The Great Caruso

This film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loved his hometown of Musetta in Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of a Metropolitan Opera patron. Caruso was unacceptable to both women's fathers: to one because he sang; to Dorothy because he was a farmer. To the New York aristocracy, Caruso was short, round-chested, loud, emotional, and uneducated. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film describes Caruso's lament that "men have no voices, voices have men": He cannot be where he wants to be because he has to sing elsewhere, including on the day his mother died. From start to finish, Mario Lanza sings along with stars from across the Met.