Singin' in the Rain (1952)
I knew the reputation of "Singin' in the Rain" long before I put the disc into my PS3 today. I'd seen the clips on awards shows, caught some of it on TV before, and had read it's praises for years. I was delighted to find out that, like my experiences with "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane", it was a film that more than lived up to the hype. Like my reaction to Bogart in "Casablanca", I have to say that Gene Kelly is the man.
I have very limited experience with musicals. "The Wizard of Oz" is on my Top 20 list, "The Blues Brothers" is a favorite, I've tried to watch Luhrmann's films but just didn't enjoy them, and I thought 2012's "Les Misérables" was terrible. That's about it unless you count Disney films; which I don't. Generally, aside from Oz and BB, my reaction has been either, "I'd rather see this as a play" or "Why can't they just say the lines instead of sing them?" SitR was the first time I found myself looking forward to the next song (and in this case dance routine) and it felt like it wouldn't be right for the movie to have been made any other way. I give credit for that to Kelly who's perfect as Don Lockwood and amazes more with each new number. Everyone in this film hit's a home run in their roles though and I found myself realizing that I was watching a spectacle "event" film that didn't need loud explosions, CGI overkill, or crude humor to entertain...how often does that happen these days?
I mentioned "Citizen Kane" earlier and Jean Hagen's Lena reminded me of Kane's second wife, Susan. If only Susan had been able to hire Kathy Selden to stand behind the curtain and sing for her
. So, I loved this film and will be adding it to my collection. Once in awhile I'll have a feeling that maybe I'm too critical of certain genres or periods or actors. A film like this reminds me that I am open to watching anything...as long as it respects me as a viewer and really does deliver the goods. I also have to add that the Bluray is astounding. I've seen better (Tree of Life, The Master, and a few others) but this looked gorgeous.
5 stars out of 5