rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1952
Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly; produced by Arthur Freed; screenplay by Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Rita Moreno
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
The best of all movie musicals is 'Singin' in the Rain', although there are
others that come close, like (in my opinion) 'Top Hat', 'Mary Poppins' and
'West Side Story'. It is one of the most colorful movies I have seen and
even the most unhappy person must smile at least once while watching this.
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and still very young Debbie Reynolds make every
sing and dance number a delight to watch. The story seems not even important
although it is great as well. It is set in the time where 'The Jazz Singer'
was suddenly a big hit as the first talking movie ever and where Don
Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen with Oscar nomination) are
silent movie stars. Lockwood has a good voice for a talking movie as well,
but Lamont sounds awful so a girl named Kathy Seldon (Reynolds) must dub the
lines of Lamont. O'Connor plays Cosmo Brown, the music man and good friend
of Lockwood, and he has the second best musical number in the movie.
The best, of course, is the most famous of all musical sequences. Kelly's
"Singin' in the Rain" with the umbrella in his hand, using that and the
street and rain as the perfect instruments. The beauty of this movie is that
every musical number comes close to this one.
Where Kelly and O'Connor were the stars of that time, Reynolds is a delight
to watch. May be she is not Julie Andrews in 'Mary Poppins' or Audrey
Hepburn in any movie, but she is not far behind. She was only 19 years old
and everything she does is magic, not bad for a teenager. Although Kelly,
O'Connor and Reynolds are most fun to watch you have to give credit to Jean
Hagen who does a great job portraying the silent star, not very smart, and
with one of the most annoying voices you can imagine.
With the musical numbers, the terrific acting, singing, dancing and a lot of
very funny gags, especially the one about movies itself, you will have such
a great time watching 'Singin' in the Rain'. This is an all-time classic,
definitely the greatest musical ever made.