| Singin' in the Rain | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by | |
| Suggested by | "Singin' in the Rain" |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Harold Rosson |
| Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
| Music by |
|
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.54 million[1] |
| Box office | $7.2 million[1] |
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 Americanmusicalromantic comedy film directed and choreographed byGene Kelly andStanley Donen, starring Kelly,Donald O'Connor andDebbie Reynolds, in addition toJean Hagen,Millard Mitchell,Rita Moreno andCyd Charisse in supporting roles. It offers a lighthearted depiction ofHollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition fromsilent films to "talkies".
Arthur Freed conceived the idea of the film based on the back catalogs of songs written by himself andNacio Herb Brown. Because many of the songs had been written during the transition from silent films to "talkies", writersBetty Comden andAdolph Green decided that was when the story should be set. When the story morphed into that of a romantic hero with a vaudevillian background surviving the transition period in Hollywood and falling back onto his old song-and-dance habits, Kelly, who was chosen for the lead along with Donen, responded enthusiastically to it. After a premiere at theRadio City Music Hall, the film was released nationwide on April 11, 1952.
The film was only a modest hit when it was first released. Today it is frequently cited as thegreatest musical film and one of the greatest films ever made.[2] It topped theAFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list, ranked as the fifth-greatest American motion picture of all time in its updatedlist of the greatest American films in 2007, having ranked as the tenth greatest in theoriginal 1998 list, and Kelly's rendition of "Singin' in the Rain" ranked third in theirlist of the greatest film songs. In 1989,Singin' in the Rain was one of the first 25 films selected by the United StatesLibrary of Congress for preservation in theNational Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]
In 2005, theBritish Film Institute included it in its list of the 50 films to be seen by the age of 14. In 2008,Empire magazine ranked it as the eighth-best film of all time. InSight & Sound magazine's 2022 list of the greatest films of all time,Singin' in the Rain placed 10th.[4] Previously, it had ranked third in their 1982 list and tenth in their 2002 list.
In 1927,silent film stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont attend the premiere of their latest film,The Royal Rascal, produced by Hollywood studio Monumental Pictures. On the red carpet, Don tells the story of his rise to stardom, claiming to have grown up cultured and highly educated. His words are contradicted byflashbacks showing his humble roots as ahoofer,vaudeville musician andstuntman alongside his childhood best friend and longtime collaborator Cosmo Brown, accompanied by the song "Fit as a Fiddle". Don also expresses his admiration for Lina, feeding rumors of a secret romance between them. In reality, the rumors are a publicity stunt and Don barely tolerates Lina, although she believes that he loves her.
After the premiere, Don is mobbed by fans and escapes by jumping into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden. Kathy reluctantly gives Don a lift. She claims to be a theatre actress and expresses disdain for film acting, particularly Don's hammy performances. Don responds by mocking her acting aspirations, and they part on bad terms.
Don arrives at the afterparty, where Monumental Pictures'CEO R. F. Simpson shows a demonstration of atalking picture,[a] though his guests dismiss it as afad. A group of chorus girls then performs, Kathy among them ("All I Do is Dream of You"). Furious at Don's teasing, Kathy attempts to throw a cake at him, but he dodges it and hits Lina instead. In the confusion, Kathy runs away.
Three weeks later, Don has searched unsuccessfully for Kathy. Cosmo tries to cheer Don up ("Make 'Em Laugh"). Lina reveals that she had Kathy fired, infuriating Don. Cosmo finds Kathy working as anextra in another Monumental Pictures film ("Beautiful Girl"). Kathy admits to actually being a fan of Don's, while Don professes his love for her ("You Were Meant for Me").
WhenWarner Bros. releases its first talking picture,The Jazz Singer, and it is an enormous hit, R. F. decides he has to convert the next Lockwood and Lamont film,The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. Lina and Don take elocution lessons ("Moses Supposes"), but the production is beset with difficulties, most notably Lina's grating, high-pitched voice and unfamiliarity with the new recording technology. The film's preview screening is a failure due to multiple complications, including awkward microphone placements, Don's uninspired improvising[b] and the audio going out of synchronization.
