Singin' in the Rain (Full Screen Special Edition, 2 Discs)

There are so many high points to this movie -- the amazing cast, the songs, the choreography, and, most surprisingly, the satirical send-up of Hollywood and the "star system."

The plot is well-known. Silent film star couple, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly, who also co-directed with Stanley Donen) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are America's sweethearts. At a Hollywood premiere of their latest romance, breathless fans ignore sidekick Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor, in perhaps the best sidekick performance in film history) and scream in delight as Lockwood and Lamont pander to their adoration. Nobody, however, seems to notice that the gorgeous Lamont never speaks . . .

Her imposed silence Lamont has a voice that recalls a cat with its tail caught in a wringer, although Lamont is such a "dumb blonde" (bless Hagen -- nobody ever played this stereotype better!) that she is blissfully unaware of her screech. No matter, 'cause it's the silent film era, right? Wrong! Progress brings in "The Jazz Singer" and the era of "talkies." No longer will clever staging of press events suffice.

Soon, Don Lockwood is staring career meltdown in the face as the first Lockwood-Lamont "talkie" sends the audience into hysterics. Not only is Lamont's screech audibly offensive, they can't keep the sound synchronized to the film, and the sound editing even when in synch is as amateurish as a high-school film production.

What to do? Fortunately, Lockwood had fallen for young, beautiful Kathy Selden (a teenage Debbie Reynolds), a starlet in the making. Cosmo comes up with the idea of dubbing Selden's voice for Lamont's, and all is fixed . . . or not. Lamont, an imbecile but smart enough to know her value, insists on ruining Selden's career to preserve her own . . . and so on and so forth.

The plot, ingenious as it is, is really secondary. The main delight in this movie is the amazing dancin' and singin' that the performers offer up. While most of it is pretty silly, campy stuff (particularly the Kelly-O'Connor set pieces), they simply dazzle. Kelly is the most robust, athletic dancer of his generation, and O'Connor, well, the man doesn't have a bone in his body. While the movie's most famous scene comes from Kelly splashing in puddles during the title track, the most amazing dance number has to be O'Connor's comic flailings in "Make 'Em Laugh," where he runs up walls, flirts with a mannequin, and generally pulls out all stops.

Debbie Reynolds does a magnificent job keeping up with these two giants, and is generally a pleasure to watch, even though she's clearly outclassed as a hoofer.

While some great old films seem to get better with age (think "Casablanca," "Gone With the Wind," and "Citizen Kane"), "Singin' in the Rain" is an American classic that does not hold up quite so well in some minor respects. For example, when breaking into choreographed step, Kelly, O'Connor, and Reynolds sometimes appear too rigid, with smiles frozen on their faces, which is incongruous to those raised on more modern musicals like "Moulin Rouge," where the dancers take a more naturalistic, emotional approach to their dancing. The dancing in "Singin'" holds up, but the performers were constrained by the expectations of their audiences, which somehow demanded that the performers "look pleasant" while dancing.

Still, "Singin' in the Rain" remains one of the best tonics to a foul mood ever . . . I defy you to watch this movie and not feel a smile creeping over your face.


The Best Musical Comedy Ever Produced!   July 4, 2004
D. K. Hingle (the Middle of Kansas, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I fell in love with this film when I was seven years old; I watched it on a B&W television on "The Early Show" in NY (circa 1957 or 1958). I didn't know who any of the stars were - it didn't matter. It was magic to me. From the Hollywood opening (dignity, always dignity), the romp of the elocution lessons (Moses supposes his toes are roses!), and the trial and mostly error of trying to record the sound ("I can't make love to a BUSH!") when the gorgeous leading lady has a voice that rivals nails on a blackboard, all the way to the grown man dancing in the rain and the final rising curtain - pure magic. In glorious black and white - at the time, I didn't even know it HAD colour! I decided then and there, this was my absolute all-time favourite movie. (One of the highlights of my adult life was seeing this wonder on a full, big screen at a revival in the 1970s.) I have seen many films since then; I have reviewed them for friends & family, written reviews for a monthly entertainment publication. I have an extensive collection of my own (VHS & DVD). I know a lot more about films and production values now.

"Singin'in the Rain" remains my all-time favourite film. (No surprise, this.) It's not just another one of "those MGM musicals." It was released in 1952. Dated stuff? Not a bit. Unlike the marvelous "An American in Paris," which was done as a contemporary film to its time, "Singin' in the Rain" is a period film, and it's based in fact.

This film (which started out to be a western for Howard Keel) takes a fond and loving look at the birthpains of the sound film (the "talkies). Set in 1927, with authentic equipment from MGM's own history (Debbie Reynolds drives Andy Hardy's old jalopy, the microphones are real), it details the frantic efforts to get on the sound bandwagon - no one was completely sure of the new technology. What makes the plot classic is the basis in fact. Many silent stars had totally unacceptable voices or speech (too nasal, unintelligible foreign accents, too high, too low, etc.) for sound production. The songs used were true to the period.

Then we have the performers. Jean Hagen was nominated for an Academy Award for her role of Lina Lamont. The character (whose voice you don't hear for the first 10+ minutes of the film, although she's on-screen) is a one-of-a-kind. [Side note: the voice dubbing Lina's line is actually Hagen's normal voice, not that of Debbie Reynold's Kathy Selden.] Reynolds does an admirable job - it couldn't have been easy keeping up with her two male co-stars. It's still a joy to see Donald O'Connor's "Make 'em Laugh," and wonderful to see Gene Kelly teamed with a good male partner for "Fit as a Fiddle" and "Moses". Gene Kelly is, and always shall be, the best and this was done at his peak.

