So...this is my first review...i hope you enjoy it.
I'm trying to make this review kind of different then the usual reviews you'd read...so don't blame me if i fail horribly. Here goes:
Singin' In The Rain
(1952)
Directed by: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Main Cast:
Gene Kelly..... Don Lockwood
Debbie Reynolds..... Kathy Selden
Donald O'Connor..... Cosmo Brown
Jean Hagen..... Lina Lamont
Millard Mitchell..... R.F. Simpson
Cyd Charisse..... Dancer (in the dream Broadway sequence)
Rita Moreno..... Zelda Zanders
Douglas Fowley..... Roscoe Dexter
Summary:
Well at this part of the review...I guess I have to tell you about the movie, what it's about, and my opinion. Well thats what i'll try to do so please bare with me.
The movie begins at a premier at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood of the latest film of the beloved stars of 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. Lina, unfortunately mistakes her and Don's on-screen love for real love. Don, who started out as a mood-music player on the sets of movie, to a stunt man, and then finally to where he's at, stardom, does not feel the same way.
After meeting an aspiring actress, Kathy Selden under rather comical circumstances, Don asks for help from his best friend, Cosmo Brown, to help him find her again. With the transition of silent movies to "talkies" in play, Don finds himself in love with Kathy and having to star in a new motion picture with Lina. The problem? Lina's voice. The high pitched, shrilly voice isn't what fans would think she'd sound like. This is where Kathy comes in.
The studio then changes the movie to a musical, and they boys decided that the solution to the problem of Lina's voice can be solved if they use Kathy's instead. A jealous Lina finds out that the screen will say that she doesn't speak for herself and takes matters into her own hands. She threatens to sue the studio, but all is resolved in the end.
How you may ask....just watch the movie and find out for yourself!
Factoids and Tidbits:
-When deciding to give Donald O'Connor a song, it was originally to be "The Wedding of the Painted Doll". However, since O'Connor had a bag of tricks he used in vaudeville, a song was substituted to use O'Connor's comical background: "Make 'Em Laugh" (of which the melody is remarkably similar to "Be A Clown" from The Pirate (1948).
-Debbie Reynolds remarked many years later that making this movie and surviving childbirth were the two hardest things she's ever had to do.
-This was the sixth time the song "Singin' in the Rain" was used on the big screen. It was introduced in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) when it was sung by the MGM roster in front of a Noah's Ark backdrop. A clip from that footage was later used in "Babes In Arms"(1939). Jimmy Durante sang it briefly in "Speak Easily" (1932). Durante was the first to add the often used "Doo Doo Doo Doo " and "Ya Da Da Da". Judy Garland sang it in "Little Nellie Kelly" (1940). The song was also featured as an elaborate musical sequence performed by William Bendix and cast in "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948).
My Response:
Well I guess I should tell you what I thought of the movie huh? Well here's my response. Personally, i think its the best musical I have ever seen. I'm not saying that there aren't a lot of good musicals out there, but there is something about this one that lets me watch it over and over again and still love it. Yes, I would definitely recommend this to everyone. Even if you aren't a big musical fan...I know I wasn't until I saw this one...and then I guess I started really liking them.
Work Cited ;P:
So I got all the dates and my factoids from imdb.com.
I hoped you liked it....
