Singin' in the Rain

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Definitely one of the most genuinely feel-good films I've ever seen. For a musical, it did not fit the mold of being a bit on the corny side. And some musical films I've seen are a bit stale, but this one is far from that label. I was just beginning to see Gene Kelly's work (I had first seen An American in Paris--which is another gem) and I was captivated by his energy and how overall talented he is. Definitely a great dancer of his time. It was also the first film I saw of Debbie Reynolds' earlier work. It is very clear why it's considered one of the best films of all time. It's witty, romantic, charming, and contains beautiful musical numbers. I definitely recommend it to be an addition to anyones film collection.

I watched this film with the expectation that it would have a good storyline that would keep my interest like Oliver, My Fair Lady, or at least Mary Poppins. I was sorely disappointed. This film has been called "the best" film musical of all time. I do not share that opinion. The characters were campy. Gene Kelly was far too happy all the time and it made it very difficult for me to watch him. The dumb blonde played by Jean Hagen was an exception. I found her to be very funny (apparently so did Frank Loesser in that he plagiarized her character in his musical "How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying".) The supporting cast was fair and Debbie Reynolds was competent but I really see no reason to rave about this musical. I would take Fred Astaire over Gene Kelly any day for choreography. The story is rudely and abruptly interrupted by this ridiculous "vision" that Kelly has where he is suddenly on Broadway or at a burlesque show and this horrible dance sequence that lasted forever, all in the name of his character finding a good ending to their swashbuckling movie. From swashbuckler to Broadway is a bit of a stretch. Speaking of stretch, visions shouldn't take up half a movie in MY book. This movie was genuinely bad. I am sorry that this is considered a classic. I guess we can look for future generations to hail the Beegee's and Peter Frampton for their "ingenious" work when they name "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" a musical "classic" as well. After I saw "Singin' In The Rain" I could clearly see why the musical genre took a steep dive back then.

Singin In the Rain is arguably the best movie musical of all time, not just because of the music but because of the entire package - the premise, the comedy, the characters - everything here works together to make you feel better any time you sit down to watch it. It's ironic that this movie was thrown together quickly to capitalize on the success of "An American in Paris", since the improvisational feeling of the movie is one of the things that makes it so much fun. Although this film is number ten on the top 100 films of all time as compiled by the American Film Institute, it wasn't nominated for best picture the year of its release, 1952. Although it did well at the box office, it would be over twenty years before people would look back and realize just what a great motion picture it was. Perhaps that was because the 1970's were such bleak and cynical years, with movies that largely matched that mood, that people were eager to rediscover the fun that a motion picture viewing experience could be. The movie focuses on that period of time in which the entire motion picture film industry was in nervous transition from silent to talking pictures. Although the movie compresses time in this respect - the transition actually took about three years - it does accurately describe the technical problems of that era along with their comical aspects. There was an overabundance of musicals in the first batch of talking films, many stars did have heavy accents that made their speech undecipherable or voices that came across like nails on a chalkboard like Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) and saw their careers ruined, and early sound technology itself was so fragile that you would often see actors speaking to potted plants or to coat racks with comic effect. The preview of silent picture team Lockwood and Lamont's first talkie, "The Dueling Cavalier", is one of the most hilarious scenes in the film. It is pretty typical of what you would see in such an early talking picture - dialogue going in and out of sync, actors and actresses strutting around and wildly gesturing as if nobody can hear them, and dialogue that still resembled what you would read off of the title cards in a silent film - "I love you, I love you, I love you". All of this is one of the reasons Singin' In The Rain will never get dated - it is a comic nostalgic look at a very narrow period in time. This movie is fun outside of its comic take on movie history, though. For one, it's hard to say who steals the show the most, since there are so many thieves involved. Most notably there is Jean Hagen - who actually has a very pleasant speaking voice - as the evil silent star who can't accept her days are numbered. Then there is a 27 year-old Donald O'Connor as Cosmo, the studio music director and sidekick of Gene Kelly's character whose youthful exuberance really shines in the number "Make 'Em Laugh" along with all of his goofy facial expressions. He seems to be having as much fun as the audience. Finally, there are all of the great dance numbers and music, capped by probably one of the most famous scenes of all time - Gene Kelly's rendition of the title number that perfectly captures the joy of a man who has just fallen in love and feels he has the world at his feet. You just can't watch this film and not come away with a smile on your face. It is as good for the soul as chicken soup, just a lot more fun.

