Cast: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds

Director: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

Screenplay: Adolph Green

Running time: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Musical



CRITIQUE:


Ask any pundit to handpick three of the best musicals ever made in moviemaking history, and you’ll likely get The Sound of Music, West Side Story and Singin’ in the Rain pigeonholed at the top (or in your grandmother’s opinion, Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady might just straddle the list). There is no denying that the musical sequence of the tap-dancing, pole-twirling, puddle-jumping Gene Kelly under the rain in a glorious feeling has greatness written, or in this case splashed, all over it. This is perhaps the single most exuberant musical sequence in film form that could challenge the energy content of a Duracell bunny. Whilst exquisitely performed by the sheer talent of Kelly, an innocuous performance that could break any cynic, we should all realise that this sequence is actually a MacGuffin – and this film is not really about a man singing in the rain but about a stuntman-turned-screen-actor of the silent era and a satire about the preposterousness of showmaking during Hollywood’s shift to sound. In its aim to satirise studio industries, it is an accomplished work with several genuinely hilarious sequences, especially Jean Hagen’s banshee-voiced diva Lina Lamont who is just so good in a comedic role she’d fill an entire film of her own. There is a moment when the studio boss declares the new tagline of an upcoming talkie, she pipes back “Well, of course we talk!”


Comedy aside, this is a reminder to its audience that this was made during an era when Hollywood was infatuated with musicals, spearheaded by MGM, and that everything can be extremely vivacious without a single harrumph from its viewers, all for the sake of entertainment. However, the music teeters from the inventive, fanciful, mediocre to just plain jarring with songs feeling forced and contrived as with “Moses Supposes”. There is even a sequence that seemed like a burst of the Smarties factory, ending up resembling like a running-time filler rather than adding up to the general plotline.


VERDICT:

Whilst disarmingly vibrant and occasionally amusing, this is overrated. One standout sequence that has achieved classic status doesn’t make an entire film, and Singin’ in the Rain is undeniably joyous, but its musical histrionics sporadically feels forced and contrived instead of natural.



RATING: B+