Singin' in the Rain (1952)

- December Musical Selection


The all time classic movie musical. Gene Kelly stars as Don Lockwood. Together with Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) he is the biggest movie star of the silent era. Lockwood and Lamont are so popular that the media writes erroneous reports that they are to be engaged. Their lives are going along wonderfully until the invention of the talking picture. When their movie studio, Monument, decides to go into the talkie business Lockwood and Lamont do not come across well on the screen. Lina does not have the voice for talking pictures and can not talk into her microphone to save her life. In the meantime Don meets and falls in love with Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) - an aspiring actress. Kathy has a beautiful voice and Don's best friend, Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) comes up with the idea to dub Kathy's voice for Lina's. Of course Lina is not happy with the new arrangement and even more upset with the romance between Don and Kathy. She attempts to keep Kathy behind the scenes as her voice to kill Kathy's career but will she be successful?

I loved every minute of this movie. It was a fun satirical look at the movie business. Kelly, Reynolds and O'Connor are all wonderful but the star is Jean Hagen. She steals the show as the ditsy Lina who begins to believe her own good press. The musical numbers are fun to watch and the dancing is wonderful. If you love old time musicals you have to see this film - you will not be disappointed.