The Toast of New Orleans (1950)

The Worst Film Ever

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I love this movie. I am a first soprano, and I feel that Kathryn Grayson had an absolutely beautiful voice. Paired with the famous tenor of Mario Lanza (not Danza; he is a "dancer" BTW), Kathryn is absolutely radiant.I liked seeing James Mitchell (Dream Curly in Oklahoma movie), and I never saw his soap opera. He was a wonderful dancer in Oklahoma, and the same in Toast of N.O. Rita Moreno went on to appear in The King and I Movie, plus later as everybody knows as the older sister in movie West Side Story. She is still alive at 81-82 years old, and still looks very beautiful. James and Rita are excellent in Toast of N.O.J. Carrol Naish; quite the funnyman. Accent a riot. Clothes totally ridiculous and wonderful. Table manners from he#@; too funny for words. A shrimp expert, LOL.Niven the staid proper Britisher; not my idea of a romantic leading man. He was the onlooker. Didn't want to make marriage more important a career than opera. Kathryn actually had to ask HIM to marry HER. He was such a numbskull.Loved seeing the oldtime stage actor photographs on the walls and furniture. I recognized young Constance Collier. Pictures obviously of that era in theatre history. You see old theatrical performer photographs in other movies such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Morning Glory. Constance Collier, a stage beauty in early 20th century, was the elderly resident in movie Stage Door starring Kathryn Hepburn and Ginger Rogers.Lanza, when dressed up and gentlemanly, reminding me of Enrico Caruso -- the Homburg hat, fancy morning coat, etc.; rotund body; dark hair; matinée presence. When dressed in fisherman garb, he always got the attention from his bright red scarf or perhaps his rotund body and loud voice.I love the city of New Orleans, in real life. Noticed French Quarter-looking scene in this movie; the lace balconies plus matte-background church, etc. Raspberries and plaintains for sale, indeed. Lanza sang to everyone on the street.Clinton Sundberg tended to have secondary, but important, roles, that seemed to tie the stories together. He did not have leading man looks, but was gentle with the other characters.Some posters said Kathryn played an upper class society woman, but I think if we look underneath the facade here was yet another of Niven's lower class discoveries who decided to fake her way into N.O. society. N.O. is rather sophisticated in some parts than some think compared to the fishing-community "rustics" as portrayed in this movie, but I am sure that the Cajuns had a lot more sense than some of the city dwellers.Yes, this was 50s movie-making, as some said. This was also 40s storytelling, and YES it was post-World War II -- BUT give the movie makers credit for a sugar coated fantasy instead of the fighting-and-killing-World-War-II movies that went on for decades afterward. You can imagine perhaps this movie was started in 1949, cast in 1948, storyboard 1946, ideas 1942-1943 during the ugliest part of the worldwide conflict. So, stop whining and complaining and enjoy this wonderful escapist bit of fluff. RIP Kathryn Grayson, who had one of the most beautiful singing voices in musical movies.The only thing missing here was tap dancing, which, as all of you know, is my fave. (And they could have slipped Gene Kelly in here, from Anchors Aweigh with Kathryn Grayson).

