That Midnight Kiss

That Midnight Kiss (1949) was the screen debut of tenor Mario Lanza, also starring Kathryn Grayson, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Among the supporting cast were Ethel Barrymore, conductor/pianist Jose Iturbi (playing himself), Keenan Wynn, J. Carroll Naish, and Jules Munshin. The commercially popular film was directed by Norman Taurog, who the following year would again direct Lanza and Grayson in the even more successful The Toast of New Orleans.

Newsweek wrote of That Midnight Kiss:

"Aside from Jose Iturbi's music, virtually the only excuse for this one is Mario Lanza, a singer whose talents would be conspicuous even outside a film devoted to opera. He can act as well as sing. But his efforts in both directions are hampered by an inconsequential story which enmeshes him with Kathryn Grayson—a girl who neither sings nor acts in his league."

The film features Jerome Kern's "They Didn't Believe Me" (sung as a duet by Lanza and Grayson). Although its first film outing, the song had originated in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah.

External links

• That Midnight Kiss at the Internet Movie Database