Serenade is a 1956 drama film, loosely based on the 1937 novel of the same name by James M. Cain, directed by Anthony Mann and starring Mario Lanza, Joan Fontaine, Sara Montiel, and Vincent Price.
Damon Vincenti (Lanza) is a poor vineyard worker who becomes an operatic tenor, and gets involved with two women: one a high society hostess, Kendall Hale (Fontaine), the other a Mexican bullfighter's daughter, Juana Montes (Montiel). The tenor has a breakdown in getting caught between two love interests with drastically different personalities.
This film provides examples of:
- Adaptational Name Change: John Howard Sharp from the book becomes Damon Vincenti in the film.
- Adaptational Nationality: In the book in which the film was based, the male protagonist was a fully American named John Howard Spring. In the film, he's an Italian-American (just like his actor, Mario Lanza), named Damon Vincenti.
- Betty and Veronica: In a twist of the Spicy Latina trope, Juana is the sweet and reliable one (the Betty) to Kendall's more aloof and icy one (the Veronica).
- Bowdlerise: The movie differs greatly from the James M. Cain source novel. In the book, the protagonist fled the United States to Mexico in a crisis of confidence after being sleeping with a male socialite and impresario. Details are vague, but given the way his reactions to it are depicted, having actually being raped could be a possibility. Juana Montes is a Mexican prostitute who, after hearing his story, thinks he's gay and therefore a trouble-free partner to open a brothel with, before he recovers his confidence after having sex with her in a deserted church. As none of this material could be considered suitable for an American movie in 1956, the story's male impresario becomes female and the Mexican prostitute becomes a Mexican bullfighter's daughter instead.
- Gender Flip: The role of the homosexual male impresario from the book is taken in the film by a female high society hostess.
- Non-Actor Vehicle: A starring vchicle for real-life tenor Mario Lanza.
The original novel provides examples of:
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: John and Juana have sex in a church after they're Caught in the Rain.
