A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Great Caruso – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I've never been a Mario Lanza fan.

His personal story, however, is epic.

Born in Philadelphia, with a desire to be the greatest opera singer, lured to Hollywood, and made his breakthrough as a star in 1951's The Great Caruso, one of the box-office champs of the year.

In 1954, his career fell apart during the production of The Student Prince, after which he made Serendade films for Warners, and then on to Italy.

He died in 1959, at the age of 38.

Both Lanza, as well as Caruso fans should be thrilled with this new Warner Archive release, that finally takes the place of the old DVD.

Imagery balances stellar, derived from the original nitrate three-strip negs, to a bit less so, as a couple of reels are derived from masters - another nitrate fire film.

A wonderfully strong track rounds out the release.

Image – 5 (OCN) / 3.75 (masters)

Audio – 5

Pass / Fail – Pass

Upgrade from DVD – Absolutely

Recommended

RAH

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Imagery balances stellar, derived from the original nitrate three-strip negs, to a bit less so, as a couple of reels are derived from masters - another nitrate fire film.

I'm pleased this didn't preclude WAC from releasing this film on Blu-ray. Thank you for the great review!

 

[Joel Arndt]

Great news! The DVD looks awful. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should have my copy by next Tuesday.

 

[RobertMG]

My copy just arrived!!!!!!! Good ol' Amazon!

 

[RobertMG]

Have not opened it yet . . . . . is this the print used?

 

[Joel Arndt]

Mine arrived, also and of course, I had to spot check. A huge improvement over previous releases. Well done again WBMPI. It's like seeing these films for the first time.

 

[OLDTIMER]

Just watched it right through tonight. I'd forgotten what a great opera fest it was. Picture quality varies a bit as mentioned elsewhere but is mainly excellent. More importantly the sound quality (two-channel mono) is extremely good considering it must have come from an optical track. Lanza's voice sounds magnificent.

 

[PMF]

[...] More importantly the sound quality (two-channel mono) is extremely good considering it must have come from an optical track. Lanza's voice sounds magnificent.

Nice to learn of your take on the audio and to see a score of 5 from RAH, for the same; as The Great Caruso won the Oscar for Best Sound. Looking forward to this disc.

 

[titch]

I've never been a Mario Lanza fan.

Ah - but a young Kate Winslet in her film debut swooned over Mario, while she plotted murder with her best friend. I took note 25 years ago. If you had been an impressionable 13 year old girl, living in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1952, you would probably have been a devoted fan.

 

[Reed Grele]

I've known about Mario Lanza and many of his films for years, but not being a fan of opera, I never watched any of them or listened to very much of his music, except for various clips found here and there in various documentaries.

This all changed recently when I came across a widescreen film clip on YouTube of the "Vesti La Giubba" scene from the 1959 MGM film "For the First Time". I was so moved by the clip that I ordered the DVD from Amazon. I even Googled the English translation of the lyrics.

Upconverted to 4K, the Warner Archive widescreen DVD looks wonderful! The colors for the most part are rich and vibrant, and the mono sound is very powerful. Mario Lanza's singing voice is absolutely amazing, and while the story is a bit sentimental at times, I found it very enjoyable and have to admit that more than a few scenes had me shedding a few tears! This film really deserves, at the very least, a new HD Blu-ray transfer.

Because I enjoyed it so much, I just ordered "The Great Caruso" on Blu-ray.

 

[Matt Hough]

The Toast of New Orleans would be my recommendation. Yes, Lanza sings opera in it, but there is also a mix of delightful pop songs that he and the cast also sing varying the musical menu in very pleasant fashion. And, as always, the Technicolor is a treat.