A perfect movie in every sense, 'Singin In The Rain' has rightly gone down in history as the best musical picture ever. But it is much more than that. A sparkling comedy, with a cast that is 100% perfect, and one of the best movies about movies ever made too.
Gene Kelly's genius has never been more apparent than in this movie, but, as always he never steals the show, in fact here practically having the show stolen from him by Donald O'Connor's gravity defying 'Make 'Em Laugh' and Jean Hagen's unforgettable Lina Lamont. Kelly's title number is the epitome of carefree nonchalance. The guy's in love and he isn't going to let a little rain get in the way. This 'classic' scene is possibly the feelgood moment to beat all others. I defy anyone not to succumb to the Kelly's Irish charm during this number, if you haven't already been won over.
But a musical is just a musical without a decent story. That's where Comden and Green's pertinent screenplay comes in. Using Nacio Herb Brown's songs from the era in which the movie is set we are taken back to Hollywood in transition, a time when silent movies were ousted by the talkies. For what is generally regarded as just a light-hearted song and dance movie 'Singin In The Rain' takes a pretty accurate line and takes a satirical swipe at the studios and the gossip mongers of the day. There were stars, like Lina Lamont, whose careers disintegrated on the advent of talking pictures, and others, like Kathy Seldon, whose stars were beginning to rise. For a while, there weren't enough voice coaches to go round! The race to match the success of 'The Jazz Singer' was truly chaotic, with studios churning out potboiler after potboiler to cash in on the talking picture. It was also a time when MGM itself started it's reign of the musical genre with epic production numbers, and casts of thousands. In a sense,'Singin In The Rain' both lampoons and celebrates it's own ancestry and place in cinema history.
Exhilarating, exuberant, and mesmerising. Still, in my opinion, the most entertaining, and the best, movie ever made!
Gene Kelly's genius has never been more apparent than in this movie, but, as always he never steals the show, in fact here practically having the show stolen from him by Donald O'Connor's gravity defying 'Make 'Em Laugh' and Jean Hagen's unforgettable Lina Lamont. Kelly's title number is the epitome of carefree nonchalance. The guy's in love and he isn't going to let a little rain get in the way. This 'classic' scene is possibly the feelgood moment to beat all others. I defy anyone not to succumb to the Kelly's Irish charm during this number, if you haven't already been won over.
But a musical is just a musical without a decent story. That's where Comden and Green's pertinent screenplay comes in. Using Nacio Herb Brown's songs from the era in which the movie is set we are taken back to Hollywood in transition, a time when silent movies were ousted by the talkies. For what is generally regarded as just a light-hearted song and dance movie 'Singin In The Rain' takes a pretty accurate line and takes a satirical swipe at the studios and the gossip mongers of the day. There were stars, like Lina Lamont, whose careers disintegrated on the advent of talking pictures, and others, like Kathy Seldon, whose stars were beginning to rise. For a while, there weren't enough voice coaches to go round! The race to match the success of 'The Jazz Singer' was truly chaotic, with studios churning out potboiler after potboiler to cash in on the talking picture. It was also a time when MGM itself started it's reign of the musical genre with epic production numbers, and casts of thousands. In a sense,'Singin In The Rain' both lampoons and celebrates it's own ancestry and place in cinema history.
Exhilarating, exuberant, and mesmerising. Still, in my opinion, the most entertaining, and the best, movie ever made!