Later that night, Kathy and Cosmo suggestThe Dueling Cavalier be turned into a musical ("Good Morning"), and Cosmo, inspired by the film's synchronization error, suggests that Kathydub Lina's voice. Don happily agrees, then takes Kathy home and dances through her neighborhood in the rain ("Singin' in the Rain"). Don and Cosmo pitch their idea to R. F., changing the title of the film toThe Dancing Cavalier and adding a modern framing device ("Broadway Melody"). R. F. approves but tells them not to inform Lina of Kathy's involvement.
Don helps Kathy dub Lina's lines ("Would You"), but Lina is tipped off by another actress. When Lina realizes that Don and Kathy are in love and learns that R. F. intends to give Kathy a screen credit for her dubbing, she gives interviews across Hollywood promoting her (non-existent) vocal talent. A clause in Lina's contract allows her to sue the studio for negative press, so R. F is forced to leave Kathyuncredited and agree to Lina's demand that Kathy continue anonymously dubbing for her.
The premiere ofThe Dancing Cavalier is a success, but when the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and R. F. tell her tolip sync into a microphone while Kathy, concealed behind the curtain, sings into a second microphone. While Lina is "singing" ("Singin' in the Rain Reprise"), the men raise the curtain, revealing the ruse. Lina and Kathy both flee, but Don has the audience stop Kathy and proudly announces that she is "the real star of the picture" ("You Are My Lucky Star"). Some time later, Kathy and Don kiss in front of a billboard for their new film,Singin' in the Rain.
Uncredited
Singin' in the Rain was originally conceived by MGM producerArthur Freed, the head of the "Freed Unit" responsible for turning out MGM's lavish musicals, as a vehicle for his catalog of songs written withNacio Herb Brown for previous MGM musical films of the 1929–39 period.[11] Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote one entirely new song, "Moses Supposes", with music directorRoger Edens providing the music (see below).[12] Freed and Brown wrote a new song for the movie, "Make 'Em Laugh", though it bears a striking resemblance toCole Porter's "Be a Clown" from another MGM Freed-produced musical,The Pirate (1948). Donen, who had asked the pair to write a song inspired by "Be a Clown", considered the result to be "100%plagiarism".[13] However, Porter never sued for copyright infringement.[14][15]
All songs have lyrics by Freed and music by Brown unless otherwise indicated.[12] Some of the songs, such as "Broadway Rhythm", "You Are My Lucky Star", "Should I?", and especially "Singin' in the Rain" itself, have been featured in numerous films. The films listed below mark the first time each song was presented on screen.
Arthur Freed, the head of the "Freed Unit" at MGM responsible for the studio's glossy and glamorous musicals, conceived the idea of a movie based on the back catalog of songs written by himself and Nacio Herb Brown, and called in Betty Comden and Adolph Green from New York to come up with a story to tie the songs together and to write the script. Comden and Green first refused the assignment, as their agent had assured them that their new contract with MGM called for them to write the lyrics to all songs unless the score was byIrving Berlin,Cole Porter, orRodgers and Hammerstein. After a two-week hold-out, their new agent,Irving "Swifty" Lazar, having looked over the contract, told them that the clause had been entirely an invention of their previous agent, and that there was no such language in the contract. After hearing this, Comden and Green began working on the story and script.[18]
Because many of the songs had originally been written during the time when silent films were giving way to "talkies" and musicals were popular with audiences, Comden and Green came up with the idea that the story should be set during that transitional period in Hollywood, an era they were intimately familiar with. WhenHoward Keel was mentioned as the possible lead, they tried to work up a story involving a star of Western films who makes a comeback as a singing cowboy, but they kept gravitating to a story about a swashbuckling romantic hero with a vaudeville background who survives the transition by falling back on his abilities as a song-and-dance man, a story which Gene Kelly was well suited for.[19]
Kelly could not be approached at the time, as he was deeply immersed inAn American in Paris (1951), which he was co-choreographing with Stanley Donen, and in which he was starring. Comden and Green continued to work on the script, and had at that time three possible openings for the film: a silent movie premiere, a magazine interview with a Hollywood star, and a star-meets-girl, star-loses-girl sequence. Unable to decide which to use or how to proceed, they had just decided to return their advance to MGM and admit defeat, when Betty Comden's husband arrived from New York and suggested that they combine all three openings into one. The script with the re-written opening was approved by Freed and by MGM's head of productionDore Schary, who had recently replacedLouis B. Mayer.[20]
