Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Prismark10 If you did not know much about the Great Caruso before you watched this film, you will be none the wiser after this film.It really is a bread and butter straightforward romanticised and fictionalised film starring Mario Lanza, filmed in the Hollywood backlot. The film has little to do with Caruso's life.If you want operatic singing and hear Lanza's voice then this is the film for you. I was underwhelmed.

kealy-234-679694 I was 8 years old when "The Great Caruso" came out in 1951. I saw it again yesterday and was amazed at how vividly I remember much of it. I was already listening to opera at that age, passively at least, as my mother always listened to the Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcasts, but this was the first time I *saw* what opera was all about. It began my lifelong love of opera. I loved Mario Lanza when I was a kid and I still do.I don't really have anything to add to the other good reviews here. I do have a correction to one, though. "Blanche-2" in a review of October 7, 2007, says: "Also it's highly unlikely that Caruso ever sang Edgardo in Lucia; the role lay too high for him." He did, though. A check of the Metropolitan Opera Archives (http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm -- search "Caruso, Enrico") reveals that Caruso sang 17 performances of "Lucia" between 1904 and 1906. He sang 863 performances at the Met between 1903 and 1920, consisting mostly of the roles one would expect for his type of voice. However, from 1903 to 1906 he sang several bel canto roles, usually assigned to a more lyric tenor voice: Elisir d'amore, Favorita, Lucia (Donizetti) and even two performances of La Sonnambula (Bellini), and even Bizet's "Pearlfishers" (1916), a very high-lying role. The only one of these he kept in his repertoire was Elisir, of which he sang only the first act on Dec. 11, 1920. He suffered a hemorrhage and the rest of the performance was canceled. His last Met performance was in "La Juive" on Dec. 24, 1920.When I read the Met archives, what surprised me was how often he sang during the Met seasons, often every three or four days, and not just in one or two operas. And this was just the Met. I intend to do some more research into where else he sang and how often. What an amazing career! He seems not to have rested much.In closing, Wikipedia characterizes his voice as follows: "Caruso's voice extended up to high C in its prime and grew in power and weight as he grew older. He sang a broad spectrum of roles, ranging from lyric, to spinto, to dramatic parts, in the Italian and French repertoires. In the German repertoire, Caruso sang only two roles, Assad (in Karl Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba) and Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, both of which he performed in Italian in Buenos Aires in 1899 and 1901 respectively."

vitaleralphlouis THE GREAT CARUSO was the biggest hit in the world in 1951 and broke all box office records at Radio City Music Hall in a year when most "movergoers" were stay-at-homes watching their new 7" Motorola televisions. Almost all recent box office figures are false --- because they fail to adjust inflation. Obviously today's $10 movies will dominate. In 1951 it cost 90c to $1.60 at Radio City; 44c to 75c first run at Loew's Palace in Washington DC, or 35c to 50c in neighborhood runs. What counts is the number of people responding to the picture, not unadjusted box office "media spin." The genius of THE GREAT CARUSO was that the filmmakers took most of the actual life of Enrico Caruso (really not a great story anyway) and threw it in the trash. Instead, 90% of the movie's focus was on the music. Thus MGM gave us the best living opera singer MARIO LANZA doing the music of the best-ever historic opera singer ENRICO CARUSO. The result was a wonderful movie. Too bad LANZA would throw his life and career away on overeating. Too fat to play THE STUDENT PRINCE, Edmund Purdom took his place --- with Lanza's voice dubbed in, and with the formerly handsome and not-fat Lanza pictured in the advertising. If you want to see THE GREAT CARUSO, it's almost always on eBay for $2.00 or less. Don't be put off by the low price, as it reflects only the easy availability of copies, not the quality of the movie.

BobLib Let me just say this, and then feel free to comment: I truly don't think that the late, great Mario Lanza ever had a better cinematic vehicle for his talents than "The Great Caruso." His larger than life personality and magnificent voice were never better served than here.Like Caruso before him, and long before the Three Tenors and Andrea Bocelli, Lanza became THE tenor superstar of his generation. If there is anyone who wants to know why, just listen to him sing some of the magnificent arias in this film. "Cielo e Mar," "E Lucevan le stelle," and especially his matchless "Vesti la Giubba," are evidence enough that Lanza could, indeed, have become bigger than Caruso, had not his excesses caught up with him at such a young age.I have just a couple of negative comments to insert here. First, the plot, while it makes for a good story, actually has very little to do with Caruso's life (Read Enrico Caruso Jr.'s "Caruso: My Father and My Family" for a good, readable biography. He even compliments Lanza and his performance!). For one thing, Caruso didn't die on stage, but several months after that last performance at the Metropolitan. Second, the "Italian" mannerisms in this movie are straight out of the Henry Armetta/"Life with Luigi" school, stereotyped to the hilt.But, given the overall scheme of things, these are relatively minor complaints. As to the rest, I say that, for those of you who've never heard Lanza and wonder why he was so great, this film will give you ample proof. For those of you who were there when Lanza was in his prime, here's a chance to live it all over again. A great film, and a matchless tribute to TWO of the legendary voices of our time.