It's The Cat's Meow!

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2005)

"Singin' In The Rain" is a musical for people who don't like musicals. Fast, funny, self-aware, and chock full of the best singing and dancing you can cram into 105 minutes, it might as well be the best movie musical since the entire genre peaked here, never to be effectively revived.
Fittingly, the movie focuses on the birth of the Hollywood musical. It's 1927, and the silent-film romantic pair of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) find themselves suddenly wired for sound after "The Jazz Singer" inaugurates a new era. While there are a lot of problems for the pair to overcome, including the fact he hates her for the nasty witch she is, the only real problem is that Lina's Godzilla-like ego comes with a Godzilla-like voice. Making their new movie into a musical might then seem a bad idea, except that Don's new girl Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) can sing like a dream, and doesn't mind dubbing Lina.
Knowing humor abounds in this classic, clever film. "You have to show a movie at a party. It's a Hollywood law," says Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), Lockwood's buddy. An opening sequence features a Hedda Hopper announcer introducing vogue-ing celebrities at a red-carpet premiere. "They've been married two months now, and happy as newlyweds," she coos as a catatonic couple stroll past.
Even the musical numbers are done with a wink, like "Beautiful Girl" and "All I Do Is Dream Of You." This would be a great film even if the most famous of those numbers, Kelly's "Singin' In The Rain," was left on the cutting-room floor. There's still "Make 'Em Laugh," the funniest song-and-dance routine ever done (by O'Connor and a mannequin) and "Good Morning," with some of the most intricate tap dancing ever performed times three.
But "Singin' In The Rain" IS there, and it fully deserves its place in the pantheon, not only with Kelly's wonderfully irrational exuberance but some incredible camera work that pans over and around him to maximize the uplift in this goose-pimple number.
If only they left out (and not just trimmed) that Broadway musical number near the end, the pseudo-ballet with Cyd Charisse. It pulls us away from the story for 20 minutes, apparently so Kelly could have a section with his favorite dance partner. No one ever looked better on the big screen, or projected such natural-seeming charisma, as Genial Gene, but apparently he could throw his elbows with the best of them. It's obvious how much this film owes to the other director, the playful and creative Stanley Donan. If Kelly stuck to the on screen stuff, this would have been a better film.
But what am I talking about? It's "Singin' In The Rain"! I can't dock this simply because Kelly had a big ego. He earned it with this great film, a movie milestone. If you never see another movie musical, see this one. You'll be glad you did.