Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

TheLittleSongbird All of Mario Lanza's films are worth watching, even his weakest Seven Hills of Rome. For the First Time was his final film before his ultimely death shortly after, and is one of his best along with Serenade(my favourite) and The Great Caruso, The Student Prince is excellent too but because Lanza only provided the singing voice I'm not counting it.The sometimes silly and rather thinly written story(which is one of the weak points of all Lanza's films except Serenade) is best forgotten, and the film sometimes felt too rushed, with Tony and Christa's relationship developed initially a touch too quickly. While the story is forgettable, the music and Lanza are most certainly not. The music is a mix of operatic favourites and lightweight 'popular songs', with the highlights being Come Prima, the very moving Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba(which along with the Otello monologue from Serenade contains Lanza's best film acting) being the standouts. Lanza's performance here is one of his best, along with Serenade and The Great Caruso(though he is a little better in those films). Sure he is not in the best physical shape due to ill health and La Donna e Mobile sounded strained, as a result of the drinking maybe and because of the voice darkening. But he plays with much more charm and assured ease than he did in his previous film Seven Hills of Rome, and he brings the same great emotional intensity that he brought in Serenade. He is in great voice, the tone here is unmistakable and beautiful with a richer darker quality than to his earlier films, his musicality and phrasing as solid as rocks and he there is some genuine pathos in his renditions of Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba and charm in Come Prima.Improvements over Lanza's previous films would be the script and the chemistry with his leading lady. Like the story, the script was a weak point in some of Lanza's films(Seven Hills of Rome was particularly bad in this case) but while it's not a strong point in For the First Time it does not bring it down. It's appealingly light-hearted and has some genuine pathos, without trying too hard, being manipulative, being too cloying and it doesn't veer into melodramatic soap-opera. Chemistry between Lanza and his leading ladies tended to not quite convince, often feeling cold(and this is including Kathryn Grayson in his first two films). The rapport between Lanza and the very touching Johanna Von Koczian in For the First Time though is very convincing and remarkably tender, which brings depth and poignancy to the story.For the First Time is a very well-made film visually too, with lavish costumes and sets and vibrant Technicolor photography. Rudolph Maté's direction is assured and sympathetic, and of the strong supporting cast a big standout would have to be Zsa Zsa Gabor, who brings incandescent sophistication to a role that doesn't really have an awful lot to it.In summary, For the First Time may be Lanza's swan-song, but it is also one of his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing Released two months before his demise, For The First Time proved to be Mario Lanza's last film. While it's not the young Lanza in his prime, booming out Be My Love, it's still a good film to go out on. It's a Cinderella type fairy tale of a concert singer/Prince Charming who meets and falls for a deaf girl and spends his time looking to cure her affliction. One thing For The First Time has going for it are those European locations, especially the fabulous Isle of Capri. Capri is one of those places in the world where you cannot film anything that won't be beautiful. Ranks right up there with the Grecian Isles and Hawaii in that regard. Paramount would also use Capri around the same time for the Clark Gable-Sophia Loren film, It Started In Naples also with gratifying results.The deaf girl who Lanza falls for precisely because she can't hear him and isn't groupie material is played by German actress Johanna Von Koczian who's had a distinguished career in German cinema to this day. She's billed as 'introducing Johanna Von Koczian' but she's only being introduced here to American audiences. Walter Rilla as the hearing specialist who operates and cures her and Hans Bohnker as Von Koczian's uncle, are also from the German film industry. Most of the rest of the cast is Italian. Of course with the exceptions of Kurt Kaszner as Lanza's manager and Zsa Zsa Gabor as Zsa Zsa under any name.Mario too is Mario under any name. He always was himself because the audiences came to hear him sing, they didn't expect Hamlet from him. For The First Time has a good mix of classical and popular songs. Highlights are Come Prima which Lanza introduced and which sold a few records for him on RCA Victor Red Seal label and O Sole Mio which he sings at Sandra Giglio's wedding.Lanza was in training at the time of his death on October 7, 1959 to finally go into grand opera. A hint of what he could have done is in the arias he does from Otello and the triumphal march from Aida which is a great piece of DeMille like spectacle in opera. He's just fabulous in both.Back in the days of The Odd Couple I remember an episode where Felix says to Oscar he wants the triumphal march from Aida played at his funeral as his casket is paraded seven times around the cemetery before the planting. As an opera lover, I'm sure Felix must have seen For The First Time and was influenced.If he heard Mario Lanza sing it, it sounds like a plan.

glciii For the First Time is a very beautiful movie worthy of a Lanza. We saw it when we were beginning to see the difference between the birds and the bees.¨For the first time, for the first time, I'm in love...¨ After that, all of us pre-teeners were trying to do a Lanza. Ít is extremely hard to find this kind of movie nowadays. The hundreds of million dollars needed to make a movie like this exceeds all our expectations, and the results often leave us frustrated, disgusted and disappointed. Maybe I'm down with Norman Desmond Syndrome, but I prefer the movies of the yesteryear, like this one. It is said that before one kicks the bucket, even if one is sick, one looks good. Eeriely, this is so with Mario Lanza. He gives his all here, and unsurprisingly so. After the decade of the fifties, gone forever is the Golden age of Hollywood when art is done for art's sake. Then came the Beatniks and the Hippies and the GenXers. Suddenly we are left with performers who challenge the lucidity of Ms. Anita Bryant and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Our so-called movie moguls nowadays sadly lack the will to tap the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, José Carreras or Andreas Bocelli. O Sole Mio seems to belong to another dimension. Ubinam gentium sumus?

Cathie Browne He was really coming into his own in this film, it was released just before he died in 1959 at the tragically young age of 38, murdered (some say) by the Italian mafia, but most likely a heart attack, But anyway in this movie he could even sing a "calypso/rock n roll" in it with the "pineapple pickers" number, as well as his outstanding operatic music too, He was so truly good and believable in this his last movie, helped by a wonderful supporting cast including Kurt Kasner and Zsa Zsa Gabor that helped him with his role tremendously as Tony Costa, Mario was so handsome, a sexy man Yes, indeed Mario shines through this movie.His scene where he sings "Come Prima ("For the First Time") is a top moment indeed!, Aside from the movie's vocal strengths, what also helps save the film is the tender love story between Lanza and his delightful co-star, Johanna Von Koczian. Their flowering love for each other quickly though it develops, seems convincing and heartfelt, you believe they do love one another and without question...yes, Mario Lanza will live forever in this motion picture vehicle from the last year of the 1950's!