Singin' In The Rain
Category
Comedy / Musical / Romance
Director
Stanley Donen / Gene Kelly
Cast
- Gene Kelly
- Donald O'Connor
- Debbie Reynolds
- Jean Hagen
Release Date
25 March 1952
Synopsis
The setting of the film is in the 1920s when romantic team-ups and cheesy movies were beginning to become popular. "Singin' in the Rain" focuses on two characters, Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen), the most adored love team in the industry. Although Don and Lina are only screen-partners, Lina thinks that Don has romantic feelings for her.
The twist of the story is when Kathy Salden (Reynolds) joins the scene. When Lina and Don were making a musical, the former's voice was unfortunately unfit for her role. The dilemma required a rather immediate solution and at last, Kathy dubs Lina's voice to finish the project. Don eventually finds himself falling for Kathy, which made Lina jealous, while she tried to ruin everything. "Singin' in the Rain" was even made more entertaining and interesting because of Cosmo Brown's (O'Connor) character. When Don and Cosmo exposes Lina and reveals to the public that Kathy was the one behind the beautiful singing voice, Kathy instantly becomes the real superstar of the musical presentation.
Aside from the romantic-humorous story and Gene Kelley's superb dancing, the film was able to hit the box office, not to mention the impact its great soundtracks made. Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's team up to work on almost all the songs made people love the film even more. Among the songs used in the movie are "Singin' in the Rain", "Should I?", and "Broadway Rhythm".
As a statement to the success of "Singin' in the Rain", this exceptional film and its characters gained myriads of praises and recognitions. Jean Hagen received an Academy Award nomination for her role Lina. The film was also nominated for Academy Award Best Original Music Score.
"Singin' in the Rain" also made it to the list of Sight and Sound's all-time best movies. The American Film Institute also put the movie on the 100 Years...100 Movies and 100 Years of Musical lists. "Singin' in the Rain" is really among the most interesting crafts in the movie industry for it was able to perfectly combine music and comedy.