Welcome to Classics Weekly, our second episode.
Last week, we did “Casablanca,” which Brian had seen once before, but Kevin had not. This time, neither of us had seen it before; just a few famous clips. Obviously, there’s one iconic scene (the title song) that everyone has probably seen at least a clip of, but there’s actually a whole movie that goes along with that clip.
Kevin loved it already. Brian thought it was slow getting started, but as it picked up steam, he liked it more and more. Overall, we both thought it was a lot of fun.
We watched the version on Amazon Prime, but it’s also available to stream in several other places. Naturally, there are DVD and BluRay editions out there as well.
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1952 Singin’ in the Rain
Directed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Stars Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Run Time: 1 Hour, 43 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is very fun and uplifting. It’s also pretty dated, which adds to the charm. It’s a movie about making movies, so we get some insight into how movie sets and special effects worked in the 1950s. The song and dance numbers are impressive, and in addition to the main characters there are literally hundreds of extras and some of the numbers are quite elaborate. We thought it was very entertaining.
Terrible One-Sentence Synopsis
A bunch of people randomly sing and dance, and sometimes they get wet.
Spoilery Synopsis
The three leads sing the title song as the credits roll.
We open on a movie premiere, and everyone is waiting for Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood to arrive. Zelda Zanders is there along with her rich, elderly husband. Olga and the Count are there, as is some guy named Cosmo who isn’t a celebrity at all. Don and Lina finally show up, and people in the crowd faint.
Don thanks Cosmo publically for being a good, longtime friend; they grew up together. We get a flashback of their music and acting careers. We see that what Don says is a bit exaggerated, but we do get a nice dance number out of it. We see that Don got his break in Hollywood accidentally as a stuntman. He gets plenty to do as a stuntman, but how he survives is pure luck. The producer, Simpson, wants to cast Don in a film with Lina Lamont, and they eventually hit it off.
We see some of the couples’ newest film, a silent, black-and-white swashbuckler. The audience eats it up. When it’s time to say a few words, Don does all the talking; Lina has a voice like a screaming cat, and they all want her to stay quiet. She insults Cosmo, and Don sticks up for him. Lina thinks she’s engaged to Don, but that’s just a story for the press.
When he gets a flat tire, Don gets swamped by fans, so he jumps into a passing car. The driver recognizes his face and thinks he’s a criminal. The policeman recognizes him, and she feels silly. She’s Kathy Selden, and she offers to drive him home. She’s not a big fan of movies in general and basically insults him. Those silent films aren’t really acting, she says. She’s a wanna-be stage actress, and they argue about it. He does, however, make her laugh.
Don goes to a party, and all the Hollywood people are there. Mr. Simpson plays a movie clip for them, and it’s a demonstration of a talking picture. The audience thinks it’s a trick and wonders if the filmmakers will ever use it. They talk about “The Jazz Singer,” which is still in development. There’s a big cake, and Kathy jumps out and does a dance with her group. One thing leads to another, and Kathy throws a cake in Lina’s face. She runs away in embarrassment.
Don goes to work in the morning, and we see how films are made in the studio. He talks to Cosmo about Kathy; he’s smitten. Cosmo does a whole dance to “Make Em Laugh” to cheer up Don. He’s… quite acrobatic with it.
Lina talks about getting Kathy fired, and Don insults her throughout a scene. Since it’s a silent film, they talk about how much they hate each other– during a love scene with kissing. Simpson comes in and shuts down the picture. “The Jazz Singer” is a sensation, and he wants to make a talking picture now. Cosmo will be the head of the new music department. It’s not going to be a huge adjustment for him, but Squeaky Lina is going to have a hard time of it.
We get a “talking films” montage as Hollywood changes. Mr. Simpson casts Kathy in an upcoming film, and Don sees her. He says he’s not mad, and he doesn’t care what Lina says about her.
Kathy asks about the publicity stories about him and Lina, but he insists that none of it is true. He shows her around a big stage with lights and effects, and he sings a love song to her.
Meanwhile, Lina goes to a “diction coach” to teach her to quit screeching. Don learns some tongue-twisters. This also leads to a song and dance with Cosmo.
On the set, director Roscoe can’t get Lina to talk into the microphone. He’s getting really frustrated with her. They end up wiring her dress for sound, but all it does is pick up her heartbeat. It’s not a productive day at the studio.
The film is eventually done, and they all attend the screening. Everyone laughs at Lina, both her voice and her performance. They think it’s a comedy. Don shows up on screen, and he’s not much better because the script is awful. Then, the sound gets out of synchronization, and everyone’s lips move wrongly which makes it even worse. The film is a disaster.
