The Sum Of All Parts- A Musical Celebration!

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2007)

Perhaps the true greatness of Singin' In The Rain (1952) lies not solely in it's excellent musical numbers, but the clever plot and sparkling screenplay that the song-and-dance numbers are set to. Singin' In The Rain is a rare musical in that it is also an amazing, accomplished feat of film-making.
It is also amazing that this most fresh, witty and original of all musicals is, at it's most basic, a nostalgic mi sh-mash of Early Hollywood. Most components are copied- Kelly's legendary title number had already been rolled out in a creaky early talkie (with not much success) and the brilliant 'Good Mornin'' number is a re-hash of Kelly's dance with Rita Hayworth and Phil Silvers in Cover Girl's (1944) 'Make Way For Tomorrow' number. Previous stock footage of Kelly from 'The Three Musketeers'(1948) is used, and the Kelly/Reynolds relationship is very reminiscent of the March/Gaynor relationship (minus the drinking) in A Star Is Born (1937)- Kelly even resembling March in a number of scenes. It is remarkable that Singin' In The Rain did so well, as all but two of the musical numbers ('Moses Supposes, a simple, catchy, little ditty set to Kelly and O'Connor's toe-tapping, and 'Make Em Laugh', a rather blatant rip-off of the previous 'Be A Clown') were re-worked old MGM musical staples way past their use-by-date.
Yet this relentless copying and re-working is what makes the film the masterpiece it remains today. It works primarily as a celebration AND an affectionate send-up of early Hollywood. It's plot, revolving around the awkward transition of the film industry from silents to talkies, takes in many actual occurrences and insider-jokes to provide a truly wonderful portrait of late 1920's Hollywood. The screenplay is deceptively hilarious yet rich in detail- those who are not overly familiar with this period of history should do some research, as these sly pokes at early Hollywood are fascinating. The more you know about classic Hollywood, early talkies and the birth of the musical genre, the more you will appreciate this.
Many famous screen stars are parodied- from a heavily-accented European silent film star who dismisses the talkies as 'Vulgar!'(an obvious take on Pola Negri, who actress who didn't make the transition to sound) to the now-famous scene in Bebe Daniels' early musical Rio Rita (1929), where Bebe 'lightly taps' her leading man with a fan. Lina Lamont's (Jean Hagen) heavy Brooklyn accent (both a copy of Judy Holliday's 'Born Yesterday' voice and a jibe at Clara Bow, whose honking tones coupled with her wild partying and mental instability ruined her career)and the over-sized blonde-white wig Lina must wear (actually the wig Norma Shearer famously wore in Marie Antoinette, an MGm film from 1938!) represent Kelly and Donen's subtle parodying of the era. Rita Moreno's 'Zip Girl', vamping it at a movie premiere, is a play at Miss Bow's 'It Girl' persona. Kelly's hilarious 'I love you, I love you!' dialog is a direct reference to failed silent matinée idol John Gilbert, who made a flop talkie debut in His Glorious Night (1929). Kelly and Donen do misrepresent history, as Gilbert's voice, evidenced from clips, was not all that effeminate, it was in fact a combination of an outdated image, horrendous dialog, L.B Mayer's vendetta to ruin him and his own personal insecurities that led to his downfall and premature death. However, Singin' opts for a more light-hearted focus in capturing the essence of the failings of many early sound films.
Aside from the history, the remarkable and captivating musical numbers are what viewers remember from the film. O'Connor's' 'Make Em Laugh' routine is a masterpiece of physicality, almost Chaplin-like in it's humor and appeal. Kelly's title number is nothing short of stunning and is justifiably one of the most memorable sequences in cinema. The Kelly/Reynolds number 'You Were Meant For Me' is both a a beautiful ballad and an ironic comment on the setting-up of the romantic musical number- a look at the artifice needed to create such an intimate moment.
The ballet sequence (added after the success of 'An American In Paris' a year earlier) merges traditional balletic movements with the jazz/blues rhythms of the 'Roaring Twenties', again evoking the era. Kelly's partner in this astonishing sequence, Cyd Charisse, sports a sexy green flapper dress and a 'Lulu'- a severe page-boy cut popularized by Louise Brooks in the brilliant silent Pandora's Box. Cyd's moll is accompanied by her coin-flipping gangster boyfriend, a bizarre creation who merges the looks of Peter Lorre in 'The Maltese Falcon', the scar of Muni's Tony Camonte in Scarface (1932) and the coin-flipping of George Raft from the same film. The 'Broadway Melody' ballet is a highlight of stylized dancing, a blazing array of color, sound and movement, a parade for Walter Plunkett's terrific costume design, and a journey through the musical, with Kelly dancing in revues and as Florenz Ziegfeld in a 'Follies' tribute.
In a word: Terrific.