Because You're Mine is a 1952 American musical comedy film starring Mario Lanza. Directed by Alexander Hall, the film also stars Doretta Morrow, James Whitmore, and Bobby Van.
| Because You're Mine | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | Alexander Hall |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | Albert Akst |
| Music by | Johnny Green |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production | |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,870,000[1] |
| Box office | $4,571,000[1] |
Opera singer superstar Renaldo Rossano (Mario Lanza) is drafted into the U.S. Army. His sergeant, "Bat" Batterson (James Whitmore), is an opera fan who admires Rossano and wishes Rossano to appraise his sister's (Doretta Morrow) singing voice. The rest of his platoon as well as the company commander disapproves of Batterson's showing favoritism to Rossano by excusing him from normal training.
Rossano schemes to have Batterson allow him to go to New York, supposedly to have his manager appraise Batterson's sister Brigit's singing voice but in reality allowing him to do a performance. After realizing he's been tricked, the sergeant sets out to make Rossano's military life considerably more difficult.
This leads to a public fistfight between Sargeant and Private that lands both of them in the brig and facing court martial. Luckily, a United Nations delegation is visiting the base. They insist Rossano be freed from confinement to sing for them. Rossano's Mother(Lovsky) manages to smooth over the romantic differences between her son and Bridget.
Because You're Mine had an unpleasant and troubled production. Principal photography of the film was interrupted and during the hiatus Lanza put on a considerable amount of weight. According to his manager, Lanza then began to lose weight and ended filming at less than 160 pounds. This resulted in some challenges for both the wardrobe artists and the film editors who had to deal with Lanza's substantial fluctuations in weight over the course of production. In one scene, Lanza's character is about to enter a church; in the exterior shot, filmed late in the production schedule, he is a trim 160 pounds in his military uniform; but, when he is inside the church, in a scene filmed earlier, he is an obese 230 pounds.
Lanza's notorious reputation for being temperamental and difficult to work with began with the production of Because You"re Mine. Lanza hated the script and initially refused to appear in the film, viewing it as a much inferior follow-up to his previous film The Great Caruso, which was MGM's biggest box office success of 1951. Dore Schary, MGM studio head at the time, has recounted Lanza's petulant and boorish behavior on the set, which included the brazen sexual harassment of co-star Doretta Morrow. Morrow found the experience of making Because You're Mine so harrowing, she refused to ever appear in another film. Lanza had requested Lana Turner as his leading lady, but producer Joe Pasternak insisted on casting an actress who could sing.
The soldiers in the film wear a shoulder sleeve insignia that resembles the 28th Infantry Division that is worn by actual soldiers in footage of a military parade used in the movie.
The title song, "Because You're Mine", earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Written by Sammy Cahn and Nicholas Brodszky, it became Lanza's third and final million-selling effort.[2]
Musical highlights in the film included "Granada", "The Lord's Prayer", and "Addio, Addio" from Rigoletto. "The Song Angels Sing" is a passage from Johann Brahms' Third Symphony with new English lyrics by Aaronson and Webster.
Because You're Mine premiered September 25, 1952 in New York City, going into wide release on October 3. According to MGM records, it earned $2,267,000 in the US and Canada, and $2,304,000 elsewhere, resulting in profits of $735,000.[1] It was the fifth most popular movie at the British box office in 1953,[3] and was chosen for the inaugural Royal Command Film PerformanceofQueen Elizabeth II's reign.[4][5]
Though popular at the box office, it was not a critical success.[4][5] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times voiced a common opinion, finding the film's plot "banal" and observing, "It's really Mario Lanza's singing that should and will attract attention to this technicolored film."[6]