interestingly enough, it's mainly in the way that he delivers his dialogue in that Capri clifftop reunion scene with Johanna/Christa---a scene that he had to record in early 1959---and in one or two other outdoor scenes. Perhaps if the exterior dialogue had been recorded at the time of filming, he wouldn't have sounded so over the top? After all, it can't have been easy for him to have gone into the studio several months after filming to record the dialogue so that it matched his on-screen lip movements. He therefore gets a pass from me for the occasional bit of over-emoting :)

Tell me, is the sound quality impressive on this DVD? The commercial VHS I have of this film has excellent sound, but the 1990s laserdisc is quite disappointing.

I was very moved by your last sentence:

"I can't help thinking how that last year of Lanza's life left a heritage of such enormous growth and fulfillment, of promise and potential at the same time."

So true.

Just returning for a moment to your previous post, you were wondering about the relatively lacklustre sales of the Mario! album in comparison with Caruso Favorites. My theory is that RCA botched an opportunity to market the Mario! album---the title, for a start, was childish and meaningless. Even Lanza Sings Great Neapolitan Songs would have been an improvement! Highlighting one of the outstanding tracks with an easily pronounceable, and, more importantly, a comprehensible title---say, "Passione"---would have been even better (and Pavarotti would later have no difficulty selling an album with that very title). It's such a simple thing, but it can make all the difference in the world, especially when you're trying to market something to American record-buyers containing relatively unfamiliar song titles (for the most part).

And while I love the cover photo (taken from a promotional still with Zsa Zsa Gabor for FTFT), which seems to reflect the more serious artist found on this album, something emphasizing Naples would also have helped marketability. Most people wouldn't have bothered reading Richard Mohr's liner notes to find out that the album is an-all Neapolitan one.

The title Mario Lanza Sings Caruso Favorites, on the other hand, clearly told the buyer what to expect---and the attractive cover painting, with its lusty-looking Lanza and Italian "stuff" happening in the background, would only have enhanced its appeal. It also can't have hurt that a Caruso album came with it in what I understand was basically a two-for-one deal. Still, it's amazing that such a serious album made it to #4 on Billboard's album charts in 1960---even surpassing the soundtrack to For the First Time, which reached #5 (after Lanza's death). Compare that with the poor old Mario! album, which I don't think even charted. (I didn't see it on any of the random Billboard charts I looked at from May to November 1959.)

Cheers
Derek

[George Laszlo]

Speaking of Zsa Zsa, since this is such an illustrious group, I want to share with you a very rare publicity photo of her when she was still a teenager (17, to be exact). The dedication is to my grandmother (Elizabeth Gervay) who was her singing coach back in Budapest.

 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

I watched the movie first time in Berlin in 1964 (titled Der Sanger von Capri when I was 16), and I could remember with great nostalgy. I checked the movie today again from DVD and the original nostalgy melted away some way. Mario looked bad and much older than he really was at 37. His hairstyle was wrong and he was stocky and tired. Musically is weaker than his other movies. The Pagliacci aria is really great, otherwise his voice far less flexible than was any time before. Now, it looks for me his second weakest movie just after the Seven Hills of Rome.  Zszazsa Gabor has been a mediocre movie star at 40 that time. Yet, it's been valuable movie enough even though it is not in the same league than The Great Caruso, Serenade or up to the Toast of NO. This is my impression today and looking back almost half a century.

 

Cheers, Barnabas

2012/6/25 George Laszlo <gla...@nyc.rr.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Barnabas: I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed by Lanza's vocal condition in For the First Time. While his voice (for the most part) is no longer as fresh as it had been less than a year earlier---obviously reflecting the man's physical condition by 1958---it's still essentially the same glorious sound that we hear on the Mario! album (recorded three months later)---and I know how much you like that album. For vocal thrills, listen to the superb, ringing B-flats we hear at the end of Pineapple Pickers and the Hofbrauhaus Song, and the excitement of the brief I Love Thee. He's formidable---and in much better voice than he had been the previous year in Seven Hills of Rome. Or listen to the sweetness of the Ave Maria and the opening phrases of Come Prima. Gorgeous! He still had it.

