SERENADE deserves to be watched for one reason alone--MARIO LANZA, who happens to be in magnificent voice, doing full justice to a number of arias and numbers like LA DANZA and AVE MARIA. The latter is beautifully rendered in ringing tones, upper and lower register sounding better than ever.
But it's too bad his acting remained a constant problem. Not only is he unconvincing in most of his dialog, but JOAN FONTAINE is wildly miscast as his wicked benefactor. Miss Fontaine was a cool beauty but playing women without a moral compass was not her forte. As compensation, SARITA MONTIEL does nicely as a feisty Mexican woman with whom Lanza finds true love.
Based on a novel by James M. Cain (author of tough pulp novels), SERENADE had themes which were too racy for Hollywood to handle in the '50s, but this rewrite of Cain's story fails to capture the raw power of Cain's original story, whitewashed as it is.
Summing up: Worth watching just to hear Lanza's golden voice--but the plot is a weary thing.
But it's too bad his acting remained a constant problem. Not only is he unconvincing in most of his dialog, but JOAN FONTAINE is wildly miscast as his wicked benefactor. Miss Fontaine was a cool beauty but playing women without a moral compass was not her forte. As compensation, SARITA MONTIEL does nicely as a feisty Mexican woman with whom Lanza finds true love.
Based on a novel by James M. Cain (author of tough pulp novels), SERENADE had themes which were too racy for Hollywood to handle in the '50s, but this rewrite of Cain's story fails to capture the raw power of Cain's original story, whitewashed as it is.
Summing up: Worth watching just to hear Lanza's golden voice--but the plot is a weary thing.