Don figures he’ll be out of a job soon, and Kathy and Cosmo try to cheer him up. He says that Kathy was right about him in their first meeting; he’s not a good actor. Cosmo says he should make a musical because Don is good at that kind of thing. Cosmo suggests they change the current movie into a musical. When they see how late it is at night, they all sing “Good Morning.” When the topic comes up that Lina can’t sing, Cosmo suggests using Kathy’s voice as early lip-syncing, just this once.
Afterward, Don kisses Kathy goodnight and walks home… in the rain. This, surprisingly, leads to a song that you might have heard before that involves him dancing in the rain.
In the morning, Don and Cosmo tell Simpson about their plan to save the film. They redo the movie as a musical, and Kathy sings Lina’s part behind the scenes. The film is a big success, and Simpson says he’ll give Kathy her own film afterward. Don has one more number to film; this time, he’s “Gotta Dance” with lots of extras and background people. This one goes on for a long time and has multiple parts and multiple partners and sets (What it’s got to do with the French Revolution, I do not know).
Back in reality, Simpson tells the boys to proceed with their plan to “dub” Lina. Lina, however, soon finds out; she still thinks Don loves her. Lina wants to get Kathy fired, but the film is done.
The newspaper reports on what a singer Lina is with no credit to Kathy. Lina gave an exclusive story to every paper in town. She’s had her lawyers look at her contract, and she can do whatever she wants as far as publicity. She also wants Kathy to continue to sing and voice her parts with no credit whatsoever permanently.
The movie opens, and all the singing impresses the audience. It’s a hit, and Don congratulates Kathy. Lina tells Don her plans for Kathy. Kathy’s got a five-year contract, so she can’t say no. Lina wants to go out on stage and make a speech, and no one wants to stop her this time. The audience is surprised to hear her real voice, and the audience wants her to sing. Simpson and Don get Kathy to sing for Lina, but she takes it personally and says she never wants to see Don again.
Lina sings “Singing in the Rain” for the crowd, but it’s really Kathy who is doing the vocals behind a curtain. Don, Cosmo, and Simpson all work together to open the curtain and let everyone see how the trick is done. The audience thinks it’s hilarious. Kathy starts to run out in tears, thinking she is being mocked and humiliated. Don comes out on stage, calls for her to stop, tells the truth about Kathy, and sings one more song just for her. They end up making “Singin’ in the Rain” into a movie.
Brian’s Commentary
This is one I had not seen before. Obviously, I knew it was a musical but didn’t know it was a comedy. It was very funny in parts, and the dance numbers were quite impressive and colorful. I wasn’t blown away initially, but as the story progressed, I was more and more into it. Overall, it’s quite good.
The opening credits mention that it was “Suggested by the Song…” So, did they make the movie around the song? Well, yes. The old studio system was weird but surprisingly efficient at putting out things people wanted to see quickly. Actually, the entire script was written after the songs; the writers had to generate a plot into which the songs would fit.
Gene Kelly was around 40 years old here, but he’s surprisingly wrinkled-looking. Times were hard. By all accounts, Kelly was a bully on set, constantly yelling at Debbie Reynolds, and when she’d had enough, he would continue with Donald O’Connor, who was afraid of him. When the film was complete, MGM released Kelly from his contract, mostly due to his behavioral problems.
Debbie Reynolds was only twenty here, and the age difference really stands out if you look for it. She and Gene Kelly didn’t get along at all, and her hatred for him only grew as the filming continued. She later said that making this film and childbirth were the two toughest things she ever did in her life.
Donald O’Connor was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day at this time; the “Make Em Laugh” number sent him to the hospital because it was so demanding. He later said, "I was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day then, and getting up those walls was murder. They had to bank one wall so I could make it up and then through another wall. We filmed that whole sequence in one day. We did it on a concrete floor. My body just had to absorb this tremendous shock. Things were building to such a crescendo that I thought I'd have to commit suicide for the ending. I came back on the set three days later. All the grips applauded. Gene Kelly applauded, told me what a great number it was. Then Gene said, "Do you think you could do that number again?" I said, "Sure, any time". He said, "Well, we're going to have to do it again tomorrow". No one had checked the aperture of the camera and they fogged out all the film. So the next day I did it again! By the end my feet and ankles were a mass of bruises."
How either of them had the energy to do the dancing in this film is beyond me, not to mention the many rehearsals these dance numbers took.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’d only seen clips of some of the musical numbers before, so this was my first viewing of the whole thing too. I thought it was great. It was very fun how it showed how the movie making worked within the movie itself, how effects and lighting and so forth were done in the early 1950s. The trio of leads were great, and any personal issues they had working together didn’t come across on screen. You’d think they were the best of friends. I’d highly recommend seeing this.
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Theme song, "Boogie Party" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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