Mario Lanza's second movie has the benefit of David Niven playing third lead (after co-star Kathryn Grayson). This was a difficult time in Niven's career: he'd lost his first wife in an accident, had appeared in two expensive British flops (Bonnie Prince Charlie and The Elusive Pimpernel), was co-starring with Shirley Temple, and didn't seem to be able to find a hit to save his life... he didn't really come back until The Moon is Blue in 1953.
Nonetheless he gives his usual professional performance in a thankless role, a theatre impresario who, along with his top singer Kathryn Grayson, discovers singing fisherman Lanza down at the docks and determines to make him a star. Grayson is pretty and sings nicely, with her famously covered-up-by-MGM-chest, but both her and Niven are overshone by Lanza who is terrific. Okay he's not Clark Gable but he's full of bounce and energy and is remarkably relaxed for someone with limited acting experience - a tribute to the MGM training system (and Lanza's own talent). It helps that he has a definite character to play - cocky, earthy, unpretentious fisherman who goes on a real emotional journey.
The first half of this movie is the most enjoyable, with some elaborate production numbers on the docks of New Orleans as recreated in MGM land, with singing and dancing fisher folk, and then amusing antics with Niven and Grayson attempting a Pygmalion like transformation on rough Lanza (J Carroll Naish joins in the fun as Lanza's mate).
Things go wonky with the Lanza-Grayson romance - their bickering and sparring at first seems to have point but after a while their lack of chemistry got on my nerves. I was also confused of when Grayson liked him and why. And there's a yucky ending where Lanza learns the way to woo Grayson is to be tough and rough her up - so he manhandles her during a performance of Madame Butterfly. And it works. So there you go.
Plenty of singing and it was that great Joe Pasternak colour and look from MGM, which was taken for granted at the time but is now so much more appreciated because it'll never come back.
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