Now THIS is quite exciting! I have finally seen "Singin' In The Rain"!! Of course, I knew I would eventually want to see it, but after listening to Taco's version of the title song, I decided to see what was what. I remember seeing a little a long time ago, my family was watching it. I thought it was boring----LITTLE RAVEN, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND????
So this came out in 1952. Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a silent movie star. Donald O'Connor played his friend and piano player, Cosmo Brown. After a big premiere at a theater, Don is mobbed by fans. So he ends up running from them and lands in Kathy Seldon's car (Kathy is played by Debbie Reynolds.) Kathy is a theater actress who does not want a whole lot to do with movies.....So she says. But anyway, they meet again later at a party, as Kathy is a chorus girl who jumps out of a cake and sings a really adorable song: "All I Do Is Dream Of You."
This takes place at the very end of the silent movie era, when the talkies were starting to be introduced. The studio has Don and his leading lady Lina Lamont (played by Jean Hagen) jump on the bandwagon. The only problem is, Lina has a horrible speaking voice, no amount of diction coaching can save her. When Don and Cosmo decide to make a movie musical (after the first talking picture of theirs bombs) they have Kathy dub Lina's singing and speaking voice. Don and Kathy start to fall in love, thus his joyous "Singin' In The Rain".
So, I will let you find out the rest yourself. There is a lot of excellent music in this. I thought I would be able to chose between both versions of "Singin' In The Rain", but I just can't!! It's all too good! Not only that, but the dancing is great in this.
My favorite part is the musical number done by Donald O'Connor, "Make Em' Laugh." This has to be one of the most amazing things in movie musical history. It left me going "What? Woah!! How?? He did not just walk up a wall and do a back flip. Let me rewind this, oh right, the rewind button still does not work. Who is this man and where has he been??" I will post the clip here.
This is one of those movies that is so flashy, colorful and just plain awesome, that you want to live it. You don't wish that you had acted the script of it, you wish that you could LIVE INSIDE MOVIELAND!! Seriously, blue skadoo.
Ok, before I begin some kind of rant on how Donald O'Connor seriously kicked Gene Kelly in the dupa in so many areas, I'm going to ask you a question. Have you ever seen this? What do you think? What other old movies should I see? Comment below!!
No, I have not seen this movie yet, but after reading your review, I'm now quite tempted to.
ReplyDelete"Gone With the Wind" is one of my favorite films. I honestly can't recall how many times I've watched it. In fact, this Halloween I plan to dress up as Scarlett O'Hara. (If I can aquire a good costume, that is).
Oh, you should! You will love it. I've never seen the entire "Gone With The Wind", but it is a great movie!! You know, if you can't acquire a ballroom gown, you could always go the Carol Burnett, Scarlett O'Hara spoof look! ;) If you see the movie, make sure you blog about it! :) :)
ReplyDeleteWill do. :-)
DeleteI LOVE this movie, and I agree with you, Donald O'Connor's Make Em Laugh number is an all time CLASSIC!! Other old movies, ha ha, there are SO many of them, too many to list here. Have you seen Some Like it Hot? Philadelphia Story? Sabrina (with Audrey Hepburn?)
ReplyDeleteI've never seen "Philadelphia Story" or "Sabrina", will have to check it out. I've seen "Some Like It Hot", that is a good one. I think I just became a Donald O'Connor fan overnight! :) :)
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