Of course, for anyone who has been living in the back of a cave under a rock (or too young to appreciate it), the title number is a delight. It looks like one continuous take, it is so smooth. This was not the first appearance of the song, but it's the one we all remember. The sheer exuberance of Kelly's performance carries us right along with him.

The extras with this set are valued items for anyone like me who is interested in the backstory of the era and this film in particular. And don't fuss for a widescreen version. This is the way it was. And now it always will be.


Thoroughly entertaining musical   June 11, 2004
I have to say first of all that I am *not* at all a fan of musicals (or comedies for that matter) - I am a drama fan. I have seen a few musicals here and there over the years and tried to like them - such as 1964's "My Fair Lady" and 1961's "West Side Story." I liked both of them *somewhat,* but not too much - because I have always strongly preferred films that are realistic --> in real life, people don't burst into song when they are in one particular circumstance or another. Yet, I couldn't help enjoying myself with a smile on my face as I watched this film that landed so high (#10) on AFI's list of the top 100 American films of all time. Donald O'Connor, in particular, as Cosmo, was so perfectly cast in his role. The film was at times hilarious and at times wonderfully romantic. I definitely would recommend everyone to try this film out. B+.


I'm Happy Again . . .   May 19, 2004
Phrodoe (Another day older and deeper in debt...)
Being raised by my grandmother as much as my mother (and later, my aunt) meant that I got exposed to two different generations of entertainment; Grandma was a punk rocker and Mom was a classical violinist, you see, and . . .

Okay, not really. I learned about rock and roll and modern films from my mother, while my grandmother exposed me to classic cinema and the swing sounds of her 1940's heyday. And I have a lot of treasured memories from my childhood, moreso I think than some others my age, mostly because of that dichotomous upbringing.

One of my most treasured memories from that time is watching Singin' in the Rain, which, along with The Wizard of Oz, is one of the first movies I remember seeing. And of the two, Singin' in the Rain is by far more memorable, and touching, and full of the joy of life.

For the benefit of those who have been living under a rock for the last sixty or seventy years, Singin' is a musical about the coming of sound films to Hollywood, and it features Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, and Cyd Charisse-but its star is Gene Kelly, who in my opinion is the greatest dancer/choreographer who ever graced an American sound stage. Only Jerome Robbins, George Ballanchine, and Martha Graham did more than he did to modernize and Americanize dancing-and of them all, only Kelly brought his sensibilities to the screen before the majority of the country, and then the world. And Singin' in the Rain, which Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen, is his crowning achievement.

The film centers around Don Lockwood (Kelly), silent movie star and one half of the team of Lockwood and Lamont-Lamont being Lena Lamont, played by the era's platinum blonde queen of ditz, Jean Hagen. The story is nominally a satire about how talking pictures changed the way film was made-but really, let's be honest. The story, as good as it is, and as funny as it is, is just an excuse to get to the superb song-and-dance numbers included here: "Ready for Love," the first of two fantastic pairings with O'Connor; "All I Do (Is Dream of You)," a showcase for then-unknown Debbie Reynolds; "Make 'Em Laugh," O'Connor's delightful, hysterical showstopper; "Good Morning, Good Morning," a thrilling trio dance with Kelly, O'Connor, and Reynolds; and so many other moments, it's difficult to list them all here because it would literally take me hours-but here's a couple more anyway:

There's the "Moses" dance with O'Connor and Kelly, a driving, percussive swingtime number that showcases both dancers to the best of their abilities. Watching the two trading steps, as the music becomes faster and more manic, is truly thrilling.

There's the "Broadway Ballet" sequence, the culmination of Kelly's dream-sequence ballets in films like On the Town and An American in Paris. It's an epiphany of dance, an exciting, sensual journey through the life and times of a Broadway hoofer that features exquisite art direction, cinematography that is every bit as well-choreographed as Kelly's dancing-and best of all, it has Cyd Charisse, with her scowling face and mile-long legs, in some of the most heartstoppingly gorgeous dancing I have ever seen in my life. The ballet climaxes the film in fantastic fashion-and does it so well, in fact, that the film's actual denouement seems almost anticlimactic.

Then there's "Singin' in the Rain" itself-a winning, classy, classic number, overbrimming with high spirits and Kelly's love of life. The sheer genius of Kelly, in the rain, with an umbrella, singing Arthur Freed's simple but elegant love song, twirling and splashing and spinning (and above all, smiling), gets me every time. There is a wonderful, childlike abandon in what Kelly achieves in this scene. Leonard Bernstein once called it "a reaffirmation of life," but it's more than that. In a way, "Singin' in the Rain" is life, the best part of life; its magnificence, its majesty, its magic, its humor and sadness, and the beauty there is to be found in the simplest things. That alone makes Singin' in the Rain worth watching . . . because in the end, that's everything, isn't it? I know for me it is; Gene Kelly at his best-and in this film he is not just at his best but at his peak-is an encapsulation of everything that is good in life.

Kelly himself said it best: "That's what you do up there. You dance love, and you dance joy . . . and you dance dreams."

How can you go wrong with something that good?

Thanks, Grandma, for sharing it with me.