Opera Singers And The Movies: Ezio Pinza, A Case Study

Opera Chic is on the record as a huge fan of the great, late Ezio Pinza, an astonishing bass, one of recorded history's greatest.

Still, the always tricky relationship between opera singers and the movies -- the Callas/Pasolini awesomeness an exception to the rule -- is exemplified by this incredibly cheesy clip of our great Ezio with Lana Turner:

Comments

[Les Mitchell]

This is from, I believe, the film "Mr. Imperium", which was released in the very early 1950's. Movies were very different then, of course, and the audiences were different. Today we look at it with very different eyes than audiences did over 50 years ago. Pinza had already scored a big success in "South Pacific" on Broadway, and Lana Turner was a tremendous star at that time. It appears on TMC every so often, and while it certainly isn't a great film, it certainly gives an idea of what post-World War II audiences were interested in seeing.

[Opera Chic]

Les, you didn't click the "Ezio with Lana Turner" link, did you?

[Coloratura Tempura]

Poor donkey...

[Chris]

Well, so what? It doesn't change his singing with Ponselle at the Met that you can hear on You Tube. He was if one's ears can be trusted as great a bass-baritone as she was soprano. So he made a cheesy movie with Lana at the end of his life. Who cares?

[Michael]

Let's not forget Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick!!! Can't seem to find any video of it though.

Merrill's tour de force!!!

[Siobhan]

Les - gotta disagree with you! Just because a movie is from the 1950's (or 40's, or 30's) doesn't mean that it's cheesy or unwatchable by today's standards! There were, in fact, bad movies made from all decades... and, heaven help me, it looks like this "Mr. Imperium" was possibly one of them.

And Lana Turner couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.

[Chris]

One more comment, if I may. In the 30s and 40s and even, yes, early 50s Hollywood liked to put opera stars in movies. Melchoir was in a few, Lilly Pons too, and Grace Moore made whole movies centered on her, as I recall. Ponselle tried to get into the game, but asked for too much money. They were all after the money of course, and possibly to relax and let down their hair, so to speak. I think it was fine when the US public liked to see opera stars in movies to be able to hear them and see them in settings less fearsome than grand opera. Traubel, too, sang in night clubs and made some extra money when her opera career was fading away. What is sad today is that an opera star in a movie would not attract viewers but probably cause most to flee.

[Raphael]

That is hilarious, donkey and all.

[nick]

Well the singing is asbsoluitely stunning by Pinza'z part and the clip i feel should be called "charming".

[alejandra]

This clip made me remember Mario Lanza's movies... my father loved Lanza's Carusso, he has the dvd..

As for Lana Turner, well... I think she had a good pair of reasons (.)(.) to appear in movies...

[Les Mitchell]

Dear Opera Chic:
No - I did NOT click on the Pinza with Lana Turner link until just now, and lo and behold, "Mr. Imperium" it was. The reason why I remembered this film was because I saw it about a month ago on some cable station. It was a way to spend about ninety harmless minutes. This was NOT one of Lana Turner's better films, and it certainly wasn't one of Pinza's greatest moments either. Nor was it anywhere near as good as some of the great MGM musicals that were made in the 1950-1955 period. At any rate, please excuse my apparent ignorance. I only clicked on the video link. Sorry!

[Karla]

I think Debbie Reynolds mentions this movie in her autobio - apparently Pinza swabbed Lana's tonsils during a kissing scene & she wasn't too pleased. He & Martinelli were big Grabby McAssersons, apparently. Heh.

[Amber]

Hey, that's Big Sur, California, not Italy! I recognize the Cypress Tree on the Rock.

[operaguy56]

However, Pinza gives (IMHO) a magnificent acting performance as Feodor Chaliapin in "Tonight We Sing!" a romanticized bio of Sol Hurok. I believe it also marks the only time Pinza sang portions of Boris Godunov in Russian. Unfortunately, it was rather late in the day (1953) for him vocally. And if you ever were dying to know how Jan Peerce and Roberta Peters would sound singing the Act 1 Butterfly duet - you can satisfy your curiosity.