The operatic material (excluding La Donna e' Mobile) is also outstanding---vocally as well as stylistically.

A note for non-US residents who plan to buy For the First Time (and/or Seven Hills of Rome): it's now available for pre-order from Amazon.com, and the good news is that it's not only $2 cheaper there than at Movies Unlimited, but the release date is ten days earlier:

http://www.amazon.com/For-First-Time-Mario-Lanza/dp/B008BSM1D2/ref=sr_1_6?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1340714749&sr=1-6&keywords=for+the+first+time

Cheers
Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Hi Derek, I was not disappointed by vocal conditions in the For the First Time, but in my view it was no longer so flexible than in the Mario! album one year back at all. He looked very tired and worse physical conditions than in the Serenade three years earlier. He seemed to be far more older than his age of 37. My impression is that he had already to use some technics to compensate the lack of flexibility of his voice. Please check it comparing to himself by his earlier records. By all means, it's a valuable movie but you can see how time slips fast away over him. That is sad in a shy decade of his life.

Barnabas

2012/6/26 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Barnabas: The Mario! album was recorded after the soundtrack of For the First Time. While we don't have the exact dates of the FTFT soundtrack recordings, we know that the operatic material was recorded in September 1958. The Mario! album was recorded during the second half of December 1958, a month after filming of FTFT had been completed.

I agree that on something like "Vesti la Giubba" on the FTFT soundtrack, Mario's voice is no longer as flexible or supple as it had been, say, in The Great Caruso. But that's not really surprising: he was just a boy of 29 when he recorded the Caruso soundtrack. Even putting aside the issue of Mario's health, which obviously affected his vocal condition at the end of his life, some loss of youthful freshness is to be expected when a tenor reaches his late 30s. Besides, the voice I hear on the 1958 "Vesti" is exactly right for the role of Canio---dark, throbbing with pathos, and extremely powerful. It had also grown in size since 1950---and I think one has to expect some loss of agility in part because of that.

I will grant you that the FTFT "La Donna e' Mobile" sounds terribly strained in comparison with Lanza's earlier recordings---he was obviously tired that day. But it's the sole vocal dud in the film. That leaves "O Sole Mio," which is in a lower key than on the 1949/51 versions, and features a very different (and much superior) arrangement. That makes vocal comparisons a bit tricky, though I think it's fair to say that Lanza would not have been comfortable in 1958 singing this song in the same key as in 1949/51. But I love not only the extraordinary depth in his voice on the 1958 version---it really is quite startling---but his interpretation of the song, which is vastly more appropriate than on the showboating earlier versions. It's a very fine piece of singing.

I don't think there's any reason to be gloomy about Mario Lanza's vocal state in For the First Time. In fact, vocally and musically, I'd rank it as his third best film (after Serenade and The Great Caruso).

Cheers
Derek 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Hi Derek,

In a very short of professional life of ML, there are two different attractions in his case: the voice and the appearence. Both changed dramatically only in a short decade (between 1949 to 1959). His voice improved a lot in depth and reading as well. At the same time, the flexibility deteriorated mostly because of lifestyle. His appearence in in the Toast or Caruso was extraordinary. He was in good form in the Serenade as well but very uneven way. He suddenly lost his good appearence (compared himself) by the Seven Hills and FFT as well, due to not his age but his lifestyle. Look at let's say Domingo who was very good form in his early fourties, and changed dramatically only after his fifties, especially in his sixties. Unfortunately, Mario burned up his body and partly his voice by the end of his short life ended at 38 untimely. By all means, he was at a very deteriorated state to undertake longtime engagement in the operatic stage or film industry. He was destined to end sooner or later.

I agree, his voice and reading was more mature in the Vesti of 1958. At the same time, I do not prefer his O' sole mio of FFT at a lower key even though the 1949 version was a bit showboating. What is obvious that he reached his maturity of reading by the Serenade and especially by the Mario! And the Caruso Favourites albums. The latter one contains some strains at the same time, loosing flexibility as well. In my mind he was at his peak at his age of 34-35 especially for the operatic world. Leaving for Rome in 1957 he was not the same until his untimely death in 1959. For me the Mario! album a special exception but you can feel in his renditions of tiredness, fears and sorrow. This is why his renditions are esspecially moving.

