Singin' in the Rain
(1952)
Starring
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds
Director
Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Awards
Academy Award Nominations
Best Supporting Actress - Jean
Hagen
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Plot Synopsis
One of the most charming Hollywood musicals ever made. Singin'
in the Rain takes a loving look at the end of the silent film era, and cinema's rocky
transition to sound. After years of honing his skills on the vaudeville stage, hoofer Don
Lockwood has finally reached the top and become a swashbuckling star of the silver screen.
Then the self-satisfied celebrity has his confidence shattered when ingenue Kathy Selden
dismisses film actors as "shadows" without substance. Of course, after getting
over the insult, he falls hard for her, much to the consternation of his costar, the sexy,
selfish Lina Lamont, who wants Don all to herself. But Don and Lina have more to worry
about than romantic troubles. Sound's come in, and, thanks to Lina's shrill, shrieking
voice, their first "talkie" has left the preview audience roaring with laughter.
Now there's only one way to save the movie and their careers: turn "The Dueling
Cavalier" into a musical... with Kathy secretly dubbing in Lina's lines. Now if they
can just hide the truth from Lina... until the film is done.
Film Notes
"Decades before the Hollywood film industry became famous
for megabudget disaster and science fiction spectaculars, the studios of Southern
California (and particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were renowned for a uniquely American
(and nearly extinct) kind of picture known as The Musical. Indeed, when the prestigious
British film magazine Sight & Sound conducts its international critics poll in
the second year of every decade, this 1952 MGM picture is the American musical that
consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great
song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie
Reynolds; it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy
transition from silent pictures to "talkies." Kelly plays debonair star Don
Lockwood, whose leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) has a screechy voice hilariously
ill-suited to the new technology (and her glamorous screen image). Among the musical
highlights: O'Connor's knockout Make 'Em Laugh; the big Broadway Melody
production number; and, best of all, that charming little title ditty in which Kelly makes
movie magic on a drenched set with nothing but a few puddles, a lamppost, and an
umbrella." (Jim Emerson, Amazon.com)
"No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by any
standard and international consensus, this is the best movie musical of them all. Its
arcane, unlikely milieu is Hollywood during the transition in the late 1920s from silent
to sound motion pictures. Its reason for being was producer Arthur Freed's desire to use
the catalog of songs he had written with Nacio Herb Brown in the '20s and '30s for various
shows and movies. But, ironically, it's now the soundtrack that seems cobbled together
from disparate sources, while the movie itself remains seamless. That's thanks to a
literate screenplay by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and ebulliant acting and dancing by
the young Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Jean Hagen is especially
brilliant as the silent-screen star whose speaking voice is so screechy she has to be
dubbed for talkies. Kelly codirected with Stanley Donen, and both can take credit for a
masterpiece. Musical standouts are You Were Meant for Me, Good Morning
and All I Do Is Dream of You. Visually, the indelible image will always be Kelly
sloshing around in puddles while singin' in the rain." (Robert Windeler,
Amazon.com)
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