If you did not know much about the Great Caruso before you watched this film, you will be none the wiser after this film.It really is a bread and butter straightforward romanticised and fictionalised film starring Mario Lanza, filmed in the Hollywood backlot. The film has little to do with Caruso's life.If you want operatic singing and hear Lanza's voice then this is the film for you. I was underwhelmed.

By far the best thing about 'The Great Caruso' is not its stodgy script or its slightly silly plot (not very likely that much of this equates to the true story of Enrico Caruso, the first opera star to have his voice immortalised for all time), but the first rate singing throughout. Mario Lanza of course was a great asset to MGM through the late 1940s and early 1950s, with a fabulous voice and an attractive personality on the screen. This film also gives us the opportunity to see the lovely Dorothy Kirsten, who seems to have made very few films, and a sweet performance from Ann Blyth as the main love interest for Caruso.We watch the young Enrico (played with charm by Peter Edward Price) grow into an enterprising young man who realises his voice is potentially his fortune. As the young talent flourishes and develops we follow his rise to fame through to his eventual inevitable ending. I didn't get much sense that the character we were seeing in this film was 'Caruso'; having heard his recordings he projected a very different personality than that we see in Lanza; still, this production is entertaining enough.

Mario Lanza was wonderful in the lead role, with a voice like an angel, however, the movie itself lacked something as a biography.There was very little mention of the great tenor's true life and death, leading you to believe that his father-in-law was a total jerk. No mention whatsoever was made of his two illigitimate sons, which would have made a difference when viewing his personality. Caruso truly was a peasant, and not a proper husband to a socialite.They would have you believe that he valiantly finished his performance as he died, when in reality, he probably died in bed.I would only watch this movie a second time for the brilliant musical performances.

This movie can truly be called life-changing. It certainly changed my life; I was totally ignorant of opera before a chance re-run of this movie introduced me to a whole new musical world. As it turned out, I was in illustrious company. There is not a single contemporary tenor of note who was not inspired by this movie.Let's be honest from the outset: the movie bears little resemblance to the real Caruso's life, and, yes, it is corny in the grand tradition of Hollywood musicals. But who cares? Lanza's singing is perfection itself, and his vibrant personality overflows in practically every scene. The rest of the cast is good, with top-notch operatic singers Blanche Thebom, Giuseppe Valdengo, et al providing Lanza with some worthy (and rare) vocal support.Highlights include a superb Vesti la Giubba, a moving Ave Maria and a rapturous Because. In all the movie contains 27 vocal items, with not a dull moment to be found amongst them.See this movie and revel in a unique vocal talent. In the words of one admirer, Mario Lanza could "outsing the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir", and the movie is a stark reminder of how bland today's singing idols really are. Enrico Caruso, Jr, was one observer who concurred with this view.While the movie overlooked his existence in favor of his half-sister Gloria, Caruso's son had nothing but praise for the man who portrayed his father:"Mario Lanza was born with one of the dozen or so great tenor voices of the century, with a natural gift for placement, an unmistakable and very pleasing timbre, and a nearly infallible musical instinct conspicuously absent in the overwhelming majority of so-called 'great' singers. His diction was flawless, matched only by the superb Giuseppe di Stefano. His delivery was impassioned, his phrasing manly, and his tempi instinctively right -- qualities that few singers are born with and others can never attain."I can think of no other tenor, before or since Mario Lanza, who could have risen with comparable success to the challenge of playing Caruso in a screen biography."Well said, Enrico Jnr, and viva il grande Lanza!