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Toast of New Orleans
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by MGM (Warner)
Sales Rank: 11960
Price: $19.98
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Mario Lanza fans will love this musical souffle which was released a year before "The Great Caruso"; Lanza is in top form and even dances with a young Rita Moreno, and hardly five minutes goes by in the film without a song.
The skimpy plot consists of opera director Niven discovering bayou bumpkin Lanza and turning him into an opera star, where of course he tries to win the heart of soprano Grayson.<p>The music is fabulous, with original songs by Nicholas Brodszky and Sammy Cahn, including the Lanza hit and Oscar nominated "Be My Love"; others are "Tina Lina", "I'll Never Love You", "The Toast of New Orleans", "Song of the Bayou", and "Boom Biddy Boom Boom".
The operatic selections are what make the film for me, and include a terrific "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee" (from Bizet's "Carmen"), "O paradissortide l'onde" (Mayerbeer/"L'africaine"), "Je suis Titania" (Thomas/"Mignon"). "Libiamo, libiamo ne' lieti calici" (Verdi/"La Traviata"), and my favorite scene in the film, "Viene la sera" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly".<p>The cast surrounding Lanza is great, with Kathryn Grayson excellent as Suzette the soprano and love interest, David Niven smooth and classy as Jacques the director, J. Carrol Naish as Uncle Nicky, and some humorous scenes belong to Clinton Sundberg as he tries to teach Lanza "social graces".
This lighthearted frothy film is delightful, and a must for Lanza fans. Total running time is 97 minutes.
Viewer Reviews
What a match! Grayson, the beautiful physiognomy, clothes-model, and concert-quality singer was the best of her time (see her in "Kiss Me Kate"); and Mario has a magnificent voice. It was unfortunate that Mario was too out-of-condition to play "The Student Prince". Instead, the role went to Edmund Purdom. Also, Mario was made for the musical Carousel! None sings "If I Loved You" so well.
But, we are happy to have the video tapes and recordings of these
perfect performances available in the market place.
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Toast of New Orleans
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