Gene Kelly's Crowning Moment!

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2017)

"Singin' in the Rain" is considered by many to be the greatest movie musical of all time. It's hard to argue that point. It's got everything, a solid cast, great songs, glorious Technicolor and solid production numbers.
Don Lockwood (Kelly and Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) are vaudevillians in the 1920s. They are not doing so well and decide to try Hollywood. Lockwood becomes a stunt man who graduates to starring in adventure films with co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). It is the time of the introduction to sound and it is discovered that Lamont does not have a voice suitable for sound.
One night after being mobbed by adoring fans, Lockwood meets Kathy Selden (the still teen-aged Debbie Reynolds), an aspiring singer/dancer. Love at first sight. Kathy is trained to dub Lamont's voice in the studio's first sound film. It is a big success. Lamont arranges for Kathy to be contractually bound to continue dubbing her voice. But Lockwood, Cosmo, and studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell have other ideas and...................................
There are several memorable performances in this film. O'Connor performs the comical "Make 'em Laugh", Kelly of course performs the title tune and appears in the "Broadway Melody" production number with a cast of thousands and the lovely Cyd Charisse with whom he has a couple of dance numbers. The stars do a delightful "Good Mornin" song and dance as well. Jean Hagen almost steals the film as the deceitful Lina Lamont.
MGM dusted off several of their old songs for this film. "Good Mornin'" for example, was sung by Judy Garland in 1939's "Babes in Arms". The song, "Beautiful Girl" is ably performed by Jimmy Thompson who received no billing or acclaim for his effort. Wwatch for Rita Moreno as Zelda, Lamont's scheming ally. "B" western bad guy Douglas Fowley turns in a dandy performance as the frustrated director and Kathleen Freeman and King Donovan turn up in minor roles as well.
This would by Gene Kelly's second of back to back successes following "An American in Paris" a year earlier. Sadly the movie musical was on decline and both Kelly and O'Connor would soon be searching for alternatives. The diminutive Debbie Reynolds was just getting started and would go on performing on stage, film and TV for the rest of her life.