For the First Time

From the beautiful backdrop of Capri, to the enormous, passionate ringing voice of Mario Lanza, this is a must see movie for one and all.

Mario is in wonderful voice, and looks every bit the part of an opera singer hiding incognito. The scene where he sings "Come Prima ("For the First Time") is a showstopper, and you can almost feel the warm sunlight in your face and the salt air in your lungs as you listen to the one true voice known as Mario Lanza, singing to the swooning girls and admiring men. Don't miss this one!

Lanza's last film is an enjoyable lightweight concoction with some lovely scenery and the star in glorious voice. The story is a bit hard to swallow but since his films were never the bedrock of reality this one is about par for the course. He performs many songs and as usual those are the strongest parts of the film since Mario was more of a personality than an actor but his part doesn't demand too much of him and he does fine with it. While Lanza sounds wonderful he's not looking his best, probably a result of his hard living ways which of course resulted in his passing shortly after the completion of this film. Someone who is a knockout is Zsa Zsa Gabor, her part is small but she perks up the picture every time she sweeps onto the screen beautifully dressed and oozing a sophistication that would be hard to find today.

Musically speaking, Lanza's best movies are undoubtedly The Great Caruso, Serenade and For The First Time. The Great Caruso is the most accessible of the three, and also has the best production values. Serenade is a much darker movie, and contains Lanza's most impressive dramatic singing. It does, however, suffer from an uneven script (see my review if you're interested).

Although a much lighter tale, For The First Time is similarly flawed. It contains the most perfectly balanced musical programme of any of the tenor's seven movies, but at the same time suffers from a poorly written script and some sloppy dubbing. As with The Seven Hills of Rome the preceding year, the original script was apparently a good one, but somewhere along the way a sugar coating was added to the story. The result was a highly sentimental tear-jerker with a good deal of banal dialogue.

It's to Lanza's credit, then, that For The First Time transcends its limitations and remains a watchable - and often moving - swansong from a musical giant. It helps that Lanza, just a year before his death, was in superb voice throughout - with one exception that I'll get to in a minute. Here his voice retains the baritonal depth of the Serenade period, but if anything his tenor is even rounder that it had been three years earlier. This is a voice of extraordinary depth and power. The high notes are faultless and retain the brilliance of old, but equally importantly his singing is more controlled and sensitive than in some of his boisterous earlier appearances. It must have helped that the operatic selections were recorded (and filmed) at the Rome Opera House, thus providing the tenor with a more artistic atmosphere than Hollywood could ever have afforded.

The Vesti La Giubba scene is extremely moving, both visually and vocally. Free of distracting histrionics, this is a very different rendition from his slightly hammy earlier performances of the aria. If you never thought Lanza could top his magnificent rendition from The Great Caruso, then be prepared for a big surprise. This is the perfect Canio voice - dark, rich and powerful - and the pathos in Lanza's voice as he sustains the climactic High A on the word "infranto" is all but overwhelming.

The other operatic selections are equally impressive - with the exception of the strained La Donna E Mobile that begins the movie. The Otello Finale, Grand March from Aida, and trio (E Voi Ridete) from Cosi Fan Tutte present an amazingly varied programme, and I can think of no other tenor capable of pulling off both the drama of Verdi and the lightness of Mozart with such effortless panache.

Among the lighter selections, Lanza also sings appealing versions of Come Prima (For The First Time), O Sole Mio, Schubert's Ave Maria, a Bavarian Drinking Song (Hofbrauhaus Song), and the pretty-though-brief O Mon Amour. There is also a tantalising snatch from Grieg's I Love Thee, with Lanza's gleaming tenor ringing out in all its glory.

Physically, he often appears tired, and the unhealthy bags under his eyes betray his failing health. Nevertheless, he looks terrific in certain scenes, and unusually for the tenor his relatively slim appearance remains more or less consistent throughout the movie.

Aside from the movie's vocal strengths, what really saves the film is the tender rapport between Lanza and his delightful co-star, Johanna Von Koczian. Their love for each other, quickly though it develops, seems convincing, and there are moments in which it is hard to believe that Lanza is only acting.

Corny moments aside (and there are plenty of them), For The First Time is a poignant farewell to Lanza, and a vocal feast at that.

