Serenade

Synopsis: Feature film. Damon Vincente (Lanza), a farmhand with a beautiful singing voice, becomes a singer in a restaurant where he is discovered by a musical promoter (Price) and a rich heiress (Fontaine). Vincente goes on tour with them but cancels a date with Hale to rehearse Otello at the Met in New York, a decision which prompts Hale to break off their relationship. Later Winthrop offers Damon another chance of operatic fame.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1956
Duration: 121 mins

Director

Anthony Mann

Producer

Henry Blanke

Cinematographer

J. Peverell Marley

Screenplay

Ben Roberts; Ivan Goff; John Twist

Production Design

Edward Carrere

Costume

Howard Shoup

Cast

Notes: Available on video NTSC only (12/2007).
General: Based on the novel by James M. Cain.
Reviews: `By 1955 Lanza’s voice had darkened into a lirico spinto tenor that often borders on the dramatic. It is rare indeed to hear a tenor with such baritonal fullness AND a ringing tenorial top. (Eat your heart out, Placido Domingo!) Lanza for my money, the Otello Monologue is the pinnacle of Lanza’s operatic legacy, and the finest recording of this aria [. The scene in which it appears is also brilliantly acted by Lanza. As the critic John Cargher would later remark, Lanza’s rendition of the Otello Monologue alone "would assure him of immortality.' [IMDb user comment, accessed 12/2007]. [Otello’s aria is’Dio! Mi potevi scagliar...]

British Universities Film & Video Council