NO-NO

YES, GIORGIO

Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

Screenplay by Norman Steinberg

Well, of course. Amazing no one's thought of it before. Search though one may through the annals of romance it is impossible to find a love to equal that of an opera singer for his throat specialist. And if you have him played by Supertenor Luciano Pavarotti and have her (Kathryn Harrold) played as a capable, no-nonsense sort of woman, uninterested in opera and unimpressed by its big-kid egos, then you have, at least, a package you can get produced, if not exactly a movie the whole world is waiting for. True to the packager's creed, Yes, Giorgio has something for everyone whose taste was formed in the '50s; lots of cute lovers' spats but no visible sex, a rich range of overlit settings for a parade of Pavarotti's greatest hits, plus a funny nun, two funny servants and a not-so-funny food fight (in case someone from the Animal House crowd wanders in by mistake). Franklin J. Schaffner has directed as if no one let him in on the scam. Poor chap seems to be taking the whole thing seriously. Or maybe he just ran too many old Mario Lanza pictures in preparation for the assignment. Still, amid prodigies of too carefully calculated (or miscalculated) charm, Pavarotti plays with a certain ingratiating diffidence. Movies are not where he lives, and he behaves in this one like a mannerly guest, puzzled, and a bit amused by all the fuss they are going to on his behalf.

Sings better than Lanza too.

-- R.S.

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