My initial introduction to the screen Lanza was his voice emerging from the handsome persona of Edmund Purdom in "The Student Prince".
When I eventually saw him as the star of "The Seven Hills of Rome", I was less than impressed and even though "The Great Caruso" is a good film, I just don't enjoy watching him on screen."Serenade" is really a very tacky offering, salvaged only by some good opera singing but let down by the tenor bellowing and straining to a couple of otherwise pleasant ballads. His appearance is dissipated and unattractive at best.
Now to the other leads. Joan Fontaine is wrong in stature and visage to play the ruthless siren who tempts the hero to near destruction. Such an obvious man-eater could have been better played by a B-Grade star like Martha Hyer or Dorothy Malone rather than a former A-Grader like La Fontaine who degrades herself trying to give this insufferable woman some class. Every bit as camp and ridiculous is Vincent Price as the leering impresario who seems to spend the whole film delighting in the way Fontaine snares her prey. O. K. For unintentional laughter.
When I eventually saw him as the star of "The Seven Hills of Rome", I was less than impressed and even though "The Great Caruso" is a good film, I just don't enjoy watching him on screen."Serenade" is really a very tacky offering, salvaged only by some good opera singing but let down by the tenor bellowing and straining to a couple of otherwise pleasant ballads. His appearance is dissipated and unattractive at best.
Now to the other leads. Joan Fontaine is wrong in stature and visage to play the ruthless siren who tempts the hero to near destruction. Such an obvious man-eater could have been better played by a B-Grade star like Martha Hyer or Dorothy Malone rather than a former A-Grader like La Fontaine who degrades herself trying to give this insufferable woman some class. Every bit as camp and ridiculous is Vincent Price as the leering impresario who seems to spend the whole film delighting in the way Fontaine snares her prey. O. K. For unintentional laughter.