Barnabas

2012/6/27 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Thanks to a post on another forum by Lindsay Perigo, I've just watched a clip of "Come Prima"---posted on YouTube as an official preview of the For the First Time DVD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqmLHlyq0Rc&feature=g-all-lik

The visual quality, as Mr. Perigo notes, is superb. Beautiful colour and startling clarity. But, sad to say, the sound is not nearly as good as I'd hoped for (if this clip is representative of the DVD). The quality is exactly the same as on my laserdisc copy of the film: crisp and clear, but lacking in resonance. The American (NTSC) official VHS version, which came out in the 1990s, has much better sound. If anyone here has both versions, I'd be very interested in hearing how you feel the DVD stacks up soundwise against the VHS.

Cheers
Derek

[norma]

Hi Derek,

            I once read in a book about the singing voice that Mario entered the passagio on a high note and because of this his singing was very exciting but by doing this the voice would only last about 10 years.What are members views on this and has anyone else read this?

 

                                                                                                                                          Norma

[Tony Partington]

Hi Norma,

That's a very interesting question you ask and really a rather odd one.  As for "entering" the passagio, a singer - especially a tenor - enters it where his voice naturally starts to make the changes in both register balance, focus of tone, etc. or it simply is not natural.  If you are referring to a delliberate effort or effect in which Mario artificially prevented or dis-allowed his voice to  turn in, what for him was his natural passagio - a higher passagio than say mine, for he had a higher lying tenor voice than I do - I would have to say no, I do not think this is a correct statement.  Also, to my ear, there was no permanant vocal disintergration that I could detect in the Lanza voice at the end of his career.  It had darkened yes, considerably.  But the evidence that Mario still had healthy pipes is all too clear in the MARIO album, the operatic recordings done for  FOR THE FIRST TIME and the state of his voice at the Royal Albert Hall concert on January 16, 1958.

 

Now if you want an example of a tenor, with a glorious voice, who manipulated it wrongly and did not cover or turn it over at the proper point in the passagio and thus ended up shortening his career and doing debatable damage to his voice, just look at and listen to the recording legacy of Giuseppe Di Stefano.  Beutiful voice but he sang too spread and too open too high into the passagio - an unnatural thing for the voice to do, IMO.  Lanza most definitely did not do this.  If you want an example of some wonderful passagio singing, listen to Mario in his 1949 "Che gelida manina."  Amazing singing and amazing vocal control.  I for one think his transition up and down through the passagio was, for him, a God given gift.

 

Ciao ~ Tony

[norma]

HI Tony,

            I did not think the writer meant anything artificial about Mario`s singing but that it was natural for him and therefore more exciting and special.

                                                                                                                                                Norma

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Norma: I have no idea what book you read that in, but whoever made the comment was talking nonsense. Lanza's vocal technique was such that the breaks between his three registers (lower, middle and upper) were inaudible; in other words, his voice sounded seamless from top to bottom.

It was (conveniently) unnamed "experts" whom Time magazine referred to in its mean-spirited 1951 cover article who first brought up the ridiculous prediction that Lanza's way of singing would ultimately cause his voice to "burn out." In fact, Mario knew exactly what he was doing, vocally speaking, and, as Tony's already pointed out, his voice was not damaged at the end of his life. The man was in poor shape---sure---and, obviously, that affected how he sounded from day to day. But on a good day---even in August 1959? The voice was definitely still all there. As Armando put it (in a post back in 2007):

A voice, like a violin or a piano, is an instrument and it needs the
best possible encasing in order to produce the best sound. The
encasing for a singer is the body, which has to be in optimal
condition or else there will be serious repercussions on the voice.

In Mario's case the vocal changes parallel the crises and traumatic
moments that were afflicting him in his later years.

I am totally convinced that had he pulled himself together and
restored his health, the voice we would have heard in 1960 would have
been closer to that of the Cavalcade album in 1956. After all, the
voice was not damaged. Unlike Callas, just to cite an example, Lanza
had not done enough singing to damage it but, as we all know, his
physical condition was another matter.

