Possibly my favorite film

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2009)

This may or may not be my final user review. I don't really know as I type this. Every character my fingers hits, every key-stroke, brings to me a new realization of my thoughts' worth on film. In that vein, I hope that what I've written has served those who've read my reviews to better guide them to quality entertainment, and hopefully with new insight.
But, to the film.
"Singing in the Rain" has a special place in my heart. It's a window on an era of cinema that itself is another window on another era in cinema. We're seeing what the people of the 1950s thought of film some thirty to forty years before during its infancy.
But, the real charm of the film is that we have a dancer who is masculine in his poetry. That, and he carries himself (to borrow from the film) with "dignity". This is another icon of male that a lot of men looked up to when the film was first released. Gene Kelley didn't ogle women, nor mistreat them. He showed gentle power through grace and poetry. A thing that today would be considered effete, or perhaps too high brow for the common man.
But, even though we see Kelley giving us his smooth cultured delivery, we're also shown his comic side. He's a clown, but a smooth one. Even the most dignified have their comedic moments. He shows us guys how to court a cute young woman like Debbie Reynolds, and shows us that a woman of quality wants a man of quality. And quality doesn't come in the form of a fat bill fold, but the shedding of baser impulses, and embracing of the heart.
Then we have Cosmo, the a-sexual friend whose relegated to the realm of emasculated dudeness. He's the class clown who never grew up. Does he date? We don't know. But then again, does it matter? He seems happy and content to play second string to Kelley's Lockwood character, but shines himself as he brings us the former Vaudevillian turned Hollywood supporting star.
Then, there's Reynold's Kathy Selden character, who takes pot shots at the big boys from her humble station. She is elevated to professional performer status from her Catskills beginnings as a side show girl. She's beautiful and charming when she isn't being jealous of those who made it into "the industry", and is taken under the wing of Kelley's smitten character.
The plot thickens with Jean Haggen's Lina Lamont, the not-so-ditzy blonde with a nose for leverage. She may not know art, but she knows what she likes. And she likes getting the lime light, and it doesn't matter whose talent she has to exploit to get that light shining on her instead of those making her the starlet she's been made into.
There's the head of the studio, the high energy director, various supporting roles, and, of course, the musical numbers. Call me nuts, but I like a good musical. To me there's something reassuring about men and women being able to show their physical prowess to the creative notes conjured by a musical mind. To me that's the peak of expressionism. Why musicals have been unfairly attached to fringe and counter culture is beyond me. Sure, they're old and corny, but why attach a feminist quality to those characteristics?
The great thing about "Singing in the Rain" is that it's a musical comedy that formulaic, doesn't take itself very seriously, but is smashingly successful. The guy gets the girl in the end, and isn't that what it's all about?
"Singing in the Rain" is good old fashioned Hollywood film. It truly is, in every sense of the word. It was done in the days before CGI and green/blue-screen techniques, has its own brand of SFX, has a lot of dazzling production numbers (again, to wow the audience in the days before model spaceships and CGI), and somehow manages to focus all of that on the haphazard and somewhat rocky (yet still sweet) flavored courtship between a man who wants to be a talented star, but isn't, and a woman who should, but is held back. The two eventually meet, and romantic magic is conjured.
And I guess that's why it's my favorite film. It has all the gags and good musical numbers from days of old, but it also tells a tale of the way love ought to turn out. The way it ought to be. And, in spite of all the Hollywood gloss, glitz and glamor, it stays focused on that single message.
There's of course Gene's famous dance number, which, truth be told, should resound with every red blooded male who's ever fallen for that one special lady. It should also give us guys hope that that special lady is out there, just waiting to inspire us so that we too can go splashing, and Singing, in, the Rain.
I loved films from my days as a boy. This film was, and still is, one of my inspirations for life. If I were to go back into the film industry, hopefully, if allowed, I would be able to go back in time and visit the MGM lot during its musical hey-day, and help create magnificent films like the one I just reviewed. Something with a lot of humor, pizazz, little violence, and gentle story about a man and a woman meeting one another. I think I've always felt that... in fact I'm pretty sure I always have.
With that, I'm going to end my series of reviews here for now. Thanks all, but they just don't make 'em like this anymore.