Singing In The Rain

This year I've got a goal- you could say it's a New Year's Resolution- to watch a lot of old classic movies. Never had any desire to, but for some reason, I've been wanting to. I also received a book (because I hinted heavily...) called "501 Must See Movies". The inside cover has a checklist so I can check each movie off as I see it. Of course, there were many I had already seen, so I checked those off. Then I set out to search the satellite TV guide for any movies on the list that might be showing currently. Thanks to the AMC channel, and the TMC channel, I found A LOT. I set them to record, and my movie watching has commenced!


Last night I watched Singing In the Rain. While I've seen the famous swinging-around-the-streetlight scene, I've never watched the actual movie!.

In case you're the other person in the world who hasn't seen it - the plot is this: Donald Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are beloved silent film stars. When the film industry starts turning to "talkies", their studio wants in on that. The problem is that Lamont's glamourous reputation, does not fit her whiney nasal voice, or her dingbat personality. She also mistakes her on-screen romance with her co-star, for a real romance. Lockwood doesn't share those feelings, and constantly tries to convince her it's just acting! Furthermore, he's fallen for an aspiring actress (Debbie Reynolds), who has been hired to do voice-overs that will be secretly dubbed over Lamont's lines.

I LOVED IT!!!!

I felt like I had a smile on my face the whole time. It was quick-witted, funny, entertaining, and WOW - the dancing was incredible!

Donald O'Connor, who played Lockwood's best friend, Cosmo, was hilarious! He had funny lines and his physical comedy was awesome! My nine year old boy walked in during one of O'Connors dance/comedy scenes and stopped, watched and said, "Is he actually doing that?". It was a scene where he would walk up the a wall and do a back flip. It really was amazing! Debbie Reynolds was adorable and also pretty funny! I was also surprised at what a great dancer SHE was!


And Gene Kelly....what a babe! He looks a little like Ben Affleck, but in a more mature, classic, glamour-Hollywood sort of way!



I totally recommend this, even if you don't like old movies, and even if you don't like musicals! After this, I am totally looking forward to watching some more classic films!