Musical Numbers: Singin In the Rain

The musical numbers in Singin in the Rain have to the be the most joyous things ever caught on film. They also help to advance the plot, and help you relate to characters.  Some of them are frivolous, but most are important to the story line.  (Image heavy post. Sorry!)

The title number truly has me believing that Gene Kelly is in love, and can't contain his happiness. Plus the number shows off his incredible skill as a dancer. Just look at his face! He could have been flying down the street with that level of energy!

This man does not care that it is raining. Not one bit.

Kelly was supposedly very sick the day this number was filmed, which to me makes makes the joy he is able to portray even more impressive.

The first number that Debbie Reynolds performs in, All I Do is Dream of You, is so cute. You really do feel like you are at a Hollywood party, with girls from the floor show at the Copa performing, so they are good, but not perfect, and it really does make me like Debbie's character a little bit more. You fully realize she is just a girl doing what she can to make her dream of being an actress happen.

Make 'Em Laugh shows off the great physical comedy styling of Donald O'Connor. Not only could he sing and dance, but he could be funny as well. O'Connor performed an exhausting routine that to this day people still try to imitate. The routine was featured in an episode of Glee and Joseph Gordon Levitt performed the number as his opening monologue when he hosted Saturday Night Live.  While the attempts were impressive, they did not hold a candle to O'Connor's original number in this film.

Another number that featured O'Connor, with Kelly, was Moses Supposes.  A tongue twister of a song lyrically, and a fast paced tempo for dancing to it is probably my favorite number of the whole film. Plus its just a really fun number, full of energy and life

Look at the height they got! 

Good Morning is a number that is so well known it has been used in orange juice commercials recently. To watch Kelly, O'Connor and Reynolds dance this number is to wonder how they could accomplish this dance without passing out half way through. It is tiring to me just watching them, but all the more impressive that they could get through it, and stay in sync. After filming Debbie Reynolds had to be carried to her dressing room because she burst blood vessels in her feet.  And Gene Kelly apparently went and rerecorded the sound of her taps, because he didn't think they were strong enough. Stories like that really shows you how much goes into making a film.....and the lengths a perfectionist will go to to get precisely what he wants.

She is all leg

And finally we come to the Broadway Melody Ballet, which features the one and only Cyd Charisse. Fred Astaire called Charisse "beautiful dynamite" and I think that is an understatement. The entire time she is on the screen she draws my focus.  When she is the vamp in the green dress I completely forget about the rest of the movie. I forget that I'm watching a what is essentially a dream sequence. 

Look at how clean her lines are.  I'm so impressed

She was a favorite partner of both Astaire and Kelly, and its easy to see why. Girl was an amazing dancer. Also, the dance shows how athletic Gene Kelly was as a dancer.There are other dances that exemplify it better, but this one does a good job of showing his strength.  I'm leaving you with a clip from this number.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

#10 on Original, #5 on Anniversary, #16 on Laughs, #1 on Musicals, #16 on Passions

Recently thanks to TCM and Fathom Events, I was able to see this film on the big screen.  There is something so amazing about seeing a movie you love, in a theater full of people who also love that film.  I always forget how funny this film is. I’ve seen it so many times, that I know all the punch lines…and the dialogue….and some of the movements the actors make. Whatever. Don’t judge me.

 But being in the movie theater setting, I really paid attention to the dialogue, and little things, like props and the looks on some of the actors faces. It was like direct injecting the funny back into watching it. I hope never to lose it again, because the film is so enjoyable.

Plot recap if you don’t know:  Set in the late 1920s, a new menace is coming to Hollywood: talking pictures.  Will the silent film stars Lockwood and Lamont be able to make the transition successfully? 

The casting in this film is right on. Gene Kelly has a great balance of arrogance at the start of the film, and he can play humble by the end just as well; Jean Hagan is great as the dumb blond starlet; Donald O'Connor pulls off funnyman sidekick, without venturing off into goofy unbelievability. And Debbie Reynolds has a perfect amount of wide eyed innocence, while still being clever when she needs to be.

I think the only bad thing about this film is the editing. There are some really obvious cuts where the scene does not line up, or it repeats from a close up.  And in the middle of a gorgeous dance number, that annoys me every time.  Other than that? It is just an all around great film. 

I think this musical made so many lists, but particularly #1 on the Musicals list, because it is so accessible throughout the entire thing (and awesome).   “An American in Paris” (which is #9 on the musicals list, and often I hear from people could be #1) is fantastic, but the ballet at the end, I find, can turn people off.  But Singin in the Rain is so much easier for anyone to enjoy and understand, even if you don’t usually like musicals and dance.  There are places where you feel more like you are watching a comedy, or a romance, not a musical. And then the musical numbers come, and Bam! You can’t help but be in awe of strength and grace of Gene Kelly, or the commanding presence when Cyd Charisse comes on the screen for one dance number.  Or the ball of energy that is Donald O’Connor. How could a viewer not smile and enjoy it? 

(I  could do a whole post on just the musical numbers alone. I think I will. So, enjoy the overview post!)

Favorite Quote

Lina Lamont: What do they think I am? Dumb or something? Why, I make more money than - than - than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!

[Also, I had a really hard time picking a favorite quote for this one, there are too many great lines!]