Cheers
Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Hi Derek,

 I can agree with this evaluation. The change of Mario's voice was partly a consequence of his aging but basicly of his physical state and lifestyle. It was the cause of unevenness after 1956 as well. Unfortunately. I suppose it would have been reversible even after 1960 if....I'm sure his tragedy was an unavoidable destiny in his case.

 

Barnabas

2012/7/5 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[leeann]

I am so appreciative of these explanations that clarify, not only Mario Lanza's work, but spill over into ways of listening to other singers.

The issue of critics and their comments remains such a sticky one, and it will be interesting to see if the opinions today's professional critics wield the power or hold the sway that they have before this era of communication democratization.

I had to smile this morning at critics comments that appeared in a promotional email from Norbeck, Peters and Ford. I  wondered whether some might actually deter sales--although others were kind of intriguing. A recording of a live concert by Nicola Martinucci, for example, is advertised with The New York Times review,

The wild and extended applause especially from some upper reaches of the Met balconies, seemed a little out of scale...one would almost have thought there was a claque at work up there.

Or for bass Cesari Siepi in performance with di Stefano in Mignon--an odd way to begin a musical review, but apparently a true statement where Siepi was concerned at any rate :

Nature would appear to dictate, that in general, tenors are short and portly, baritones are of medium height and stocky, and basses tall and rather spare...

Regardless, critics are an odd bunch, and it is difficult to fathom how and why  the debilitating statements in the Time article about Mario Lanza seem indelible, despite the extent of material disproving and deriding what it said and how it is said. Best, lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: Critics are indeed a peculiar bunch---and I  feel that especially where singing and great voices are concerned, there are very few indeed who know what they're actually talking about. Remember what Puccini said of them? "Critics: the most useless of all the races" :)

I have a particular beef against Gramophone, Britain's leading classical music magazine, over its almost-consistent unfairness to Lanza, not just during his lifetime but in the decades following. You can therefore imagine my schadenfreude when one of its prominent reviewers was caught out in a scandal a few years back involving recordings falsely issued under the name of pianist Joyce Hatto. This woman's husband had issued a huge number of CDs, supposedly of his invalid wife's hitherto-unreleased recordings of works by Liszt, Rachmaninov et al, to glowing reviews by Gramophone, in particular. The only problem was that the husband had copied all of the recordings from existing CDs by other artists, including one recording that the same Gramophone reviewer had previously rubbished!

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

My DVD of For the First Time is still a couple of weeks away from arriving---I think its release date at Amazon is in a few days---but in the meantime it's great to see the film receiving love in the unlikeliest of places. Prominent film critic Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, in a review of the DVD, has just amazed me by describing it as "a very good film"---and a great showcase for Lanza:

http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/DVD-review-For-the-First-Time-3723058.php

I especially liked these comments:

He plays a combative, tempestuous, impetuous and engaging American singer who goes to Capri and falls in love with a deaf girl (Johanna von Koczian, a German actress still working today). He decides to take her with him on a concert tour, and at each city they see an ear specialist. Along the way, Lanza, one of the great voices of the 20th century, performs arias from various operas, from Mozart to Leoncavallo. (He also does a beautiful "Ave Maria," at a lovely point in the film. I'll say no more.)

And:

What I like, even love, about this film is the way the real Lanza comes through - big-natured, impulsive, lovable, unreasonable, a glutton, an artist, just another guy from Philly, and the man who can sing "Come Prima" better than anyone else. What a talent, and what a loss.

 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

My pieces are on the way from Amazon to my home. Imagine, that I saw this movie (titled Der Sanger von Capri) twice in East-Berlin as a student in 1964. It put a spell on me that time at 15, and it's been going on without end. How about you? 
Barnabas

2012/7/25 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

My DVD of For the First Time is still a couple of weeks away from arriving---I think its release date at Amazon is in a few days---but in the meantime it's great to see the film receiving love in the unlikeliest of places. Prominent film critic Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, in a review of the DVD, has just amazed me by describing it as "a very good film"---and a great showcase for Lanza:

http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/video-first-time-mario-lanzas-swan-song

[Derek McGovern]

I've just realized that my Amazon order of For the First Time (and Seven Hills) was dispatched last Thursday, so hopefully I'll have it by Monday.

