Le baiser de minuit

I tend to agree with the critics of the time: If Mario Lanza was in the movie it was worth seeing. Even though this musical contained a wonderfully talented cast Mario Lanza still shines out and that is saying something. Any musical that was fortunate enough to have Jose Iturbi and his sister Amparo Iturbi who were concert pianists of great magnitude plus Kathryn Grayson who was no slouch in the singing department herself. Throw in Ethel Barrymore of the First Family of Actors and it is a lucky movie musical indeed. But in my opinion even with all of that Mario Lanza is the reason to see this movie. What a voice! Who cares if he could act or not. His acting was more than adequate. No one expected him to be an Oscar winner. Of course the plot to the musical was thin, most of those MGM musical plots were. But any musical that has Mario Lanza in it is worth seeing again and again.

For Mario Lanza's first feature film role it wasn't much of an acting stretch for him. He played exactly who he was an opera singing truck-driver from South Philadelphia. Mario would have been 28 at the time That Midnight Kiss came out and that is his approximate age right here.

Of course in real life he wasn't discovered by the granddaughter of another real life noted Philadelphian, Ethel Barrymore. As the plot would have it, Kathryn Grayson finds Mario playing on the piano and singing an old Italian song Mama Che Vio Sape.

Grayson's got singing talent herself in abundance and when you're from the Philadelphia Main Line you've got a grandmother who's willing to start a production company built around her. Of course to make sure it makes a little money you want a name tenor like Thomas Gomez as opposed to some unknown truck-driver.

Kathryn would rather make music with Mario both on and off the stage. The story with a few of the usual Hollywood romantic complications shows how they get to do just that.

Mario and Kathryn sang a good collection of classical and popular selections. My favorite recording of Jerome Kern's first great hit song They Didn't Believe Me is from Mario's original cast album of That Midnight Kiss. It's a solo recording, on screen it's done with Grayson and done just as beautifully. MGM made a good choice in including that great song in this film.

A good cast of MGM regulars supported Mario and Kathryn that included Keenan Wynn as Lanza's friend and Jules Munshin as the manager of the opera company. Best in the supporting cast however is Thomas Gomez as the egotistical tenor Lanza replaces. Gomez utilizes some seldom tapped comedy talent for this role.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer engineered a very auspicious debut for their new singing discovery in That Midnight Kiss.

Mario Lanza made his film debut in "That Midnight Kiss" costarring Kathryn Grayson, Ethel Barrymore, Jose Iturbi, Keenan Wynn, Thomas Gomez, Marjorie Reynolds, and Jules Munshin. The script was tailor-made for Lanza, set in his home town of Philadelphia. It was this film that nearly ruined my own singing aspirations. My mother always thought that if I were really good, someone would discover me - I guess hauling a piano - the way that Lanza was in this film. Nevertheless, I put all that aside when I watched it.

Johnny is a truck driver discovered testing out the piano he delivers to Abigail Budell (Barrymore), patron of the arts. She's just founded an opera company for the benefit of her daughter Prudence (Grayson). When the current tenor (Gomez) quits in a huff, Johnny steps in. He and Prudence are in love, but before either one of them can really act on it, Prudence is told by another woman (Marjorie Reynolds) that she wants to marry Johnny. How to get these two songbirds back together?

"That Midnight Kiss" is a big budget, glossy MGM musical extravaganza and as such, it's delicious to watch and makes for joyful listening. Lanza, attractive and a natural before the cameras, really commercialized opera in the U.S. with his clarion tenor. His IMDb bios were obviously written by fans. Though he certainly had a fantastic voice, he was evidently hard to work with, especially for his female costars. Alcohol and crash dieting eventually made his heart give out while he was still in his thirties. Also, he had his own sound; in recordings, Caruso sounds much more baritone-y, though Lanza's IMDb bio claims the voices match. It's hard to know what Lanza's voice sounded like on the opera stage. People who heard him in person claim the voice was not very large. Nevertheless, it was perfect for film.

Pretty and petite, Kathryn Grayson does a lovely job both in her acting and singing. Both singers shine in the more lyrical pieces sung outside Prudence's window and show their versatility. A side note - it's a little questionable what opera the company is doing - Grayson and Gomez sing a duet from "Lucia" in rehearsals, but the final product was in English and definitely NOT Donizetti!

The rest of the cast is superb - Keenan Wynn has impeccable comic timing, and Jules Munshin is given some great bits throughout. Thomas Gomez is hilarious as the bombastic tenor Betelli. Ethel Barrymore is stately and classy as Prudence's grandmother. Iturbi, playing himself, is delightful and plays some beautiful piano. Celeste Aida and the Lucia duet were conducted at pretty swift tempi, as was the "Caro Nome" that Grayson starts to sing at the piano.

Highly entertaining and recommended if you're a lover of classical music.

Having seen this movie when I was young, I became an enduring opera fan and a Mario Lanza fan. The story is believable, and Lanza is a handsome, romantic figure beautifully paired with Kathryn Grayson. Lanza is Johnny Donetti, a rough and tumble piano mover; Grayson is the refined niece of Ethel Barrymore, and she is being groomed for a career in the opera. Lanza was still relatively slim when this movie was made, and he became an instant matinée idol with his dark good looks and unleashed passion. Rent the movie, pop a bowl of corn, and enjoy the gold and silver of Lanza and Grayson along with the incomparable José Iturbi at the piano.

In Philadelphia, the soprano Prudence Budell (Kathryn Grayson) returns from Europe after a period of five years training in the best Europeans music schools. Her millionaire grandmother Abigail Trent Budell (Ethel Barrymore) sponsors an opera company under the command of the famous maestro Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Prudence to lead an opera. They hire the also famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli (Thomas Gomez), but Prudence does not feel comfortable with him on the stage. When Prudence accidentally sees the American-Italian truck driver Johnny Donnetti (Mario Lanza) singing opera, she convinces Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Johnny. They fall in love for each other, but when Prudence visits his work to tell that he will be hired, she meets Mary (Marjorie Reynolds) and she believes Johnny is in love of his colleague.

"That Midnight Kiss" is a delightful and naive musical and romantic comedy, and also the debut of Mario Lanza in the cinema industry. The classy story is predictable and is a great family entertainment with wonderful classic music and opera; has many funny moments and Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza show a magnificent chemistry. The DVD released in Brazil is re-mastered in Technicolor and 5.1 Dolby System. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Aquele Beijo à Meia-Noite" ("That Midnight Kiss")