Singing In The Rain is to me the greatest musical ever made, sure many others push it close, The Wizard Of Oz for one will always be a 10/10 movie in my opinion, but Singing In The Rain is a film that has no flaws, it is a perfect movie. Don Lockwood is a star of silent movies but his life is boring, then talking movies arrive and with them he eyes an opportunity to greatly improve his life. A chance encounter with dancer Kathy Selden will further shape his destiny, and along with best pal and partner Cosmo Brown, their respective fortunes will hopefully dovetail towards fulfillment. Where do you start? The film is a homage to happiness, be it film making or love, or friendships and honour, the film is pure and simply joyous from the first reel to the triumphant last shot. Featuring stunning choreography, Singing In The Rain doesn't cop out by merely having characters plodding thru a script and then bursting into song occasionally, each song furthers the characters and fleshes out the story unfolding to keep the plot lines tight and crucially, important. Make 'Em Laugh, Good Morning, and Singing In The Rain are just some of the brilliant songs and dance routines on show here, with the latter a now legendary piece of cinematic history that speaks volumes for the joyous nature of the film, whilst the finale sequence of the 'Broadway Ballet' is magic & elegance personified. The cast are uniformly excellent, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor & Debbie Reynolds interplay together like they were hatched from the same egg, and the joint direction from Stanley Donen (along with Kelly) is seamless. Full of hat tipping and self-referencing winks, Singing In The Rain regularly hits the top ten lists of critics and movie fans alike, so lets not beat around the bush about it...it flipping well deserves it. 10/10 in every respect.

Everybody knows Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the films title number, but this is just one of the many magical musical numbers in this epic piece of blissful entertainment. Set during the turbulent period when Hollywood was converting from silent films to sound, ‘Singin' in the Rain' is a perfect example of everything that is good and right about movie-making. Gene Kelly in his greatest role is an all singing, all dancing sensation and his acting is pretty damn good too. Donald O'Connor excels as his exuberant sidekick and almost steals the show with the unsurpassed ‘Make ‘em Laugh'. Debbie Reynolds is feisty and sexy as Kelly's love interest, while Jean Hagen gives one of the screen's greatest supporting performances as the horrid Lena Lamont, a silent screen goddess whose voice will just not cut it in talkies. The musical numbers flow fast and furious as Gene and Donald perform amazing feats of choreography with ‘Fit as a Fiddle' and ‘Moses Supposes' while ‘Good Mornin' will have you dancing in the aisles. If ‘Singin' in the Rain' had no musical numbers it would still be a contender for the funniest film ever made. The problems with experiments with sound films are painfully funny, and Kelly's silent sparring with the demonic Hagen is hilarious. The accolade of sheer perfection can be conferred on few films, and such a title is perhaps even an understatement in this case. And never before did rain look like so much fun.

Every now and then comes along a movie so iconic, everyone knows its name, even if they haven't seen it. And sometimes the hype greatly overstates the value. Singin' in the Rain has its good moments but it is also a mess of a movie. The main romance in the film came out of nowhere. It has that age old cliché where two people do not like each other at first but then fall in love, except the cliché is done badly. The dislike is very sudden, feels very forced to the point that it seemed like the main female character could not act. After the initial dislike there is no natural progression to a warmer relationship. It just becomes a fact at one point so the romance also feels very sudden and forced. The story as a whole has a disorienting structure, getting interrupted by parts that do not belong. The film is saturated with little jokes and slapstick and almost none of that stuff is funny! After a while the dumb forced humour becomes painful. There is a character played by Donald O'Connor whose mission it is to be a harlequin that got high on speed. He has a good delivery and can be funny but he also overdoes the whole clown business to the point of his character becoming annoying. The actors are definitely capable when they want to be, they sing very well and they dance well too. But those 3 aspects (acting, singing and dancing) are not tied together well. Look, if you wanted to make some random songs, make an album and put it on a record. If you are making a film with a story then it has to make sense and the songs in it have to be related. That is not the case here. On top of that, the songs are not all good either. There are two songs, Singin' in the Rain and Good Morning (to a lesser degree), that are discernibly interesting. The rest are average, some with primitive rhymes and of questionable purpose in the movie. There is one song that starts for no apparent reason and is not about anything, with its few lyrics being nonsensical babble. It is several minutes of your life you will never get back. The song could have been cut out of the film and it would have lost NOTHING. Moreover, the music is constantly being interrupted either for a change in tune or for another scene or for a dancing part. I like tap dancing too but quitting and interrupting the music into which your brain is trying to tune feels horrible, like getting mentally slapped. These dancing parts are not brief pauses either; they last a while and they too get interrupted by slapstick or other dancing scenes. What a mess. As the movie was drawing to a close I was bored and tired of it (my partner tuned out after just 10 minutes). And that is despite the fact that certain parts of this film are bouncing of the wall hyperactive. The music is good, the acting is good, but the structure is wrong. Next time someone asks me to watch this movie, they will need to get me high first, because clearly that is what the makers were when they made it.