Hi Barnabas: The film put a spell on me too when I first saw it in my late teens. I recognized, of course, that it wasn't a great movie---which makes the praise of a film critic of Mick LaSalle's standing all the more surprising to me!---but I did find it a very endearing one, and enhanced immeasurably by some terrific singing.

Cheers
Derek

[Armando]

Excellent, as well as surprising review from La Salle. While it’s not a great film it’s a fitting finale with some great singing and the essence and vibrancy of Lanza’s larger than life personality distinctly visible.

[Derek McGovern]

Well, I have the DVD at last, and I'm pretty happy with it overall. The only real negative is that the sound isn't as good as it could have been. It's overly bright---almost shrill at times on the dialogue, in particular, and it robs some of the musical numbers (O Sole Mio, Vesti la Giubba, etc) of their glorious resonance, especially as heard on the VHS version of the film. Basically, it's the same thin, clinical sound that we hear on the laserdisc (and on the BMG CD). (Having said that, the Otello Death Scene rang out with startling clarity.)

The picture quality, on the other hand, was a delight. The colour was more vibrant than on the Seven Hills of Rome DVD, and I wasn't bothered at all by the occasional fluctuation. So much extra detail too---right down to Lanza's five o'clock shadow in one scene, and background bits and pieces that I'd never noticed before. The only downside of all the additional clarity is that the Capri backdrop in the two scenes between Lanza and Hans Sohnker at the latter's villa now looks fake. (They were filmed in a Berlin studio.) But it's a fleeting thing.

It's been said elsewhere that the DVD emphasizes Mario's physical decline more than ever before. I don't agree---the moments in which he does look puffy, bloated or worn out (all of which were filmed in Berlin towards the end of shooting, when he probably was exhausted) are no more obvious here than on the VHS version (for all the extra clarity)---and he looks surprisingly well in many scenes. In fact, when I put the Seven Hills of Rome DVD on straight after this, my first thought was that he actually looked worse in that film, especially in the opening scene and shortly afterwards in the train sequence.

What really struck me from seeing For the First Time in such pristine quality is the enchantment of the Capri scenes. The colours are gorgeous, and the scenery, far from being a distraction, enhances the film. I didn't expect to be so moved, for example, when Mario embraces Johanna on a Capri hilltop surrounded by auburn colours. The scene has an almost fairytale quality about it.

I'm very pleased I bought this DVD.

Cheers
Derek

It's a very sweet film.  

[Derek McGovern]

Whoops: That last line in my post above wasn't meant to be there. But I stand by the comment: it is an endearing film. And dare I say it? Lanza's acting is more consistent here than in Serenade, despite the weaker script and often-banal dialogue. There are many scenes in which he is excellent, and only a handful of hammy or otherwise unconvincing moments. Notice the rueful way he concedes to Sohnker that most of the newspaper stories about him "are probably true," or the way he delivers (in the same scene) the lines "I want to think about you said. You see, I'm going because I want to come back." Excellent stuff!

[Michael McAdam]

I must agree with Derek on some of the points he raised about this DVD of Lanza's last film. Some good line delivery in the Villa scene (as Derek stated below)  and he has an ease about him while delivereing the more comedic lines. I liked that (I haven't seen this film for 20 or more years, btw).

Appearance-wise, I thought he looked great in the Capri scenes. No more ridiculous, towering pompadour hairdo as in Serenade. He was nicely groomed (5 o'clock shadow indeed, Derek) and nicely attired. He looked younger than I expected or remembered but Johanna was far too young, I thought. She looked and sounded like a kid.

Seeing this film again I've definitely made up my mind. If funds permit next year, I'm taking my young bride to the Malfi coast and Capri.

 

A tecnical comment or two about the film:

The technicolor picture is nigh unto superb (only the occasional colour-intensity fluctuation). the grain was minimal and scenes had a real 'snap' to them. Too bad the camera and film stock used for the slow-pan shots of the coast were noticeably different than those used for the outdoor acting sets (the panorama sweeps looked more like stock travelogue footage to me). A small quibble though as the whole thing blended together quite well.

