The Great Caruso

The Great Caruso is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenplay by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig. The original music was by Johnny Green and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. Costume design was by Helen Rose and Gile Steele. The film is a highly fictionalized biography of the life of tenor Enrico Caruso an... more

The Great Caruso is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenplay by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig. The original music was by Johnny Green and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. Costume design was by Helen Rose and Gile Steele. The film is a highly fictionalized biography of the life of tenor Enrico Caruso and stars Mario Lanza as Caruso and Ann Blyth as his wife Dorothy, with Richard Hageman, Carl Benton Reid, Eduard Franz and Ludwig Donath. It also features a large number of Metropolitan Opera stars, notably the soprano Dorothy Kirsten and Jarmila Novotna, Blanche Thebom, Teresa Celli, Nicola Moscona, Giuseppe Valdengo, Lucine Amara and Marina Koshetz. A couple of the duets Lanza sang for the film's soundtrack were recorded with soprano Elaine Malbin. The film, while following the basic facts of Caruso's life, was largely fictional. Here are a... less