That Midnight Kiss (1949)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Bruce Manning (screenplay) and
Tamara Hovey (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 January 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The biggest kiss in movie history!

Plot:

In Philadelphia, the soprano Prudence Budell returns from Europe after a period of five years training in the best Europeans music schools...

Plot Keywords:

Truck Driver | Tenor | Beautiful Woman | Opera Singer

Cast

Kathryn Grayson	...	Prudence Budell
José Iturbi	...	Himself (as Jose Iturbi)
Ethel Barrymore	...	Abigail Trent Budell
Mario Lanza	...	Johnny Donnetti
Keenan Wynn	...	Artie Geoffrey Glenson
J. Carrol Naish	...	Papa Donnetti
Jules Munshin	...	Michael Pemberton
Thomas Gomez	...	Guido Russino Betelli
Marjorie Reynolds	...	Mary
Arthur Treacher	...	Hutchins
Mimi Aguglia	...	Mamma Donnetti - Johnny's mother
Amparo Iturbi	...	Herself
Bridget Carr	...	Donna Donnetti
Amparo Ballester	...	Rosina Donnetti
Ann Codee	...	Mme. Bouget
Edward Earle	...	Jason
George Meader	...	Paul
Sheila Stein	...	Peanuts Donnetti
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gregg Barton	...	Stagehand (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	Customer (uncredited)
George Boyce	...	Member of G.I. Quartette (uncredited)
Robert Cherry	...	Member of G.I. Quartette (uncredited)
Frank Donahue	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Edward Gargan	...	Traffic Cop (uncredited)
Michael Kostrick	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Richard Lane	...	Radio D.J. interviewing Ethel Barrymore (uncredited)
Jerry Lascoe Jr.	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Dwight Martin	...	Member of G.I. Quartette (uncredited)
Anne O'Neal	...	Charwoman (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Stagehand (uncredited)
Dewey Robinson	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Joe Rocca	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Charles Smith	...	Member of G.I. Quartette (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Wilson Wood	...	Disk Jockey (uncredited)

Directed by
Norman Taurog

Writing credits
Bruce Manning		(screenplay) and
Tamara Hovey		(screenplay)

Produced by
Joe Pasternak	....	producer

Original Music by
Robert Franklyn		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Gene Ruggiero

Art Direction by
E. Preston Ames		(as Preston Ames)
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose
Valles		(costumes: men)

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair designer

Production Management
Sergei Petschnikoff	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dolph Zimmer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Arthur Krams	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor
Conrad Kahn	....	sound (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Durward Graybill	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Albert Hunter	....	grip (uncredited)
A. Lindsley Lane	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo Arnaud	....	orchestrator
José Iturbi	....	music supervisor (as Jose Iturbi)
Charles Previn	....	musical director
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
James Gooch	....	technicolor color consultant
Henri Jaffa	....	technicolor color consultant
Leslie H. Martinson	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (200?) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM (1996) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Piano Concerto No. 1

An Autobiographical Debut

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.