A bit long-winded but still entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2006)

Plot in a nutshell - The roaring 20s are coming to an end, and with it is the end of the silent era of film, for a new form of film entertainment is at hand: the talking picture, inspired by the success of "The Jazz Singer". Just as silent screen stars Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are about to make a new film "The Cavalier", Don - who with each passing film is growing ever more weary of the ego-maniacal and delusional Lina - meets sweet virginal ingénue Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds, AKA: Princess Leia's Mom), who aspires to be an actress in her own right. Don meets Kathy while running away from his adoring fans and hitches a ride with her en route to a post-party premiere while she's en route to work. Secretly a fan of his films but wishing not to appear to be a gushing fan girl, Kathy claims to be a stage actress and comments that she doesn't find film work to be all that professional or dignified as there is no sound or words, merely melodramatic gestures, which Don, who worked his way up long and hard from humble beginnings with his sardonic childhood piano playing friend Cosmo (Don O'Connor), finds insulting. Kathy is later humiliated when Don finds out that she's actually working as a song & dance girl at the very Grove where his party is being held, where she makes her grand entrance from a giant fake cake, her embarrassment fueling Don's smug amusement. When Don starts grilling Kathy about her "profession", she tries to hit him with a pie, but ends up hitting his obnoxious screen partner Lina instead, which costs Kathy her job when Lina complains about it to the management. Don's frustration is pushed to critical mass by this, and finds he can't stop thinking about Kathy, feeling both guilty about her misfortune and his own confidence undermined by her words. Don later finds Kathy working as an extra for a musical number for another project at the studio where he works, Kathy's true fan girl colors are exposed, but in old school Hollywood fashion, Don & Kathy fall in love.
Following this, Don's new film, "The Cavalier" is besieged with problems as the studio tries to convert it into a sound picture (many of them taken from real life problems encountered during the sound conversion). When the film is given its initial test screening, the film is booed and mocked, as the audience beholds the now hammy, melodramatic acting of Don and Lina as well as Lina's glass shattering squeak of a voice. This serves as a blow to Don's pride and he figures that Kathy was right before, that he never was an actor, just a show-boater. Kathy and Cosmo encourage Don not to give up and, recognizing his skill with song and dance, suggest turning "The Cavalier" into a musical, with Kathy dubbing Lina's speaking & singing voice. Lina eventually finds out and is none too pleased, and tries to ruin both Don's relationship with Kathy and Kathy's career, with Lina wisely utilizing her contract to manipulate the studio head R.F. Simpson and insisting that Kathy be uncredited her for work while continuing to be her uncredited "voice" otherwise, Lina could sue the studio for contract violations. The newly musicalized film, reworked to have the hero fantasizing he's in the old time instead of being there, opens to be a rousing success, and Kathy & Don find out about Lina's wicked deed just after the film ends. Kathy is devastated, but just when all hope appears to be lost, Lina's ego gets the better of her as she makes her own speech for the first time, which confuses the audience as to how Lina could have such a beautiful voice on screen but a squeaky voice in person. Lina then insists that Kathy sing behind the scene to her lip sync, which Don encourages, annoying a disheartened Kathy who tries to disown him, but then, just as the sing/sync gets underway, Don, Cosmo and RF gleefully pull the curtain up, exposing the deception. Lina is finished, Kathy is now on top, and Kathy & Don live happily ever after.
A bit long winded but still an engagingly bright musical comedy in the old school Hollywood musical tradition. Debbie Reynolds is adorable as the golden hearted Kathy. Don't miss the title song number.