Review

Review Date: 8-December-02
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Singin' In the Rain (50th Anniversary Release) (2002)

I have the bad tendency of becoming green with envy whenever I hear about people finding exactly what they were meant to do in life, and making a success of doing it. (Fortunately, or unfortunately, this doesn't happen often.) But the 50th anniversary release of Gene Kelly's classic "Singin' in the Rain" has taught me a valuable lesson: when the fates and stars come together in this manner, it's a glorious thing to be marveled at and appreciated instead of envied with bitterness. "Singin' in the Rain" is so joyous, so enchanting, and so exuberant that you can't help but be swept up in what is clearly the perfect union of Kelly's talent in dance, love of song, and wonder at the magic of movies. Put simply, it's a pitch-perfect picture and a whole lotta fun.

The meat of "Singin' in the Rain" is, of course, the song and dance numbers, but the film also boasts an entertaining story to hold everything together. Kelly stars as Don Lockwood, a 1920s matinee idol who is teamed on screen and in the tabloids with leading lady Lina Lamont (an utterly hilarious Jean Hagen, the only Oscar-nominated actor of the cast). Except for the fact that Don doesn't really like the dimwitted and grasping Lina, things are going his way until Warner Brothers issues "The Jazz Singer," and suddenly movies go from silent affairs to talkies. This puts pressure on the Lockwood-Lamont team; not only do they have to master the new technology right quick, they have to find a way to deal with Lina's horrendous, two-bit hussy voice, which has been kept as a dirty secret up until now. Serendipitously, however, Don has recently met and fallen for an aspiring young singer-actress, Kathy (Debbie Reynolds), who steps in to supply Lina's vocals, allowing them to take a chance with not only a talkie, but a full blown musical. Things get a little hairy at the end, testing loyalties and putting futures on the line, but love and genuine talent carry the day.

Kelly keeps the action coming as both choreographer and co-director, with one amazing dance number after another, each more inventive and exhilarating than the last. The title sequence is justly famous, but only begins to define the wonders of "Singin' in the Rain." Other highlights include a movie within a movie in which Kelly plays a rube hoofer arriving on Broadway and learning about life from a gangster's moll (Cyd Charisse), as well as the moment when Don and Kathy fall for each other in an empty movie studio --- a scene which is as much a tribute to the filmmakers' passion for the movies as it is an expression of the characters' new romance. There are also vaudeville numbers, tap dance numbers, prop numbers, comic numbers --- a veritable smorgasbord of delights.

Now, fans of the movie may think I have overlooked Don's best pal Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), as is often the fate of right hand men --- but, no! I have simply saved the best for last. If there exists a person on this earth who could watch this movie and not fall in love (platonically or otherwise) with Cosmo Brown, I don't want to know about it. Every second that O'Connor is on the screen, he lights it up, with charm, with humor, and with moves every bit as unbelievable as Kelly's (not to mention hair that is simply to die for). When he runs up walls in "Make 'Em Laugh" or teams with Kelly and Reynolds for "Good Morning," a great movie gets even better. If Kelly is the mind, soul, and principal feet of "Singin' in the Rain," O'Connor is its heart.

"Singin' in the Rain" aims to capture the moment in history when the theater arts of dancing and music and comedy met the newfangled phenomenon of the talking motion picture. In successfully doing so, it provides sensational proof that Gene Kelly (and his cast) had both a mastery of and a reverence for all of them.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.