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That Midnight Kiss

1949, Movie, NR, 96 mins

That Midnight Kiss: Review

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Mario Lanza made his film debut in this box-office winner, a colorful, musical, partly biographical tale. Barrymore is a rich Philadelphia dowager who once had plans for a career in opera. Her granddaughter is Grayson, and Barrymore hopes to live out her frustrations through the comely young woman. Barrymore is putting up the money for a local opera company and has hired Jose Iturbi (as himself) to helm the orchestra. Grayson meets jolly truck driver Lanza and is impressed by his voice, so she prevails on Iturbi to give the tenor a listen. Gomez is the tenor who has been engaged to bolster in Grayson's operatic debut. He is past his prime and his temperamental tantrums cause him to walk out on the company before the opening. They need another tenor to replace him and, in a moment right out of 42ND STREET (and a hundred other films), Lanza is asked to step in. Then he and Grayson have a lovers' spat and he walks out. Opening night rolls around and Lanza comes back to triumph with Grayson, after receiving some sage advice from his father, Naish. A thin plot is padded with lots of music from various classical as well as popular writers. Grayson and Lanza duet on "They Didn't Believe Me" (Jerome Kern, Herbert Reynolds), and Grayson sings the "I Know, I Know, I Know" (Bob Russell, Bronislau Kaper). Naish sings the old classic "Three O'Clock in the Morning" (Julian Robledo, Dorothy Terriss) as well as "Santa Lucia" (Teodoro Cottrau). Keenan Wynn leads a quartet in "Down Among the Sheltering Palms" (Abe Olman, James Brockman). Frederick Chopin's "Revolutionary Etude" is played by Jose and Amparo Iturbi. Jose Iturbi also plays Giuseppe Verdi's "Cara Nome" from the opera "Rigoletto." Lanza sings Verdi's "Celeste Aida" from the opera "Aida." Lanza is accompanied by Jose Iturbi on Gaetano Donizetti's "Una Furtiva Lacrima" from the opera "L'Elisir D'Amore." Iturbi plays segments from Pyotr Ilich Tschaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1" and Franz Liszt's "Piano Concerto in E Flat." Lanza sings Pietro Mascagni's "Mama Mia Che Vo Sape" from the opera "Cavaliera Rusticana" and teams with Grayson on the theme from Tschaikovsky's "Fifth Symphony," with some sappy lyrics added by the producer. Lanza burst into national prominence with this movie. He was an average Joe with a sensational voice and he took the country by storm. leave a comment
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