#256- Singin' in the Rain (1952)Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Directed by: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Plot Summary: With the success of the first talkie motion picture, The Jazz Singer, all the film studios are pressured into producing films with sound. The transition is not so smooth for Monumental Pictures and its stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, with Lina especially having difficulty adjusting to the sound technology. The studio comes up with a solution by dubbing Lina's voice with an up and coming actress, and Don's new girlfriend, Kathy Selden. When Lina discovers this, her jealousy will not let her be upstaged and does everything to make sure she takes all the credit for Kathy's work.
Per the request of my soon-to-be wife, the month of February is being centered on musicals. Which makes sense considering a lot (in fact, all) of my Disney reviews last month spent time talking about the music, which serves as a good warm up for me in reviewing this genre of film. Since the music is an important part of each film, the individual songs and performances will be talked about with their respective character (you'll see what I mean below), allowing more time to talk about individual characters and other interesting aspects to look at along with the music. Singin' in the Rain is one of the most iconic musicals of all time, and one I desperately needed to watch and cross off my list of great movies I'd never seen before, so it only made sense that this would be the film I wanted to start this month off with.
In Singin in the Rain, Don Lockwood is one of Hollywood's biggest actors and he's played by my grandma's favorite actor, Gene Kelly. This is arguably the movie that Kelly is most known for, and it's easy to see why. He's got the traditional Hollywood good looks, he's got a quirky sense of humor, and he's able to take command of a scene whenever he appears on-screen. Of course, Kelly's performance can't be discussed without talking about his rendition of "Singin' in the Rain." It is one of the most iconic moments, and definitely one of the greatest musical numbers, in film history. I think what sells the scene is Kelly's dedication towards his singing, his dancing and his emotion. The audience should be able to believe that Don would be feeling that happy that he would sing and dance in the rain (even if musical numbers do usually come out of nowhere in musicals).
Debbie Reynolds plays Kathy Selden, a breath of fresh air from the traditional female characters. Rather than fall madly in love with Don at first sight, she actually appears critical of what he does for a living. She gives off the impression of wanting nothing to with the film industry and considers "real" acting to be done on a stage. She still has a charming personality, shown through the warmth she has towards Don throughout the film and her energy in her singing and dancing. She isn't a traditional female character of the time to stay in a supporting role with little to no development. Instead, she is at the forefront of many scenes and is able to keep up with the commanding power of her male character counterparts.One of the most entertaining parts of the film was Donald O'Connor as Cosmo Brown, Don's best friend and composer for his films. Cosmo's biggest contribution to Singin' in the Rain is a never-ending sense of humor, as he provides some of the biggest laughs of the film. As a fan of slapstick comedy, I can honestly say the highlight of the film for me was watching O'Connor perform "Make 'Em Laugh." His perfect timing, hilarious facial expressions and endless supply of jokes and one-liners easily cemented Cosmo Brown as my favorite character in the movie.
When I was watching Singin' in the Rain, there was a big elephant in the room that I was trying to ignore while watching it, but after a while, I couldn't keep it contained. It's quite obvious when watching this film that The Artist took a LOT of direction from it, but not in the form of plagiarism. Both films talk about the transition of silent films to talkies and both films have similar characters and styles, while still offering enough differences to allow both to stand on their own (although The Artist could have benefited from a Cosmo Brown-type character, but that's just me). Singin' in the Rain is such an iconic film, with beloved characters, quirky humor, that it is often considered the greatest musical of all time. With a reputation like that, it's no wonder why filmmakers would want to pay homage to it.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Musical Month has started off greatly, with some of the most celebrated musical numbers in film history. Signin' in the Rain should be considered iconic due to its fantastic blend of music, comedy and romance, not to mention the star power of Gene Kelly. This is one musical I can definitely recommend watching and owning in your DVD collection.
Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review
Singin' in the Rain and movie images are copyrighted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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