Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and Jean Hagen and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography. It offers a comic depiction of Hollywood, and its transition from silent films to "talkies."
It is now frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made,[1] topping the AFI's 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.
Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) was a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer, and stunt man. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise.
One day, to escape from overenthusiastic fans, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his undignified accomplishments. Later, at a party, the head of Don's studio, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), shows a short demonstration of a talking picture, but his guests are unimpressed. To Don's amusement and Kathy's embarrassment, she pops out of a mock cake right in front of him as part of the entertainment; Later, after weeks of searching, Don makes up with Kathy after he finds her working in another Monumental Pictures production, and they begin to fall in love.
Don's best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), comes up with the idea to dub Lina's voice with Kathy's, and they persuade R.F. to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier. When Lina finds out, she is furious and does everything possible to sabotage the romance between Don and Kathy.
What's to say about this hallmark production that hasn't already been said?
In addition to the numerous musical masterpieces featured in this film, which are too extensive to be discussed in one review, this is a film that is relevatory; you discover something each time you watch: I've always wondered why Stanley Kubruck's dark 1972 film version of "A Clockwork Orange" makes mention of this beloved classic musical as Kubrick's protagonist Alex Delarge sings Gene Kelly's "Singin' In The Rain" during that film's controversial rape scene, with the song again played in the film's closing credits.
But I wasn't sure exactly what the connection was, other than the fact that car ride at night with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in the beginning of the film is very similar to the night car ride of Kubrick's protaganist and his 'droogs', particularly the background of a long open road as the night sky sets in.
But really, the connection between the two seemingly different style films is quite obvious if you watch Singin' In The Rain for what it truly is - Gene Kelly and his dancing buddy Donald O' Conner go out on the town and carry out anti-social activites the same as Kubrick's protagonist and "Groogs" do with their "ultra-violence" -- and they both dance, sing and laugh while bucking the mainstream at every turn.
Kelly and O' Conner even trash one of their producers during a dance with office furniture haha, no doubt emulated later by Delarge and his droogs to a much more severe degree in A Clockwork Orange.
Fact is, Gene Kelly's character for all intensive purposes is an absolute deranged maniac and misanthrope, singing and dancing in the streets during a thunder storm. Let's watch him thumb his nose at society's norms in this famous dance sequence, once more ;p
And one of the movie's ironic twists is that although Debbie Reynold's character, Kathy, is dubbing the voice of Jean Hagen's character, Lina Lamont, in actuality it's Hagen who actually dubs Reynolds in several numbers, including the one below.
"We used Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean," director Stanley Donen explains. "Jean's voice is quite remarkable, and it was supposed to be cultured speech - and Debbie had that terrible western noise."
Haha if you've seen the movie that should all make sense. But here is Debbie Reynold's original recording of dubbing Jean before her version was replaced by Jean -- who dubbed herself. Confused yet? Maybe it's time for a re-watch of this film.
