“Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.”

Plot Summary: The biggest silent stars at Monumental Pictures, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), are in the middle of filming their latest movie, ‘The Dueling Cavalier’, when the sound revolution takes the industry by storm. With the help of his partner and longtime friend, piano player Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor), Don decides to turn the movie into a musical, ‘The Dancing Cavalier.’ But there’s a problem: Lina’s shrill voice. However, much to the chagrin of Lina, there’s a talented newcomer at the studio, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), with whom Don falls in love, who would be the perfect choice to dub Lina’s voice.

Review:

What makes Singin’ in the Rain the greatest musical of all time?  To begin with it’s one of the few Hollywood musicals whose storyline is strong enough to stand on its own without support from the production numbers. How many musicals can you say that about?  Whereas the plots of most musicals are flimsy excuses to string together a series of production numbers, Singin’ in the Rain boasts a knowing Comden-Green screenplay that takes sharp satirical jabs at the stuck-up stars, nosy gossip columnists, stuffy diction coaches, dictatorial directors and money-minded producers of Hollywood, while also hilariously parodying the industry’s awkward conversion from silent pictures to talkies - from frazzled directors trying to conceal bulky, limited range microphones in flowerpots to silent stars whose unfortunate voices prevented their successful transition to sound. Jean Hagen, in an Oscar-nominated performance funny enough to place her among the pantheon of great screen comedienne’s, plays one such actress, Lina Lamont, whose grating voice, a hideous combination of high-pitched screeching and babyish cutesiness, threatens to ruin her career. Her attempt to pronounce “I can’t stand them” with “I caaan’t stan’m” is priceless, but the rest of her performance, which satirizes the chasm between Lina’s refined screen image and the vulgarity of her true self, is equally impressive. All of which helps to make Singin’ in the Rain one of the funniest movies ever made, and one of the greatest movies about movies, whether in the musical genre or not.

If that already weren’t enough to set Singin’ in the Rain apart, this wonderful musical also happens to have one catchy song and exhilarating dance routine after another, most of which are among the genre’s most memorable moments. Who can forget Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor fiddling around with each other on a vaudeville stage; or tongue twisting and scampering their way out of a stuffy diction lesson; or, with Debbie Reynolds, greeting the good morning by dancing all over the house and on the furniture? And let’s not forget O’Connor making us laugh with his show-stopping, acrobatic back flipping off walls or “Gotta Dance” Kelly getting his “Broadway Rhythm” on with luscious legged Cyd Charisse.

As star, dancer, co-choreographer and co-director (with Stanley Donen), Kelly undoubtedly made the most significant contributions to the film as a whole and to the production numbers in particular.  The heir apparent to Fred Astaire, Kelly continued in Astaire’s tradition of integrating song and dance with narrative, but pushed the approach into more cinematically sophisticated realms.  Indeed, just as their dancing styles differed, with Astaire’s elegant grace contrasting with Kelly’s muscular power, so too did their respective approaches to choreography.  Whereas Astaire generally took a conservative approach, preferring to stage his dances in long take/medium shot with a stationary camera in order to keep the focus on his footwork, Kelly generally took a more adventurous approach, often employing stylish camera movement, among other techniques, to complement and enhance his exhilirating hoofing.  This approach is abundantly evident in the classic title number in which the camera - like another participant in the joyous dance - tracks, pans and cranes in sync with Kelly’s jumps, splashes and spins. This immortal screen moment is, quite simply, the most ebullient, exhilarating number in the greatest musical of all time.   

Posted on March 16th, 2008 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Reviews