By this time shooting onAn American in Paris had completed, and Freed suggested that Kelly be given the script to read. Kelly and Donen responded enthusiastically, and immediately became involved in re-writes and adjustments to the script. Comden, Green, Kelly, and Donen were all old friends, and the process went smoothly. Besides the Freed-Brown songs, Comden and Green contributed the lyrics to "Moses Supposes", which was set to music byRoger Edens. Shortly before shooting began, "The Wedding of the Painted Doll", which Comden and Green had "painfully wedged into the script as a cheering-up song" was replaced with a new Freed/Brown song, "Make 'Em Laugh",[21] which bore a remarkable resemblance toCole Porter's 1948 song "Be a Clown".[22]
After Comden and Green had returned to New York to work on other projects, they received word that a new song was needed for a love-song sequence between Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. The original had been a song-and-dance medley involving different sets in different soundstages on the studio lot, but they were asked for a romantic love song set in an empty sound stage, and it was needed immediately. Comden and Green provided such a scene for "You Were Meant for Me" and sent it off to Hollywood.[23]
Reynolds's singing in two songs was dubbed byBetty Noyes, one of them when Kathy is shown dubbing Lina Lamont, while her high notes and taps were dubbed in the entire film. Although the film revolves around the idea that Kathy has to dub for Lina's piercing voice, in the scene where Kathy is portrayed recording a line of Lina's dialogue during the movie within a movieThe Dancing Cavalier, Hagen's normal voice was used, because it was preferred over Reynolds'.[6][7][30] Donen once explained that Reynolds' "mid-western" accent was not right for this one scene, preferring Hagen's natural, cultured speaking voice.[31]
In the sequence in which Gene Kelly dances and sings the title song while spinning an umbrella, splashing through puddles and getting soaked with rain, Kelly was sick with a 103 °F (39 °C) fever.[32][33] The water used in the scene caused Kelly's wool suit to shrink during filming.[34] A common myth is that Kelly managed to perform the entire song in one take, thanks to cameras placed at predetermined locations. However, this was not the case; filming the sequence took two to three days.[35] Another myth is that the rain was mixed with milk in order for the drops to show up better on camera; but the desired visual effect was produced, albeit with difficulty, throughbacklighting.[36][37]
Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer when she madeSingin' in the Rain; her background was as a gymnast.[28] Kelly apparently insulted her for lacking dance experience, which upset her. Later, whenFred Astaire was in the studio, he found her crying under a piano. On hearing what had happened, Astaire allowed her to witness one of his rehearsals to show her that dancing is very hard work even for professionals, but hard work is necessary, and in the end, worth it. Kelly later admitted that he had not been kind to Reynolds and was surprised that she was still willing to talk to him afterwards. After shooting the "Good Morning" routine, which had taken from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. to shoot,[38] Reynolds' feet were bleeding.[28] Years later, she said "Singin' in the Rain and childbirth were the two hardest things I ever had to do in my life."[39]
Donald O'Connor, a four-pack-a-day smoker at the time, had to stay in bed in the hospital for several days after filming the "Make 'Em Laugh" sequence.[35][40]
Most of the costumes from this film were eventually acquired by Reynolds and became part of her massive collection of original film costumes, sets, and props. Many of these items were sold at a 2011 auction in Hollywood. While most were sold to private collectors, Donald O'Connor's green check "Fit As a Fiddle" suit and shoes were purchased by Costume World, Inc. They are now on permanent display at the Costume World Broadway Collection Museum inPompano Beach, Florida.[41]
According to MGM records, during the film's initial theatrical release, it made $3.263 million in the US and Canada, and $2.367 million internationally, earning the studio a profit of $666,000.[42] It was the tenth-highest-grossing movie of the year in the US and Canada.[43][44]
Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times wrote: "Compounded generously of music, dance, color spectacle and a riotous abundance of Gene Kelly, Jean Hagen and Donald O'Connor on the screen, all elements in this rainbow program are carefully contrived and guaranteed to lift the dolors of winter and put you in a buttercup mood."[45]Variety was also positive, writing: "Arthur Freed has produced another surefire grosser for Metro inSingin' in the Rain. Musical has pace, humor, and good spirits a-plenty, in a breezy, good-natured spoof at the film industry itself ... Standout performances by Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, especially the latter, enhance the film's pull."[46]
