A Singing, Dancing Masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2010)

This film is set in a time where silent films are being converted to talkies. And the trouble lies in the fact that the successful duo, Lamont and Lakewood, have a woman (Jean Hagen) whose voice is more or less awful. How can they continue to be successful and open their mouths?
I had some concerns with this film. Gene Kelly gets all the credit, but his little buddy is clearly the better dancer, especially during his long comedy scene. Sure, Kelly has more talking time, but the other guy gets the short end of the stick (so much so that I cannot even recall his name). Also, Lena's voice is made out to be bad, but it really wasn't that awful. Judy Holliday has roughly the same voice in "Born Yesterday" and no one complains. I'm not sure why this is called "Singin' in the Rain", as that's just one scene... it could just as easily have been called "The Dueling Cavalier". Oh well.
The humor of converting silents to talkies is pretty great, more or less the highlight of the film. The strategic use of hidden microphones, and how the sound can get out of sync. The film as a whole is good and has some nice dance sequences if that's what you're into, but this part was really want made it memorable. This will go down as one of the greatest films in MGM history, and someday maybe it will get a retroactive "Best Picture" Oscar.