Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a newly famous
star in the silent movie business, and is matched by the
studio with a beautiful co-star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who
unfortunately has an unpleasant, screechy voice. When the first
"Talkie" became a huge hit with the public, the studios
were all in a flutter, in a hurry to produce their own "Talkies."
Unfortunately, despite voice lessons, his arrogant co-star doesn't
improve, so Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) a young, wanna-be starlet,
is drafted to be the speaking and singing voice for this silent
movie star.
Jean Hagen, the villain in the movie, who has
a grudge against Reynolds, due to a funny incident at a Hollywood
party, tries to hurt Reynolds by getting her fired, is perfectly
cast as the arrogant, screechy- voiced actress, putting a comedic
touch on her unpleasant character.
Gene Kelly and the young Debbie Reynolds (just
19) generated a lot of sparks and chemistry in their various scenes
together, and sang and danced well together too.
Favorite Scenes include: The singing and dancing
kitchen scene, where Kelly, O'Connor, and Reynolds perform superbly
together. The song and dance numbers with Gene Kelly and Donald
O'Connor are delightful, especially the vaudeville flashbacks.
They make it look so easy! Donald O'Connor had a fantastic solo
dance on a backstage setting, where he goes through a fake wall.
The most famous Gene Kelly song and dance is the singing in the
rain sequence, which was filmed on a back lot town street. He
had a look on his face of a man head-over-heels in love, a radiant
smile, "that looks like transcendence itself."
The script was a well written parody of the Hollywood
scene, poking fun at the hollywood elite, and their fans as well.
While the pacing would be concidered a little slow by today's
standards, everything comes together well, to create a uniquely
Hollywood masterpiece.
Produced by: Arthur Freed, a MGM 1952 musical.
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