Chantons sous la pluie

Many good things can be and have been said about this one and they're all true. It's a great movie. The title number gives us Don Lockwood (Kelly)...In love as no other person has ever been in love, no doubt. He steps out the door and it's raining but he's oblivious to the rain. Who needs an umbrella when you've got wings on your heart and on your feet? Not the incomparable Gene Kelly as he treats us to THE single finest moment in the history of cinema. Do not miss this one.

I don't like musicals. They never made any sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I love music; it's an important part of my life. I love movies also, and while the two often compliment each other, sometimes I'm repelled. It's probably the dancing. A person breaking into a complicated dance number, seemingly unaware of their surroundings, or worse yet, in complete synch with a complete stranger is like making fun of the movie, as if to say, "Please don't take us seriously, we like to sing and dance." Or even more ridiculous, "Let's not fight, let's settle this dispute with a song and dance." Forget about suspension of disbelief.

This film however, I manage to enjoy. I once was given the task of my film teacher to watch the film and keep track of all the cuts in the film. Well, sometime after ten minutes I lost track because I was so wrapped up in the story. It really is an interesting period in the history of cinema, told well, and with well placed song and dance numbers that at times drag on, but that seems to be more of an excuse to show off the technicolour than anything else. They build you up to it slowly. The first few numbers don't break out at an inappropriate time. It doesn't last though, but by then they've got you.

With such memorable tunes as these, it's hard to imagine them going wrong. When Gene Kelly sings the title piece, somehow time stands still as you're swept up in one of the most memorable scenes in film history. Just reading the title in print has likely caused you to hum a few bars, or sing a few words. Or maybe, just maybe, walk out without an umbrella when you know it's raining. One thing's for sure, if all Gene Kelly did was choreograph the dance numbers, he more than deserves the co-directing credit he has.

They simply don't make films like this anymore. Which in some ways is a testament to the film's theme and narrative. The business of show is constantly in a state of evolution. The narrative portrays a time period when silent films were being replaced by "talkies" with sound, yet the musical genre itself has almost all but disappeared with the exception of animated films with musical numbers, and rare live-action pieces.

One might speculate that Hollywood overdid the musical. Personally, I can't get into them. Most of the time it seems like a drawn out affair, but this film is something special. Considering my feelings about musicals, it would have to take a film of this one's caliber to make me sit up and take notice.

Everybody knows Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the films title number, but this is just one of the many magical musical numbers in this epic piece of blissful entertainment. Set during the turbulent period when Hollywood was converting from silent films to sound, ‘Singin' in the Rain' is a perfect example of everything that is good and right about movie-making. Gene Kelly in his greatest role is an all singing, all dancing sensation and his acting is pretty damn good too. Donald O'Connor excels as his exuberant sidekick and almost steals the show with the unsurpassed ‘Make ‘em Laugh'. Debbie Reynolds is feisty and sexy as Kelly's love interest, while Jean Hagen gives one of the screen's greatest supporting performances as the horrid Lena Lamont, a silent screen goddess whose voice will just not cut it in talkies.

The musical numbers flow fast and furious as Gene and Donald perform amazing feats of choreography with ‘Fit as a Fiddle' and ‘Moses Supposes' while ‘Good Mornin' will have you dancing in the aisles. If ‘Singin' in the Rain' had no musical numbers it would still be a contender for the funniest film ever made. The problems with experiments with sound films are painfully funny, and Kelly's silent sparring with the demonic Hagen is hilarious. The accolade of sheer perfection can be conferred on few films, and such a title is perhaps even an understatement in this case. And never before did rain look like so much fun.

Singin In the Rain is arguably the best movie musical of all time, not just because of the music but because of the entire package - the premise, the comedy, the characters - everything here works together to make you feel better any time you sit down to watch it. It's ironic that this movie was thrown together quickly to capitalize on the success of "An American in Paris", since the improvisational feeling of the movie is one of the things that makes it so much fun. Although this film is number ten on the top 100 films of all time as compiled by the American Film Institute, it wasn't nominated for best picture the year of its release, 1952. Although it did well at the box office, it would be over twenty years before people would look back and realize just what a great motion picture it was. Perhaps that was because the 1970's were such bleak and cynical years, with movies that largely matched that mood, that people were eager to rediscover the fun that a motion picture viewing experience could be.

The movie focuses on that period of time in which the entire motion picture film industry was in nervous transition from silent to talking pictures. Although the movie compresses time in this respect - the transition actually took about three years - it does accurately describe the technical problems of that era along with their comical aspects. There was an overabundance of musicals in the first batch of talking films, many stars did have heavy accents that made their speech undecipherable or voices that came across like nails on a chalkboard like Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) and saw their careers ruined, and early sound technology itself was so fragile that you would often see actors speaking to potted plants or to coat racks with comic effect. The preview of silent picture team Lockwood and Lamont's first talkie, "The Dueling Cavalier", is one of the most hilarious scenes in the film. It is pretty typical of what you would see in such an early talking picture - dialogue going in and out of sync, actors and actresses strutting around and wildly gesturing as if nobody can hear them, and dialogue that still resembled what you would read off of the title cards in a silent film - "I love you, I love you, I love you".

All of this is one of the reasons Singin' In The Rain will never get dated - it is a comic nostalgic look at a very narrow period in time. This movie is fun outside of its comic take on movie history, though. For one, it's hard to say who steals the show the most, since there are so many thieves involved. Most notably there is Jean Hagen - who actually has a very pleasant speaking voice - as the evil silent star who can't accept her days are numbered. Then there is a 27 year-old Donald O'Connor as Cosmo, the studio music director and sidekick of Gene Kelly's character whose youthful exuberance really shines in the number "Make 'Em Laugh" along with all of his goofy facial expressions. He seems to be having as much fun as the audience. Finally, there are all of the great dance numbers and music, capped by probably one of the most famous scenes of all time - Gene Kelly's rendition of the title number that perfectly captures the joy of a man who has just fallen in love and feels he has the world at his feet. You just can't watch this film and not come away with a smile on your face. It is as good for the soul as chicken soup, just a lot more fun.

It's the magic that seldom appears, whose longevity is perpetual, the pleasure of enjoying the perfections that people, music and great storytelling can sometimes offer, with the backdrop a little piece of cinema history itself. All without foul language, extravagant pyrotechnics, mass brawls and bullets ricocheting all over the place, just immensely talented people doing what they do best - keeping you entertained and allowing you to escape for a while and live with the dreams of others. Whether musicals are you thing or not, there can be no doubt that you witness greatness as you welcome the rain and it makes your heart sing.