That Midnight Kiss

1949 "The biggest kiss in movie history!"
6.5| 1h36m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 22 September 1949 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Opera singer Prudence Budell, overhears truck driver Johnny Donnetti singing opera, and persuades her opera company to give him a chance in her new opera. They fall in love, but on meeting his colleague Mary while visiting Johnny's work, Prudence becomes convinced Johnny is in love with her.

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Reviews

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
writers_reign This came at the tail end of the vogue for musicals combining Classical and Popular - in fact it would mark Jose Iturbi's (who seemed to appear in all of them) last appearance in feature films. Usually - Anchor's Aweigh for example - the emphasis tended to be on popular music with perhaps one or two 'classics' thrown in but here the emphasis is definitely on Classical music with only three examples of the 'popular' song plus half a chorus of It's Three O'Clock In The Morning rendered by J Carroll Naish on the dance floor. This is understandable given that co-star Mario Lanza was making his debut and lacked the clout of Sinatra who was able to load Anchors Aweigh with Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn numbers and it is fitting that Iturbi should bow out with such a high percentage of screen time. It's actually a fine cast with support led by Ethel Barrymore who has merely to look regal and toss off dialogue far unworthy of her. Marjorie Reynolds never really broke out on her own but Holiday Inn and this entry look good on her CV. Keenan Wynn and Jules Munshin supply most of the comedy, Thomas Gomez enjoys hamming it up and Arthur Treacher is droll in the background. All in all a pleasant diversion.
marioncap I vote 8 out of 10 just for the amazingly beautiful singing of Mario Lanza. How sad that he never achieved the great opera career his talent deserved! His acting is only passable, but his personal charisma is quite impressive.It drives me crazy that squeaky-voiced sopranina, Kathryn Grayson, who in real life could not even dream of a job as a chorus soprano in an actual functioning opera company, is presented as a plausible leading lady (Lucia di Lammermoor or Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto)! Her voice might be cute in a small room singing folk songs (if you could forgive her hideously spread vowels), but there is no way in Hell that such a tiny sound would ever in a million years carry over an orchestra.(Was there really no soprano with a real voice who could have co-starred with Mario Lanza back in the early 50's? Alas, there probably was, but she probably wasn't a tiny skinny Barbie doll like Kathryn Grayson.)
Claudio Carvalho In Philadelphia, the soprano Prudence Budell (Kathryn Grayson) returns from Europe after a period of five years training in the best Europeans music schools. Her millionaire grandmother Abigail Trent Budell (Ethel Barrymore) sponsors an opera company under the command of the famous maestro Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Prudence to lead an opera. They hire the also famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli (Thomas Gomez), but Prudence does not feel comfortable with him on the stage. When Prudence accidentally sees the American-Italian truck driver Johnny Donnetti (Mario Lanza) singing opera, she convinces Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Johnny. They fall in love for each other, but when Prudence visits his work to tell that he will be hired, she meets Mary (Marjorie Reynolds) and she believes Johnny is in love of his colleague."That Midnight Kiss" is a delightful and naive musical and romantic comedy, and also the debut of Mario Lanza in the cinema industry. The classy story is predictable and is a great family entertainment with wonderful classic music and opera; has many funny moments and Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza show a magnificent chemistry. The DVD released in Brazil is re-mastered in Technicolor and 5.1 Dolby System. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Aquele Beijo à Meia-Noite" ("That Midnight Kiss")
bkoganbing For Mario Lanza's first feature film role it wasn't much of an acting stretch for him. He played exactly who he was an opera singing truck-driver from South Philadelphia. Mario would have been 28 at the time That Midnight Kiss came out and that is his approximate age right here.Of course in real life he wasn't discovered by the granddaughter of another real life noted Philadelphian, Ethel Barrymore. As the plot would have it, Kathryn Grayson finds Mario playing on the piano and singing an old Italian song Mama Che Vio Sape. Grayson's got singing talent herself in abundance and when you're from the Philadelphia Main Line you've got a grandmother who's willing to start a production company built around her. Of course to make sure it makes a little money you want a name tenor like Thomas Gomez as opposed to some unknown truck-driver.Kathryn would rather make music with Mario both on and off the stage. The story with a few of the usual Hollywood romantic complications shows how they get to do just that.Mario and Kathryn sang a good collection of classical and popular selections. My favorite recording of Jerome Kern's first great hit song They Didn't Believe Me is from Mario's original cast album of That Midnight Kiss. It's a solo recording, on screen it's done with Grayson and done just as beautifully. MGM made a good choice in including that great song in this film.A good cast of MGM regulars supported Mario and Kathryn that included Keenan Wynn as Lanza's friend and Jules Munshin as the manager of the opera company. Best in the supporting cast however is Thomas Gomez as the egotistical tenor Lanza replaces. Gomez utilizes some seldom tapped comedy talent for this role.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer engineered a very auspicious debut for their new singing discovery in That Midnight Kiss.