Unlike many other movies that top various best of lists, I absolytley agree that Singin in the Rain deserves to be tops in many great musical lists. There's something that makes Singin in the rain a magical experience, especially when it's stacked against the competition of musicals that threaten it's reputation (West Side Story blows). Maybe musicals aren't my thing, but most songs are slow, drawn out, boring, and the same thing over and over again in most musicals. Music such as Grease have a pretty weak lack of energy (though sometimes that musical evokes some guity pleasures). Singin in the Rain is fasts moving, sometimes implausable and plot hole-ridden (Who the hell conveices an idea like Cosmo and Don did to the RF?), but when your laughing at Lina's hideous vioce (I tend to go Mystery Science Theater 3000 and insult and answer her questions), feeling the rhythmic tap dancing, being hilarious entertained by the humor of it all, or just simple indulging in the movies extreme energy and charisma, who the ______ cares? I sure don't, which is one reason why I enjoy this knockout movie quite the bit.
Singin in the Rain is refreshing for me because of it's songs and topics, a fair and well departure from the tired musicals that feature inane plot lines about characters I don't care about, and heavy, drawn out gabage. Sure, it has some iffy moments (I hate You are My Lucky Star), but that's a small feat considering how great this movie is. It absolutely bursts with movie magic, something that I often have trouble finding in movies. Movies like Casablanca evoke no sort of emotion in me, it's kind of sad. But Singin' In the Rain does the exact opposite, it's bubbly as hell, but when I enjoy this great movie, I forget I am an cynic and really sometimes believe in movie magic (then once I think of Disney, my gears start grinding again).
The music numbers are all knockouts. Few musicals (I dig Chicago's jazzy numbers as a close second) have this much infectious numbers in abundance, but Singin in The Rain possesses an insane amount of energy. The vocals are all richly sang and extremely vibrant and infectious, and the music itself that backs up the movie is virbant, high energy, and often jazzy or big band ish (and sometimes comes off as cartoony, but I think that's kind of a good thing) The lyrics are good because hardly any one of them deals without love. The only numbers that deal with love kind of suck (except Dreaming Of You), and the lyrics are pretty happy, but it's so easy to forgive anyway. The title track may have been sang after he was supposed to be in love with Kathy, but nuts to that emotion. Seriously, I don't even think about love when rain and the music itself makes the magic without the emotion of being in love. ____ love, you don't need it to enjoy the title track. You will wan to know these songs by heart because You will want to sing along. Oh, and how about that dancing. Gene Kelly and Donald O Conner are both excellent, extremely athletic and rhythmatic, and Debbie Reynolds had a fire light under her @$$ and danced excellent as an outcome. Can't forget the others that dance along, being the other dancers and Cyd Charisse as the gangster's girlfriend.
But what really what makes Singin in the rain such a great movie is the story line. The love story is there, but it's trivial and takes a second hand to it's main story line: the movie industry itself. This is about the transitions from silent to talking, and delivers it in a sometimes satricial way and satires many of it's aspects, among those including it's reaction and Reynold's character making fun of the way acting was in silent movies (which, in my opinion, was extremely exaggerated). The period the movie is set is handled with great ease, as Gene Kelly was even said to have studied numerous stills and pictures of the time period to get it terribly right. It also has a refreshing lack of heavy drama (thank god), something that pegs down most crappy musicals. The humor is fast paced, sometimes dry, and the slapstick isn't annoying beyond belief (often funny). I also love watching the hilariously awful debut of the Dueling Cavalier, with a horrible sound design that wuold make Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space sound as well done as a David Lynch movie.
I won't say as much as I should, but this is such a gem that I think that it should speak for itself. Singin' In The Rain contains the best set and renditions of Arthur Freed's excellent music. I'm kind of at loss for words, but please just see this movie, especially if you like musicals. I was surprised that this really seems like one of the greatest musicals that film has brought us.
Instead, if you are wondering if you should pay some money for this two disc edition, I say it is pretty great and designed very well. I usually don't care that much for this kind of thing as much as I do the movie itself (I wish I would have got the single disc edition of Goodfellas because the special features felt like filler. You only need the movie to speak for itself). Aside from having the movie itself, both discs flow very well with interseting bits, documentaries, out takes, stills galleries, trailers, and even showing where many of the songs originally came. Some of the things arent as interesting as the others, but having the songs without the taps, for example, is great to hear, because there feature great background music. Perhaps one great treat is Debbie ReynoldsI kind of agree with the commentary, it's not bad, but you never get to hear everybody comment at the same time, which would be a total blast to hear. The people that would contribute would have been something to hear. The only time I think this could be topped is when they release it on Blu-Ray with even richer picture and sound.
Also, I like the background music for both discs, which play through the whole song. So you can hear the music if you want to and just stay on the menu.
This movie is the kind of movie that makes my day better at times, almost so if I have had my Grande Latte Enema and it hasn't even worn out. if people think I'm too happy or something, _____ em'. Heh, jokes on them if they know me (do you tend to notice that once you get know people, you sometimes like them less and less as much as you like them more and more?). Singin' In the Rain is one of the very few things that I love (among others include Pushing Daisies, the romance story in Dead Aive, Pixar, Tom Waits, and Blue Velvet's optimism which is stunning, and ) that are happy and heartwarming, only many, many other forms of media (*cough* Titanc *cough*)that make me feel absolutely nothing. This is a gem of a movie, and while it isn't perfect, nothing quite comes close to it. The Citizen Kane of musicals? Maybe, only it's actually deserving of it's place on the polls.
B+ For Movie
A For the DVD itself |
Who doesn't know the words to the song `Singin' in the Rain'? I mean, seriously, even if you have yet to see the movie I'm sure you could sing that song word for word right now.
Go ahead; I'll wait.
The thing is that I too had never seen this movie yet knew all those words and it made me question just why it was that I never sat down to watch this beloved musical. I am not really a huge musical lover, but then again, I've never been one to disregard a movie because of genre before. I'll watch anything at least once. So, when this came on TCM a few months ago I just had to watch it. I got everything ready for `movie night' (the drinks, the friends, the snacks) and I settled in to watch what has steadily been considered one of the top ten movies of all time.
I loved it!
Everything about this movie fits so perfectly into one another. The music is divine, the performances are stellar, the set pieces are delicious and the script is fun, fresh and wholly entertaining. There is not a single misstep here. It's not the best movie of all time, but it works magic with every fiber of its being.
The film tells of film star Don Lockwood as he struggles to transition himself from `silent' film star to `talkie' film star. His frequent costar and rumored lover Lina Lamont is a selfish and spoiled diva whose voice is just not suited for film, so a young and talented singer named Kathy Selden is hired to dub her voice for their upcoming film. When Don falls in love with Kathy things get out of hand. Lina is furious and it becomes apparent that their love affair could sink the whole picture.
Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor make a wonderful team here, feeding off each others energy to create some of the most impressive and widely acclaimed dance numbers in musical history. Solo they are spectacular, but together they are even better; and what is so awesome is that when Debbie Reynolds (who is so refreshingly spunky here) jumps in she makes the perfect pair into a vibrant threesome. The real scene stealer though is Jean Hagen. She may not sing or dance but she acts her tail off, delivering an iconic comedic performance that will have you rolling in your seats.
I haven't had this much fun watching a movie in a long time (I tend to prefer the dramatic and depressing films, so this was a nice change of pace). I've since seen the film again and loved it just as much if not more the second time around. This is a film designed to make you smile, and is succeeds at doing just that. |
Expedited Available
"Truly Worthy of It's Status"