For the First Time

This MGM film showcases the great Mario Lanza, whose untimely death came right after this film was completed. It's a vehicle for the star, who had one of the most powerful tenor voices in the cinema. As such, "For the First Time" is an excuse to present its star in different European settings in a picture that is more of a travelogue than a musical.

Rudolph Mate directed with an eye for the backgrounds being shown. We are taken to that magical island of Capri, then to Salzburg, among other places that go by too quickly. The DVD we watched had a faded look, and one can only guess the original copy had glorious colors.

Mario Lanza plays an opera singer who goes to Capri to stay away from the scandal he caused at the Vienna Opera house for not showing for a performance, when in reality, he was outside entertaining the people that couldn't get inside. In Capri he meets sweet Christa, who happens to be deaf. They fall in love and she will not marry him unless she can hear him. Naturally, like in all fairy tales, everything comes true and everyone is happy at the end.

Mario Lanza has some good moments in the film. He sings arias from Pagliacci, Aida and Othelo, as well as the theme song, "Come prima", in his usual style. Johanna Von Koczian is seen as Christa, the sweet girl who conquers Tonio Costa's heart. Kurt Kasznar plays Tonio's agent.

This is a happy film without any pretensions. It's not Mr. Lanza's best film, but for all his fans it will be something to savor.

The voice of Mario Lanza carries this nicely done film. The plot is a good one as a unreliable opera star finds love with a deaf mute girl.

Lanza was also a pretty good actor.

Zsa Zsa Gabor is in this one as a countess. She looks young but when she speaks, you think it's sister Eva talking from the "Green Acres" television show.

Lanza sings a variety of songs. His singing of the opera Othello is superb. I have to confess that I laughed when I saw a "dead" Desdemona besides him. The latter looked like a younger version of former Secretary of State Madeleine Allbright.

Our deaf mute gains her hearing only to lose it again with fiancée Mario blaming himself. The plot becomes silly when Mario begins a bar-room brawl and then the patrons of the bar try to exonerate him in court.

Sit back and listen to that beautiful golden voice of the late Lanza. What a talent was lost when he left us so unexpectedly.

Mario Lanza sings and stars in his last film, "For the First Time," which has beautiful music sung against some of the most glorious scenery in the world on the Isle of Capri.

Lanza plays opera star Tonio Costa who is seemingly always in trouble -- on the night of a concert, he doesn't show up and is found standing on a taxi singing for the people who couldn't get into the theater.

He seems to have developed a bad reputation along the way. So his manager (Kurt Kasznar) sends him away for a vacation and to straighten himself out. He goes to Capri, and while there, he meets a young deaf woman (Johanna von Koczian). They fall in love, but she refuses to marry him until she can hear him.

The story is sappy, but it's just an excuse for the music. Lanza's voice is much darker here, with the middle voice really opened up. As a singer myself, I will say this normally happens about 15 years after it happened to Lanza. With age, the vocal cords thicken. Many singers find new warmth and power in the middle, while the top notes become more difficult. I attribute these changes in Lanza to his drinking and hard lifestyle, which I suspect included smoking.

At any rate, here he sings "Come Prima," "La Donna e mobile," "Vesti la giubba", the final scene of "Othello", the beginning of the Rigoletto quartet, a partial duet from Cosi fan Tutte, the Triumphant March from Aida, and Neopolitan and Bavarian songs. And with all that, I could have used more.

As usual, the repertoire is strange - you don't give Cosi to a spinto tenore, and you don't give that role to one of Costa's supposed stature, nor should he have been singing Othello.

Yes, singers can start out their careers with a lyric Mozart role, and as the voice develops, sing spinto roles - not a month later, but years later -- and possibly end their careers with an Othello, which is a dramatic tenor role, but again, not a month later.

Lanza is bloated in many closeups and wears a suit jacket or a robe the entire movie, apparently to cover weight gain which isn't really that evident.

How many young men did Mario Lanza inspire to take up operatic singing? How many people did he introduce to opera? One can only look at him here and say, what a waste.

Since he was living in Rome, he was offered operatic stage roles. Imagine if he had lived to do them. One can only wonder why some gifted people are like fireworks, flaring up and then fading.

The young woman in the movie, Johanna von Koczian, is "introduced" here and a superficial knowledge of movies is enough to tell you she didn't make it in Hollywood. However, she had, and is still having, a wonderful, full career in Germany. Her daughter is an actress as well.

Highly recommended if you love opera and especially for Lanza fans.

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

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.