Give Us This Night (1936)
Directed by Alexander Hall
Genres - Musical |
Release Date - Mar 6, 1936 (USA - Unknown), Mar 6, 1936 (USA) |
Run Time - 73 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Charismatic Polish opera singer Jan Kiepura made his Hollywood debut in Give Us This Night. His thick Slavic accent notwithstanding, Kiepura is cast as Italian fisherman Antonio. In the habit of singing as he fishes, Antonio catches the attention of opera diva Maria (played by real-life operatic soprano Gladys Swarthout, in her second film appearance). Our hero ends up replacing Maria's burned-out leading man Forcellini (Alan Mowbray), leading to a series of duets and, naturally, romance. It was the same formula that MGM would later deploy for their Mario Lanza pictures of the 1950s, except that Lanza was a more persuasive screen presence than Kiepura. The highlight of Give Us This Night is the climactic operatic adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
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Keywords
composer, girl, opera, songwriter, stars [celebrities]