All of Mario Lanza's films are worth watching, even his weakest Seven Hills of Rome. For the First Time was his final film before his ultimely death shortly after, and is one of his best along with Serenade(my favourite) and The Great Caruso, The Student Prince is excellent too but because Lanza only provided the singing voice I'm not counting it.

The sometimes silly and rather thinly written story(which is one of the weak points of all Lanza's films except Serenade) is best forgotten, and the film sometimes felt too rushed, with Tony and Christa's relationship developed initially a touch too quickly. While the story is forgettable, the music and Lanza are most certainly not.

The music is a mix of operatic favourites and lightweight 'popular songs', with the highlights being Come Prima, the very moving Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba(which along with the Otello monologue from Serenade contains Lanza's best film acting) being the standouts. Lanza's performance here is one of his best, along with Serenade and The Great Caruso(though he is a little better in those films). Sure he is not in the best physical shape due to ill health and La Donna e Mobile sounded strained, as a result of the drinking maybe and because of the voice darkening. But he plays with much more charm and assured ease than he did in his previous film Seven Hills of Rome, and he brings the same great emotional intensity that he brought in Serenade. He is in great voice, the tone here is unmistakable and beautiful with a richer darker quality than to his earlier films, his musicality and phrasing as solid as rocks and he there is some genuine pathos in his renditions of Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba and charm in Come Prima.

Improvements over Lanza's previous films would be the script and the chemistry with his leading lady. Like the story, the script was a weak point in some of Lanza's films(Seven Hills of Rome was particularly bad in this case) but while it's not a strong point in For the First Time it does not bring it down. It's appealingly light-hearted and has some genuine pathos, without trying too hard, being manipulative, being too cloying and it doesn't veer into melodramatic soap-opera. Chemistry between Lanza and his leading ladies tended to not quite convince, often feeling cold(and this is including Kathryn Grayson in his first two films). The rapport between Lanza and the very touching Johanna Von Koczian in For the First Time though is very convincing and remarkably tender, which brings depth and poignancy to the story.

For the First Time is a very well-made film visually too, with lavish costumes and sets and vibrant Technicolor photography. Rudolph Maté's direction is assured and sympathetic, and of the strong supporting cast a big standout would have to be Zsa Zsa Gabor, who brings incandescent sophistication to a role that doesn't really have an awful lot to it.

In summary, For the First Time may be Lanza's swan-song, but it is also one of his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Released two months before his demise, For The First Time proved to be Mario Lanza's last film. While it's not the young Lanza in his prime, booming out Be My Love, it's still a good film to go out on. It's a Cinderella type fairy tale of a concert singer/Prince Charming who meets and falls for a deaf girl and spends his time looking to cure her affliction.

One thing For The First Time has going for it are those European locations, especially the fabulous Isle of Capri. Capri is one of those places in the world where you cannot film anything that won't be beautiful. Ranks right up there with the Grecian Isles and Hawaii in that regard. Paramount would also use Capri around the same time for the Clark Gable-Sophia Loren film, It Started In Naples also with gratifying results.

The deaf girl who Lanza falls for precisely because she can't hear him and isn't groupie material is played by German actress Johanna Von Koczian who's had a distinguished career in German cinema to this day. She's billed as 'introducing Johanna Von Koczian' but she's only being introduced here to American audiences. Walter Rilla as the hearing specialist who operates and cures her and Hans Bohnker as Von Koczian's uncle, are also from the German film industry. Most of the rest of the cast is Italian. Of course with the exceptions of Kurt Kaszner as Lanza's manager and Zsa Zsa Gabor as Zsa Zsa under any name.

Mario too is Mario under any name. He always was himself because the audiences came to hear him sing, they didn't expect Hamlet from him. For The First Time has a good mix of classical and popular songs. Highlights are Come Prima which Lanza introduced and which sold a few records for him on RCA Victor Red Seal label and O Sole Mio which he sings at Sandra Giglio's wedding.

Lanza was in training at the time of his death on October 7, 1959 to finally go into grand opera. A hint of what he could have done is in the arias he does from Otello and the triumphal march from Aida which is a great piece of DeMille like spectacle in opera. He's just fabulous in both.

Back in the days of The Odd Couple I remember an episode where Felix says to Oscar he wants the triumphal march from Aida played at his funeral as his casket is paraded seven times around the cemetery before the planting. As an opera lover, I'm sure Felix must have seen For The First Time and was influenced.

If he heard Mario Lanza sing it, it sounds like a plan.