Harrison's Reports called it "top-notch entertainment in every department—music, dancing, singing, staging and story".[47]Richard L. Coe ofThe Washington Post called it "yet another fresh and breezy, colorful and funny musical" from Gene Kelly, adding, "Of the players there's not a dud in the lot, from Kelly's facile performing to the brief but electric dance appearance by Cyd Charisse, a swell partner for him."[48]
Pauline Kael, the long-time film critic forThe New Yorker, praised the film: "This exuberant and malicious satire of Hollywood in the late 20s...is probably the most enjoyable of all American movie musicals. The teamwork of the stars, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, is joyful and the material is first-rate..."[49]Roger Ebert placedSingin' in the Rain on hisGreat Movies list, calling the film "a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it."[50]Leslie Halliwell gave it four of four stars, stating: "Brilliant comic musical, the best picture by far of Hollywood in transition, with the catchiest tunes, the liveliest choreography, the most engaging performances and the most hilarious jokes of any musical."[51]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film hasa perfect 100% approval rating based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 9.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Clever, incisive, and funny,Singin' In The Rain is a masterpiece of the classical Hollywood musical."[52] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 99 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[53] The film made each site's list of best-rated films, ranked 46th on Rotten Tomatoes (as of 2021)[54] and 9th on Metacritic.[55]
Betty Comden and Adolph Green report that when they metFrançois Truffaut at a party in Paris, Truffaut was very excited to meet the authors ofChantons Sous la Pluie (asSingin' in the Rain was titled in French). He told them that he had seen the film so many times that he knew it frame by frame, and that he and fellow director and screenwriterAlain Resnais, among others, went to see it regularly at a small Parisian movie theatre where it sometimes ran for months at a time.[49]
The film is recognized by theAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
In 1989,Singin' in the Rain was among the first 25 films chosen for the newly establishedNational Film Registry for films that are deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United StatesLibrary of Congress and selected for preservation.[76]
Singin' in the Rain has appeared three times onSight & Sound's list of the tenbest films of all time, in 1982, 2002 and 2022. Its position in 1982 was at number 3 on the critics list; on the 2002 critics' list, it was listed as number 10, and it tied for 19 on the directors' list; on the 2022 critics' list, it was listed again as number 10.[77][4] In 2008,Singin' in the Rain was placed on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time List, ranking at #8, the highest-ranked G-rated movie on the list.[78]
The 40th Anniversary Edition VHS version released in 1992 include a documentary, the original trailer, and Reynolds' solo rendition of "You Are My Lucky Star", which had been cut from the final film.[79]
According to theaudio commentary on the 2002 Special Edition DVD, the original negative was destroyed in a fire. Despite this, the film was digitally restored for its DVD release. A Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition was released in July 2012. AUltra HD Blu-ray was released on April 26, 2022.
The digital version of the film is currently available to stream onHBO Max.[80]
The musicalSingin' in the Rain was adapted from the motion picture, and the plot of the stage version closely adheres to the original. Directed and choreographed by post-modern choreographerTwyla Tharp, the opening night cast at theLondon Palladium in 1983 starredDon Correia as Don Lockwood, Mary D'Arcy as Kathy Selden,Richard Fancy as Roscoe Dexter,Faye Grant as Lina Lamont, and Peter Slutsker as Cosmo Brown. The musical opened on July 2, 1985, at theGershwin Theatre after 39 previews, and ran for 367 performances, closing on May 18, 1986.[81]
A comic book adaptation was published asEastern Color Movie Love #14 (April 1952).[82]
Gene Kelly himself described what happened in several interviews, includingAmerican Film (1979): 'Shooting the title number was just terrible for the photographerHal Rossen [sic]. He had to backlight all the rain and then he had to put frontlight on the performer. That was as tough a job as I've ever seen, because you can't photograph in rain and see it.'"
Bibliography
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