Nice to see they stayed with the original widescreen (2.4:1 ratio) presentation.

I did notice that the chap resonsible for the opening credits mis-spelled Herr Sohnker's name though. I'm sure he'd have been a bit miffed there.

 

The sound? Well, we like to hear Lanza and all the glorius harmonics/overtones of that famous voice, ja? Sorry, but you've let us down here, Mr. Turner. The sound is quite shrill and in mono, coming only from the centre with no bass oomph! (I had to rectify that by fiddling with my stereo amp. controls. Then there was some improvement)

Sound complaints aside...a delightful little film with some great singing. A good swansong for Mario; well worth ordering.

 

Cheers, Mike

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Interesting comments!

I wasn't bothered by the obvious age difference between Mario and Johanna (who was 25 here to Lanza's 37). As at least one reviewer has pointed out, Mario's courtship of Johanna was quite convincing in the film---think of that tender scene after "O Sole Mio," for example. They seemed compatible, and that's all that mattered to me. It's amusing, though, to think that Lanza started out his film career with a leading lady, Kathryn Grayson, who was virtually the same age as him, but after Toast his female co-stars were all at least six years younger (Joan Fontaine & Zsa Zsa Gabor excluded, but they played second fiddle in their respective films to younger women), and in the case of Marisa Allasio---and, to a slightly lesser extent, Johanna---much younger. I guess that says something about the difficulty that actresses had (have?) in landing leading roles once they hit their mid-30s.

Speaking of For the First Time, Armando has just alerted me privately about this Italian newsreel (for the week ending 9 October 1958), which is now on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_WaQm8VNLA&feature=plcp

We've discussed this footage before (back in 2008, I think), but it's certainly worth another look now that it's on YouTube (it was previously on a difficult-to-access Italian site). The Lanza segment starts at 2:50, and lasts only a half-minute or so, but notice how vibrant, slim and well the man is looking in October 1958, as he walks with FTFT director Rudy Mate and cinematographer Aldo Tonti (the little fellow with the cigar). He looks on top of the world! Zsa Zsa Gabor is also featured, as she arrives at Rome's Ciampino Airport for the film. It looks as though they were filming the courtroom scene that day---Lanza is wearing the same clothes here.

Cheers
Derek

[jorain123]

I also received my DVD of FTFT this week and I love it. Slight improvement in sound and most of the scenery looks fine (with a few"fake"-looking backgrounds) His voice was tremendous but you can "see" his failing health in some of the scenes. BTW, I have a large lithograph of his "Vesti" scene, signed by Damon Lanza, hanging in my living room. Looks great!.

 

I also received this week the literature on the 2012 Mario Lanza Ball in Philadelphia ( Nov), and I was wondering if anyone from this forum was planning on attending?

[Vincent Di Placido]

I finally got my "For the First Time" & "7 Hills of Rome" dvds today, which was great timing because I was off work :-)

They both look fantastic & I am sure it is the best we will get, but as others have said the sound is a slight disappointment. I love having the full widescreen image in such great quality, it opens up a whole other level for these films.

[Derek McGovern]

Joe wrote:

His voice was tremendous but you can "see" his failing health in some of the scenes.

Yes, we can, but what puzzles me is why editor Gene Ruggiero and director Rudy Mate opted to highlight that fact by cutting to an incredibly unflattering close-up of Lanza during the "Ave Maria" scene. Lanza looks fine in this scene from medium shot, so why not stick with that instead of unnerving the audience? It makes about as much sense as the decision to film a very overweight Mario in close-up in Serenade when he wakes up from his coma in Sarita's hacienda.

Other scenes in For the First Time that highlight Lanza's poor physical condition could easily have been avoided by using different lighting and/or camera angles. Take one of the scenes with Han Sohnker at the latter's villa. Mario looks bloated and painted when he's sitting down---and fine in medium shot when he stands up! And that unfortunate shot of Mario crooning "Come Prima" from his balcony could have been so much more flatteringly captured.

