Singin' in the Rain. (U.)
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. 1952.
Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O' Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd Charisse. 102 mins
Is the sun in your heart? Are you ready for love? Do you walk down the lane with a happy refrain? Then there must be a smile on your face because Hollywood's greatest musical – Hollywood's greatest entertainment? - is back in cinemas, heading up the BFI musical season. Seriously, what other film could they choose?
I don't know if it's a perfect, or timeless film, (just occasionally O'Connor relentless perkiness gets wearing) but I can't imagine there are many 67-year-old films that are still this vital and entertaining, that have retained a capacity to wow. To hear Doo dloo doo is to be swept by a rush of euphoric expectation. Maybe Dooley Wilson being instructed to play As Time Goes By, or Dorothy going Somewhere Over the Rainbow are its equals but I don't think there is a more anticipated musical number in all cinema.
I guess Singin' In The Rain counts as an early example of the karaoke music, with a story cobbled together by Betty Comden and Adolph Green to fit around a bunch of familiar songs that had been knocking around for a few decades. The story they came up with is a witty romantic comedy set in Hollywood around the shift from silent to talking pictures and in particular how difficult it was to record dialogue. It's a very fine script that probably would've made a decent film without the songs. It is a great irony though that it should emphasize how cumbersome the movie-making process is when the resulting film is the perfect expression of how light and effortless films can be.
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. 1952.
Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O' Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd Charisse. 102 mins
Is the sun in your heart? Are you ready for love? Do you walk down the lane with a happy refrain? Then there must be a smile on your face because Hollywood's greatest musical – Hollywood's greatest entertainment? - is back in cinemas, heading up the BFI musical season. Seriously, what other film could they choose?
I don't know if it's a perfect, or timeless film, (just occasionally O'Connor relentless perkiness gets wearing) but I can't imagine there are many 67-year-old films that are still this vital and entertaining, that have retained a capacity to wow. To hear Doo dloo doo is to be swept by a rush of euphoric expectation. Maybe Dooley Wilson being instructed to play As Time Goes By, or Dorothy going Somewhere Over the Rainbow are its equals but I don't think there is a more anticipated musical number in all cinema.
I guess Singin' In The Rain counts as an early example of the karaoke music, with a story cobbled together by Betty Comden and Adolph Green to fit around a bunch of familiar songs that had been knocking around for a few decades. The story they came up with is a witty romantic comedy set in Hollywood around the shift from silent to talking pictures and in particular how difficult it was to record dialogue. It's a very fine script that probably would've made a decent film without the songs. It is a great irony though that it should emphasize how cumbersome the movie-making process is when the resulting film is the perfect expression of how light and effortless films can be.
