All of Mario Lanza's films are worth watching, even his weakest Seven Hills of Rome. For the First Time was his final film before his ultimely death shortly after, and is one of his best along with Serenade(my favourite) and The Great Caruso, The Student Prince is excellent too but because Lanza only provided the singing voice I'm not counting it.
The sometimes silly and rather thinly written story(which is one of the weak points of all Lanza's films except Serenade) is best forgotten, and the film sometimes felt too rushed, with Tony and Christa's relationship developed initially a touch too quickly. While the story is forgettable, the music and Lanza are most certainly not.
The music is a mix of operatic favourites and lightweight 'popular songs', with the highlights being Come Prima, the very moving Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba(which along with the Otello monologue from Serenade contains Lanza's best film acting) being the standouts. Lanza's performance here is one of his best, along with Serenade and The Great Caruso(though he is a little better in those films). Sure he is not in the best physical shape due to ill health and La Donna e Mobile sounded strained, as a result of the drinking maybe and because of the voice darkening. But he plays with much more charm and assured ease than he did in his previous film Seven Hills of Rome, and he brings the same great emotional intensity that he brought in Serenade. He is in great voice, the tone here is unmistakable and beautiful with a richer darker quality than to his earlier films, his musicality and phrasing as solid as rocks and he there is some genuine pathos in his renditions of Ave Maria and Vesti La Guibba and charm in Come Prima.
Improvements over Lanza's previous films would be the script and the chemistry with his leading lady. Like the story, the script was a weak point in some of Lanza's films(Seven Hills of Rome was particularly bad in this case) but while it's not a strong point in For the First Time it does not bring it down. It's appealingly light-hearted and has some genuine pathos, without trying too hard, being manipulative, being too cloying and it doesn't veer into melodramatic soap-opera. Chemistry between Lanza and his leading ladies tended to not quite convince, often feeling cold(and this is including Kathryn Grayson in his first two films). The rapport between Lanza and the very touching Johanna Von Koczian in For the First Time though is very convincing and remarkably tender, which brings depth and poignancy to the story.
For the First Time is a very well-made film visually too, with lavish costumes and sets and vibrant Technicolor photography. Rudolph Maté's direction is assured and sympathetic, and of the strong supporting cast a big standout would have to be Zsa Zsa Gabor, who brings incandescent sophistication to a role that doesn't really have an awful lot to it.
In summary, For the First Time may be Lanza's swan-song, but it is also one of his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox
