BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE/Μπελλα Γραναδα

Because You're Mine
MGM, 1952, Color, 101 minutes
Released September, 1952

"Mario, my boy," Louis B. Mayer told Mario Lanza, "I'm going to make you a singing Clark Gable." By 1951, perhaps the only thing the renowned tenor needed was a moustache. Lanza's The Great Caruso was one of the year's top box-office smashes.

Lanza portrayed an ex-G.I. turned opera star in his debut film That Midnight Kiss. In this genial musical, which followed The Great Caruso, Lanza plays an opera star drafter into the army. He's singing draftee Renaldo Rossano, who has the good fortune to be placed in a unit where the Sarge (James Whitmore) is an opera buff. Sarge has a sister (Doretta Morrow) who sings... and needs a break. Would Rossano help? Of course! And, of course, complications are sure to follow.

The film's many songs include the Oscar-nominated title tune, an engaging array of popular and operatic selections, and Lanza's moving rendition of "The Lord's Prayer." ]

Produced by: Joe Pasternak
Directed by: Alexander Hall
Assistant Director: Bert Glazer
Screen Play by: Karl Tunberg and Leonard Spigelgass
Based on a story by Ruth Brooks Flippen and Sy Gomberg
Musical Score: Johnny Green
New Songs: "Because You're Mine" (by) Sammy Cahn and Nicholas Brodszky; "The Song Angels Sing" (by) Brahms - Aaronson - Webster; "Lee-Ah-Loo" (by) John Lehman - Raymond Sinatra
Operatic Numbers Coached by: Wolfgang Martin
Choral Direction: Jeff Alexander
Musical Adviser: Irving Aaronson
Musical Direction: Johnny Green
Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons and William Ferrari
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis, Robert P. Fox
Women's Costumes Designed by: Helen Rose
Hair Styles Designed by: Sydney Guilaroff
Make-Up Created by: William Tuttle
Recording Supervisor: Douglas Shearer
Director of Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Special Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie, Warren Newcombe
Color by Technicolor
Technicolor Color Consultants: Henri Jaffa, James Gooch
Film Editor: Albert Akst

Awards: Best Song Academy Award nomination ("Because You're Mine")

Cast: Mario Lanza [Renaldo Rossano], Doretta Morrow [Bridget Batterson], James Whitmore [Sgt. Batterson], Dean Miller [Ben Jones], Paula Corday [Francesca Landers], Jeff Donnell [Patty Ware], Spring Byington [Mrs. Montville], Curtis Cooksey [Gen. Montville], Don Porter [Capt. Burton Nordell Loring], Eduard Franz [Albert Parkson Foster], Bobby Van [Artie Pilcer], Ralph Reed [Horsey], Celia Lovsky [Mrs. Rossano], Alexander Steinert [Maestro Paradori]

Musical Program: [0:00] Because You're Mine (played by Orchestra behind titles, excerpt sung by Mario Lanza); [0:06] Addio alla madre (finale from CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, sung by Mario Lanza, Peggy Bonini and Kathryn Chapman); [0:10] Miserere (from the opera IL TROVATORE; sung by Mario Lanza); [0:15] O Paradiso (from the opera L'AFRICAINE; sung by Mario Lanza); [0:22] Gummy for Your Tummy (commercial jingle sung by Doretta Morrow and Men's quartet); [0:24] The Song Angels Sing (sung by Mario Lanza); [0:29] Casta Diva (from the opera NORMA; short excerpt sung by Mario Lanza and Paula Corday over the phone); [0:32] Gummy for Your Tummy (commercial jingle sung by Doretta Morrow); [0:32] Fluffy Foam (commercial jingle sung by Mario Lanza); [0:34] You Do Something to Me (sung by Doretta Morrow); [0:39] Lee-Ah-Loo (sung by Mario Lanza while dancing with Doretta Morrow); [0:43] The Lord's Prayer (sung by Mario Lanza); [0:52] Because You're Mine (sung by Mario Lanza); [0:59] Be My Love (sung by Doretta Morrow); [1:11] Addio (from the opera RIGOLETTO, excerpt sung by Paula Corday and Mario Lanza); [1:19] Il balen del suo sorriso (from the opera IL TROVATORE; sung by Mario Lanza); [1:26] Garbage Can-Can (played by the boys in the barracks and danced by Bobby Van); [1:37] Granada (sung by Mario Lanza); [1:40] Because You're Mine (sung by Mario Lanza, Doretta Morrow and Chorus)