Getting back to editor Gene Ruggiero for a minute, this film surely has to rate as one of his sloppiest efforts. The ending of the "Come Prima" scene and the editing of the Aida Grand March scene are very poorly done. Mind you, there's equally poor editing throughout Seven Hills---and even in The Great Caruso ("Che Gelida Manina" scene), both of which Ruggiero worked on.

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

Just a P.S. to my earlier comments about the DVD: I watched the film on a 58-inch Samsung TV this afternoon, and I was surprised by how super-red everything was compared with the more natural colour that I'd seen on my Apple notebook. Lanza's face, in particular, was often beetroot red :) You may need to do a little fiddling with the colour and contrast to tone down all that garishness. Very good picture quality overall, though.

Having now heard the film through speakers rather than Bose earphones, I'm less bothered than I was by the sound quality. Yes, it is a bit bright, and I still miss the resonance of the sonically superb VHS, but at least it's a very vibrant sound.

[leeann]

Hi, Derek,  I love the way various threads here lead to new explorations. I hadn't paid much attention to Gene Ruggiero or to the question of film editing among the many discussions about scripting, acting, and direction in Lanza's films. Armando, of course, also points out in An American Tragedy that Ruggiero had edited all the Lanza movies (except Serenade) and was an honorary pallbearer at his funeral.  Film editors, though, certainly don't get a lot of publicity, even though their abilities make or break the best and maybe even the worst movies!

What a diverse career Ruggiero had--including the 1957 Oscar as film editor for Around the World in 80 Days.

I'm wondering about the work of the film editor and how much footage Ruggiero might have had to work with and to spare in the 1940s and 1950s--for Lanza films anyway especially under the often-limited time frame for shooting and--at least for Seven Hills--on-the-spot script rewrites and changes.  As everyone's pointed out, For the First Time is full of quietly polished, delightful moments, and frequently those are the shots that capture a subtlety in Lanza's facial expressions and an endearing dynamic between him and Johanna von Koczian, all reinforcing our sense that the film is well-acted.  But--the Aida Grand March scene--what a waste--there's just no good camera perspective there at all. Perhaps the intent was to capture the grandeur of the stage set, but the lack of close-ups and focus weren't really consistent with the plot and was particularly disappointing as we were trying to demonstrate how the spectacular sketches for the costumes finally appeared in the film. 

So, I'm curious, then, about what Ruggiero might have done better in The Great Caruso as well. Best, Leeann

[Michael McAdam]

Derek:

I just re-viewed the beginning of the film (to the end of 'Come Prima') and the skin tones are quite good. As Samsung makes all the LCD wafers for the major manufactureres (including my 50 " Sony Bravia LCD monitor) I'm curious how your playback ends up beetroot-red?

On Sunday, August 5, 2012 4:21:04 AM UTC-3, Derek McGovern wrote:

Just a P.S. to my earlier comments about the DVD: I watched the film on a 58-inch Samsung TV this afternoon, and I was surprised by how super-red everything was compared with the more natural colour that I'd seen on my Apple notebook. Lanza's face, in particular, was often beetroot red :) You may need to do a little fiddling with the colour and contrast to tone down all that garishness. Very good picture quality overall, though.

Have you had a chance to listen to the 'Dolby Digital' (?) sound on a 5.1 spkr home theatre setup yet?

 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: I have no idea how Mario became so beetroot-red on my TV, but I'm relieved to hear he has more natural skin tones on your set! He was a bit red in the face on the Serenade DVD as well, so the problem is obviously at my end.

I used a Sony Home Theatre multi-speaker system (with Dolby Digital) to play the DVD, and after a bit of fiddling with the settings managed to give the sound a bit more warmth. But Serenade remains by far the best sonic reproduction on DVD of Lanza's films.

Cheers
Derek

[norma]

Hi Derek I have just watchedFTFT and was surprised how heavy and much older he looked .Yet in the Italian newsreel he looks younger and slimmer.Again in the  previous You Tube where he is in Capri and is talking to Johanna he looks even slimmer.No wonder his lmoods were erratic.

                                                                                                                       All the  Best Norma

[Tony Partington]

Derek,

So sorry about my earlier post not being routed properly. My smart(ass) phone strikes again. A thousand apologies.

