Les sept collines de Rome

TV, radio and recording star Mario Lanza (as Marc Revere) quarrels with beautiful blonde fiancée Peggie Castle (as Carol Ralston). She leaves Mr. Lanza's New York studio and heads for Europe. Lanza follows. On a train to Rome, the operatic tenor meets beautifully-proportioned Marisa Allasio (as Rafaella Marini). The young woman got wet in the rain. Lanza advises her, "You better take that dress off." Just in case you didn't notice Ms. Allasio has arousing curves, director Roy Rowland makes it obvious as she jiggles out of her clothing, on screen...

Allasio's clothes stay on for the rest of the film, alas, but she remains eye-catching. The location photography, by Tonino Delli Colli, is also lovely. A low-point is Lanza's increasingly excruciating impersonations of Perry Como, Frankie Laine, Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong. Lanza is not a great impressionist. Still, he's a great when he does Mario Lanza. His beautiful co-stars, Italian "cousin" Renato Rascel (as Pepe Bonelli) and the incidental music are pleasant enough to offset a substandard story. In less than two years, Lanza would be gone, sadly.

**** Arrivederci Roma (11/21/57) Roy Rowland ~ Mario Lanza, Marisa Allasio, Renato Rascel, Peggie Castle

Well, I hope, I will never regret my negative comments on this `musical movie'. I have to say, that I really appreciate Mario Lanza's broad repertoire of musical styles, but anyone who has ever seen this movie may notice, that this can get too far.

This is a movie about Rome and as much as I love the music of Cole Porter, there is no place for `I've Got You Under My Skin' and `Easy To Love' in such a movie. Lanza parodying Como, Laine, Martin and Armstrong is a catastrophe itself. I'm quite sure, the tenor could have done great versions of this songs himself (as he already did with `Temptation' in 1952). The saddest thing about this all is, that the musical direction credit goes to M-G-M veteran Georgie Stoll, who has been responsible for `Meet Me In St. Louis' and several others of Judy Garland's M-G-M flicks.

Now about the storyline: I guess, the screenwriters could have made far more out of the mysterious scenes of Rome and the basic score (`Arrivederci Rome', `The Seven Hills Of Rome'). All we get, are a few aerial shots of Rome (which are indeed great) and surroundings and a great end sequence, which somehow reminds me to a similar M-G-M scene in Paris.

Sorry, but after years of wait to capture this movie on TV, this was a real disappointment. My hint: Forget about 90 minutes of that movie and remember Lanza's outstanding performances of the title tune, `Arrivederci Roma', `Come Dance With Me', and `The Loveliest Night Of The Year' (is it actually based on an Italian waltz?).

After a whole lot of incidents and the accompanying bad publicity, Mario Lanza took his family to live in Rome and became one of a growing group of expatriate American stars living in Europe. His last two films for MGM were shot in Italy.

The real star of Seven Hills of Rome is the eternal city itself. Rome was really popular in the Fifties. Paramount did Roman Holiday and then 20th Century Fox followed with Three Coins in the Fountain both beautifully photographed. And now the best photographed of all is this one.

It's almost a shame that a movie plot had to interfere with the promotional travel film. But Mario is an American singer, a whole lot like the real Mario Lanza, hovering between the classical and pop worlds. A spat with girl friend Peggie Castle sends him to Europe and Rome chasing her. He has a cousin there played by Italian performer Renato Rascel who puts him up.

And he meets a girl, Marisa Allascio on the train to Rome who's stranded in Rome so he and cousin Renato take her in. The inevitable happens of course.

Renato Rascel had a nice comic style and was a good performer. He reminds me a lot of Joe Pesci. Too bad he never broke into the American market. Kind of like the French comedian Fernandel that way.

Back in the day, the song Arrivederci Roma was played EVERYWHERE, you couldn't get away from it. It's the biggest song that came out of Seven Hills of Rome. A whole lot of American singers back then recorded this one. I have versions of Dean Martin, Vic Damone, and Jerry Vale doing it. But Mario's all Italian version is the best and he's joined on screen by a young female street singer in an affecting duet.

Nothing pretentious about Seven Hills of Rome. Good for a nice enjoyable afternoon. Fans of the eternal city will love it.

Here,s a film after my own heart, not so much for its plot, which is limited, but rather for the beautiful 1950's atmosphere, romantic Italy, beeeeautiful women ( Rafaella in Particular ) and that lovely music. A feast for the eyes and ears. I m not much into Opera, but Mario Lanza's voice is just something else. I so much prefer the 1950's atmosphere of romance and beautiful music, to the violence and aggressiveness of today's films. That alone is more than a saving grace for a film of which the plot would be judged no doubt by today's critics as being too weak. You just have to hand it to the Italians, they have an innate sense of beauty, whether it be art, music or women ! For these reasons alone, the film is worth having.

Mario Lanza is an American singer looking for his fiancé (Peggie Castle) in Rome in "Arrivederci Roma" aka "The Seven Hills of Rome." The threadbare plot consists of Lanza, as Marc Revere, meeting a destitute young woman, Raffaela (Marisa Allasio) on a train. He takes her to stay with his cousin Pepe. Pepe falls in love with her; she falls in love with Marc.

The plot exists only to take the audience on a dazzling tour of Rome and to have an opportunity to listen to some beautiful music. This was the film that introduced the hit song "Arriverderci Roma." Lanza also sings "The Seven Hills of Rome," and part of "M'appari." Marc blunders into a talent show where his cousin is playing accompaniment and announces he will sing an aria from the opera "Rigoletto" and somehow Pepe knows it's "Quest o' quella" instead of the more famous "La Donna e Mobile." Probably the most entertaining scene is Lanza entertaining some young rock and rollers in Pepe's courtyard with imitations of Perry Como, Frankie Laine, Dean Martin, and Louis Armstrong.

Having just heard Lanza do some of his best singing in "Because You're Mine," the change in the tenor's voice after six years of drinking was apparent, not to mention that he looked bloated. The voice had darkened; the top was sometimes strained, as well as the approach pushed, and some of the high notes had a covered sound. It's not unusual for a voice to change in this way - but not at the age of 37. However, he could still pull it out when he needed to, and often does throughout the film.

"Arrivederci Roma" is a pleasant film but heartbreaking to realize that Lanza is almost at the end of his downward spiral and that it would be stopped by his death. He was one of music's brightest lights.