For the First Time

Infobox Film
name = For the First Time


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director = Rudolph Maté
producer =
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starring = Mario Lanza
Johanna von Koczian
Zsa Zsa Gabor
music =
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distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released = 26 August 1959
runtime = 92 min.
country = Italy and USA
language = English
budget =
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imdb_id = 0052817

"For the First Time" (1959) is tenor star Mario Lanza's final film. Filmed on location in 1958 in Capri, Salzburg, Berlin and at the Rome Opera House, the film told the sentimental story of an operatic tenor (Tony Costa) who finds love for the first time with a young German woman (Johanna Von Koczian), who happens to be deaf. The film was directed by Rudolph Mate, and featured Kurt Kasznar and Zsa Zsa Gabor in supporting roles. Critics singled out Lanza's singing of "Vesti la Giubba" from "Pagliacci" and the Death Scene from "Otello" for special praise, with Howard Thompson of "The New York Times" calling it the tenor's "most disarming vehicle in years."

References

Cesari, Armando. "Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy" (Fort Worth: Baskerville, 2004).

External links

*imdb title|id=0052817|title=For the First Time

* [http://freeradical.co.nz/lanza/FortheFirstTime.php "For the First Time: Mario's Sweet Little Swansong", by Derek McGovern]