Deserves Every Accolade

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2005)

This is one of those handful of films that is universally loved and respected and I have to join the crowd on that. For over 50 years it has been considered the best musical ever made and I can't argue with that, either, especially with the newly- restored DVD version that came out a short time ago. The film never looked and sounded better!
In a nutshell, the reason for the high praise, I would think would be: 1 - Likable lead characters (Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor); 2 - Excellent song-and-dance numbers, capped off by one of the most famous of all-time, the title song "Singin' In the Rain," featuring Kelly; 3 - Very good humor throughout the film, aided by Jean Hagen's dumb blonde imitation, which may be the best ever put on film; 4 - Spectacular color (please get this latest 2-disc DVD), and 5 - of course, simply a very entertaining film start-to-finish.
A few side comments: Kelly gets the legacy with his title song dance but O'Connor's dancing in here is just as good. In fact, one of his solo routines reportedly exhausted him so much he could not work for five days. A nice bonus is seeing Cyd Charisse in here, showing off her dancing skills and great legs.