If anyone will notice, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans was the same movie with the same plot with maybe a change of characters. For instance, instead of Ethel Barrymore, we've got a male actor playing about the same thing that she did in Kiss, and there's still that Kathryn Grayson doesn't like Mario Lanza and Mario Lanza playing the brash singer. Same movie, same plot, same characters. So, along later comes Because You're Mine which is very entertaining without all that operatic music. Personally, I didn't care for The Great Caruso, although it's a odd thing that on the day that Caruso died, Mario Lanza was born. Now, I'm not saying that Mario Lanza was Caruso reincarnated, but it is a bit unusual that knowing this, Lanza played Caruso on the screen. It is probable that his family knew this and told this to him many times!
So, in Because You're Mine, you've got a great cast, great music with Mario Lanza singing Granada at the end of the movie looking like he was poured into his Army uniform which made him look a little larger than the uniform with the button about to pop, but we forgave him. Come on gang - this is Mario Lanza!
Now, we've got one problem with this movie. It's not a big problem but it's Doretta Morrow. Sure she can sing, beautifully, and she cat too. Well, no wonder. She was in the original Broadway cast of Kismet playing Marsinah in which Ann Blyth played the role in the movie version, but you couldn't see it on the stage, but Ms. Morrow always looked cross eyed on the screen, and after Lanza making a hit in Caruso singing Be My Love - did she really have too? At least they had the good sense not to make it a duet between here and Lanza.
So, when you come right down to it, the movie is very entertaining. Probably Mario Lana's best. He never sang better. And why isn't Kathryn Grayson in this movie instead of Doretta Morrow? Well, quite frankly, she and Mario Lanza did not like each other. In their two movies together, especially That Midnight Kiss, you could see something going on with her feelings for him, but they never made a match. Maybe she was personally afraid of him. Who knows? But there were a great singing team. It's a shame that they never made more movies together, but that was never to be! Once again, it's just a shame that movies like this cannot be seen on the big movie theater screen. That big screen makes the difference. Ask anyone who's recently seen The Wizard of Oz for the first time in a movie theater, or even one of you out there - then you'll know what I mean!