Tony

[Derek McGovern]

Lee Ann wrote:

I'm wondering about the work of the film editor and how much footage Ruggiero might have had to work with and to spare in the 1940s and 1950s--for Lanza films anyway especially under the often-limited time frame for shooting and--at least for Seven Hills--on-the-spot script rewrites and changes.  [...]

So, I'm curious, then, about what Ruggiero might have done better in The Great Caruso as well.

Hi Lee Ann: You're probably right that in the case of Seven Hills, poor old Gene Ruggiero wouldn't have had a lot to work with. I get the impression at times from this film that the Continuity Person was AWOL :) But even so, there's no excuse for one glaringly bad piece of editing late in the film (at the 1hr 35-minute mark), when Lanza is standing at the top of some steps, leaning against a wall and waiting for Marisa Allasio. He sees Allasio and moves forward to greet her, but then the film cuts to a reverse angle shot (from behind Lanza) and lo and behold he's stationery in his original position! 

A similar thing happens during the "Che Gelida Manina" scene in The Great Caruso. Check out this clip at the 1:43 mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4naLrtxHkik

Mind you, Ruggiero wasn't the only culprit. In Because You're Mine, which was edited by one Albert Akst, there's a very poor cut during "Granada"---at the 1:55 mark on this clip---when the film goes from a long shot of Lanza with his arms down to a medium shot of him with his arms raised! Now we know in the case of this scene that multiple takes from different angles were shot (the trailer even features different shots from those that appear in the film), so I'm sure the editor would have had plenty of footage to work with. 

Then again, maybe I'm just being picky because I spent my teenage years editing and re-editing my home movies whenever I got the chance :) I was simply in love with the possibilities of film editing. (And I'm sure that Vince can relate to that!)

Cheers
Derek

[leeann]

First off, thank you, Derek, for pointing out that Akst (another editor with an impressive record), not Ruggiero, edited Be My Love (and further oops,  nowhere in An American Tragedy does Armando say that Ruggiero was the ONLY editor of all of Lanza's films except Serenade--just to set the record straight on that).

This is just a thank you for pointing to these editing bits. What an excellent group of "Ah-HA" moments. They're great lessons in watching and looking. It's perhaps not too difficult to see the importance of film editing to the broader sequence and cohesiveness of film plotline and narrative, but harder to see the micro-view that builds that totality.

I wonder how these moments in Lanza films compare with other films of his day--I'm guessing it's  a whole lot easier now to explicitly clip nanoseconds than in the 1940s and 50s, where the technology available to film editors was quite different.
Best, Leeaann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann

Bad editing always jumps out at me---and I'm constantly aware of it when watching Korean TV dramas!---but I can't say it's something that I've ever associated with the films of Lanza's time. Rather, I'd say the poor editing at times in his films went hand in hand with an overall lack of commitment to quality in terms of script, direction, and other factors.

MGM, in particular, never sought to make great art in Lanza's case; they assigned mediocre directors to make unsophisticated entertainment for what they no doubt imagined would be an undemanding audience. It wasn't that Lanza couldn't act---in fact, he'd proved he could while still a complete novice, shining in the presence of some veteran performers in That Midnight Kiss. Rather, it was the fact that MGM saw fit to assign the undistinguished Joe Pasternak (and undisputed king of lowbrow musicals) to mastermind Lanza's film career. I'm convinced that had Lanza been working with better producers, directors and screenwriters from the start, then we would have seen better films---and certainly better acting performances from him. As Ludwig Donath noted, Lanza had the basic goods to be a fine actor; he simply needed guidance. But he wasn't going to get that from the likes of Richard Thorpe, who liked to shoot everything in one take.

Speaking of cinematic sloppiness, I've always been irritated by the lack of continuity in the "O Sole Mio" scene in FTFT. Watch Hans Sohnker's expressions when the film cuts from a medium shot of him and Johanna listening to Lanza to a long shot. Very sloppy! Still, it's not nearly as embarrassing as the obvious lip-synching in the same film during the few bars of "Bella Figlia dell'Amore" immediately after "La Donna e' Mobile" :)

Cheers
Derek