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Serenade
Original Movie Poster
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Written by	Ivan Goff Ben Roberts John Twist
Starring	Mario Lanza Joan Fontaine Sara Montiel Vincent Price Joseph Calleia Vince Edwards Harry Bellaver
Music by	Original Music: Nicholas Brodszky Non Original Music: Giuseppe Verdi Giacomo Puccini
Cinematography	J. Peverell Marley
Editing by	William H. Ziegler
Distributed by	Warner Brothers Pictures
Release date(s)	March 23, 1956
Running time	121 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Serenade, a 1956 Warner Bros. release, was tenor Mario Lanza's fifth film, and his first on-screen appearance in four years. Directed by Anthony Mann and based on the 1937 novel of the same name by James M. Cain, the film also stars Joan Fontaine, Sara Montiel (billed as Sarita Montiel), and Vincent Price.

Serenade tells the story of a poor vineyard worker who becomes an operatic tenor, and is involved with two women — one a high society hostess, the other a Mexican bullfighter's daughter. Highly melodramatic in nature, the film features a large amount of operatic music, all of it sung by Lanza. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, A.H. Weiler wrote that, "Mr. Lanza, who was never in better voice, makes this a full and sometimes impressive musical entertainment."

The movie differs greatly from the source novel. In the book, Juana (Montiel) is a prostitute and she and Damon (Lanza) set out to open a brothel together. She comes into conflict with the local police and the two flee to Los Angeles and then move to New York, where Damon struggles to overcome his bisexuality. Obviously, none of this material could be made into a popular movie in the US in 1956, so the story becomes merely that of an opera singer torn between a bitchy, worldly patron of the arts (Fontaine) and a Mexican bullfighter's daughter. The tenor has a breakdown because of his unrequited love for the society woman, but finds love (and a happy ending) with the Mexican girl.

Mario Lanza preparing to sing Otello in Serenade (1956)

Cesari, Armando. Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy. (Fort Worth: Baskerville 2004)

• Serenade at the Internet Movie Database
• "Serenade - An Underrated Treasure", by Derek McGovern

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