Singing In The Rain (1952) – Dr. Satish Movie Review

Have you ever become transcendental when the sky becomes dark and it is about to rain? Does your heart gets elated imagining yourself getting drenched in the torrential down pour and throw your  raincoat to the winds? And then croon a beautiful song while getting wet from head to toe and dance in the muddy puddle splashing the water all over,  careless of the world around you? If so you have fallen in love, just like Gene Kelly when he sings “Singing In The Rain” .

His solo dance  right after he as Don Lockwood  and young Kathy Selden ( Debbie Reynolds) realize they’re falling in love. That explains the dance: He doesn’t mind getting wet, because he’s smitten with romance. He dances with the umbrella, swings from a lamppost, has one foot on the curb and the other in the gutter, and in the scene’s high point, simply jumps up and down in a rain puddle. And when the policeman is in the sight… he does a wonderful acrobatic which only a Gene Kelly class can do.  Yes It is a title song of the film. It is as fresh as a dew on the rose petal and classic musical in the league of Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, An American In Paris and many others.   But “Singin’ in the Rain” is a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it.

The three stars–Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connorand 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds- make the movie most memorable by their sheer footwork. The movie is  about the film industry in a period of risky transition. From silent to talkies. It  shoecases the changeover in a simplified manner at the same time keeping the authenticity in tact. Like   how the microphones were hidden in the flowerpots, how the cameras were kept in soundproof rooms,  The movie simplifies the changeover from silents to talkies, but doesn’t falsify it. And, yes, preview audiences did laugh when they first heard the voices of some of the actors.

When the film was made in 1952. Gene Kelly and O’Connor were established stars, and were past masters in the footing section.  Watch O’Connor’s “Make ’em Laugh” number in this film. It remains one of the most amazing dance sequences ever filmed in Hollywood.  A majority part in longer takes and oh  no dummy and no  body double and no computer animation .  He grapples with a mannequin, runs up  the walls. His somersaults? Matchless. He flings  himself  in the air  like a rag doll, dashes  into a brick wall and a lumber plank, turns cartwheels on the floor and smashes  into  a drapery.

Debbie Reynolds was comparatively  a newcomer, with five small roles previously, and this was her big break. She had  to match the professionals like Kelly and O’ Connor. Well what she did? Watch her determination. This petite girl  takes giant strides when they all march toward a couch in the “Good Morning” and finishes as if she werea  guru to these two men.
Now let us talk about most interesting character in the film. Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), the blond bolt from the blue with the voice like, have you ever   scratched  your fingernails on a wooden plank? How is the sound? Yes she has the same. She plays a comic dumbo.   A blond, who  reads  in the fan magazine that she is in love with her leading man, Don Lockwood (Kelly), and believes it.  When questioned about it and explained that it is all false, she blurts out,   “What do they think I am? Dumb or something? Why, I make more money than Calvin Coolidge put together!”  She steals the scene.  The real Hagen had a perfectly acceptable and sweet  voice. But this role helped her win an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

The climax is wonderful. Lina had borrowed her voice from Kathy but when audience cheers Lina to sing on stage, everyone is in dilemma.  Kathy is requested to sing behind the curtain  while Lina mouths the words. Lockwood and studio boss, after some minutes raise  the curtain and when  the audience sees the trick, all hell breaks loose.  Lina’s face is drained of color,  Kathy takes  flight down the aisle—to save herself from the embarrassment but then, Lockwood, onstage, cries out, “Ladies and gentlemen, stop that girl! That girl running up the aisle! That’s the girl whose voice you heard and loved tonight! She’s the real star of the picture–Kathy Selden!”  It makes one of the great romantic moments in the movies.

The magic of “Singin’ in the Rain” will live on forever.