Le baiser de minuit

In That Midnight Kiss, Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanzo are paired together again, this time in a really cute comedy. Kathryn plays a young soprano making her stage debut, but rather than sing alongside a famous tenor, she wants the theater company to take a chance on a truck driver who happens to have a nice voice.

What I love about this movie is each character has his own little gimmicks, adding some much needed comedy to an otherwise simple story. Mario's trademark is singing a short, loud, solid note in an unsuspecting bystander's face whenever he leaves the room. Keenan Wynn, his manager, gives quips like warning Mario not to run down the stairs because, "you might fall and bruise your tonsils." Conductor Jose Iturbi looks down on everyone with a level of snobbery, but his face instantly dissolves into a smile whenever he looks at Kathryn. Jules Munchin conducts with overexaggerated expressions, weeping when a violin plays and using all four of his limbs to show his enthusiasm. You'll get to see Marjorie Reynolds, Arthur Treacher, and Ethel Barrymore in the supporting cast, as well as Thomas Gomez, giving a hilarious portrayal of an opera diva. He spritzes his throat, warms up when his costar is singing, interrupts rehearsal, and gets his feelings hurt when Kathryn refuses to look at him during their love song. J. Carrol Naish steals a scene as well, as he dances with his wife and serenades her sweetly with "Three O'Clock in the Morning."

If you're not normally a Mario Lanzo fan, give this one a chance. I don't usually like him either and this one is my favorite of his movies I've seen. Plus it's his first movie; what a great introduction!

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.

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.

A young Mario Lanza. A young Kathryn Grayson. Ethel Barrymore. Keenan Wynn. Jules Munshin hamming it up as only he can.

Plotwise, the movie is very thin: Grandmother finances an opera company so her young granddaughter can sing. Except, she doesn't want to sing with the old, fat tenor with the ego-- she wants to sing with the young, gifted truck driver she discovers. Then there's a love triangle, in which of course everything goes wrong because nobody communicates.

But the singing is so wonderful, and so are Jose Iturbi's piano skills. We are treated to plenty of both throughout the movie. This film is a gem.

Mario Lanza makes a very confident screen debut with this movie. The scene in which he first appears - some 15 minutes into the film - is teasingly executed: we hear his voice (singing the Neapolitan classic, Mamma mia, Che Vo' Sape) as co-star Kathryn Grayson enters her home, and - with her (and our) interest aroused - the camera slowly pans to reveal his handsome presence. It's a great moment, helped by the fact that Lanza really does look terrific, especially in comparison with the portly stock tenor we have been watching only minutes earlier.

Lanza has some formidable acting talent to compete with in this movie. That he succeeds magnificently speaks volumes about the man's much-underrated acting ability. Also appearing in the film are seasoned veterans such as Ethel Barrymore, J. Carroll Naish, Jules Munshin and Thomas Gomez (hilarious as the aforementioned portly tenor). Keenan Wynn is also on hand as Lanza's amusing buddy, and the film also boasts another big musical name: conductor/pianist Jose' Iturbi, who plays himself.

The film is fun, and very competently produced in the grand tradition of MGM musicals. Lanza doesn't have a great deal to sing, but among the highlights are a very lyrical Celeste Aida (minus the recitative), the second half of Una Furtiva Lagrima, and Jerome Kern's They Didn't Believe, which is sung as a duet with Kathryn Grayson. MGM was clearly nervous about allowing Lanza too many "heavy" vocal offerings, but they were soon to rectify this with The Great Caruso, just two years later.

All in all, That Midnight Kiss is a most enjoyable romp with Lanza as its raison d'etre. The critics were not especially kind to the film - or Mario's co-star, the established Miss Grayson - but all were in agreement that Lanza made the picture worth seeing. This is what Newsweek Magazine had to say:

Aside from Jose' Iturbi's music, virtually the only excuse for this one is Mario Lanza, a singer whose talents would be conspicuous even outside a film devoted to opera. He can act as well as sing. But his efforts in both directions are hampered by an inconsequential story which enmeshes him with Kathryn Grayson - a girl who neither sings nor acts in his league.

And from The New York Times:

As for the budding Mr. Lanza, the opinion rendered of him by the sanguine Mr.Iturbi is good enough for us. "His voice," says Mr. Iturbi, "has quality and warmth and he has a very nice personality." Check.

The following year Lanza would go on to greater things in The Toast of New Orleans, before reaching his pinnacle in The Great Caruso.