More wide-eyed, hysterical 50s hyper-cheerfulness that gives new meaning to anti-social, pathological behaviour. Danza and Grayson will leave you begging for mercy.It's a shame that all the people involved in the making of this movie are now dead (or in nursing homes). I kinda thought about suing them for torture. As this movie started unleashing its shamelessly aggressive operatic assault onto my poor, defenseless ear-drums, I felt instant, strong pain envelop my entire being. That damn muscular vibrato can shatter Soviet tanks into tiny bits, nevermind glass."Why didn't you switch the channel if you didn't like it?", you might ask angrily. Fair point, fair point... The answer is that I wanted to, but the pain was so sudden and excruciating that I fell to the floor, writhing in agony. With my last ounces of energy, I tried to reach the remote but couldn't.A silly little fisherman with the questionable talent of singing with an annoying opera voice is discovered by Niven, who then proceeds to "pigmalionize" him. Lanza is in love with asymmetrical Grayson, but she predictably treats him with contempt until they finally hook up. This may seem like a rather thin plot, but this noisy movie is so chock-full of singing and music that there is barely any dialogue at all. This movie is RELENTLESS. Forget about torturing hippies and war prisoners with Slayer's "Reign In Blood" (as in a South Park episode). Whatever little conversation there is amongst the silly adults that infest this strange 50s musical world, it's all infantile - as if they were all 6 year-olds impersonating grown-ups. I can only envy people who find movies like this funny. It must be great being easy-to-please: what a world of wonder would open up to me if only I could enjoy any silly old gag as hilarious, gut-busting comedy. But let's examine this phenomenon, the 50s musical. My best guess is that 50s musicals offered the more day-dreaming idealists among us a glimpse into Utopia or Heaven (depending on whether you're church-going or Lenin's-tomb-going), or at least very cheesy version of these fantasy-inspired places. TTONO is more akin to a representation of Hell, but that's just me. I don't seem to "get" musicals. People talk, there is a story - but then all-of-a-sudden everyone starts singing for about 4 minutes after which they abruptly calm down and then pretend as if nothing unusual happened! When you think about it, musicals are stranger than any science-fiction film.Worse yet, TTONO (my favourite type of pizza, btw) is not just a 50s musical, but one with opera squealing. Opera is proof that there is such a thing as over-training a voice - to the point where it becomes an ear-piercing weapon rather than a means of bringing the listener pleasure. The clearest example of this travesty is when Lanza and Grayson unite their Dark Side vocal powers for a truly unbearable duet. I tried lowering the volume. I lowered it from 18 to 14. Then from 14 to 10. Then 8. I ended up lowering it to a 1, which is usually so low that it's only heard by specially-trained dogs and certain types of marsupials, and yet I STILL could hear those two braying like donkeys!Take the scene in the small boat in the river. Danza starts off with one of his deafening, brain-killing tunes, and then... nothing. No animals anywhere to be seen. Even the crocodiles, who are mostly deaf, have all but left. If you look carefully, you might even see the trees change colour, from green to yellow, in a matter of minutes. No, this was not a continuity error, it was plain old torture of the flora. And those trees were just matte paintings! Imagine how real trees would have reacted.The reason glass breaks when a high C is belched out of the overweight belly of an operatic screamer is not due to any laws of physics relating to waves and frequency, but because glass is only human - hence can take only so much pain before committing suicide through spontaneous self-explosion. I can listen to the loudest, least friendly death metal band for hours, but give me just a minute of a soprano and I get a splitting headache.

"Toast of New Orleans" is an interesting little period musical, an admirable vehicle for Mario Lanza and his opera songs. This is my third Lanza musical after "Because You're Mine"(1952) and "For the First Time"(1959) and so far it is my favorite. In spite of being an MGM musical, "Toast of New Orleans" is more in line with the nostalgic period froths and extravaganzas that were common at the Fox studio. The Technicolor and period costumes here are as enchantingly garish and gorgeous as those at Fox. Lanza plays a Bayou fisherman who is discovered by David Niven and falls in love with a fellow opera star named Suzette played by Kathryn Grayson. I found their love scenes somehow cold and unmemorable; however, the songs "Be My Love," and some arias from Madame Butterfly, Carmen, and La Traviata are sublimely potent and unforgettable.

This is without a doubt the most consistently cheerful of Lanza's movies, and a real hoot. Mario's hitherto unknown comedic skills are a big surprise, and the supporting cast of J Carroll Naish and David Niven is wonderful. I wish I could say the same for co-star Kathryn Grayson, but her shrill coloratura, grating vibrato and minimal acting skills make her a poor match for Lanza.This is the film that introduced Lanza's signature song, Be My Love. The scene in which the song is first sung (as a duet between Grayson and Lanza) is great fun to watch, with both singers trying to outdo the other. The Madama Butterfly Love Duet scene is even better, as Lanza throws caution to the wind and shows Grayson the true meaning of PASSION. Were it not for Grayson, the movie would merit the highest evaluation. Despite this one casting flaw, Toast of New Orleans is an excellent vehicle for newcomers to opera. Like the man himself, Lanza's screen character's lusty ways and thorough lack of pretentiousness are a breath of fresh air, and he sings impressively throughout. Highlights include the Libiamo (much better than his commercial recording), a gorgeous Bayou Lullaby and the aforementioned Butterfly Love Duet.Following this movie, Lanza would go on to star in The Great Caruso, the pinnacle of his movie career and the film that has influenced more singers than any other in cinematic history.