Product Details

• Actors: Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor Gene Kelley, Millard Mitchell Jean Hagen
• Directors: Gene Kelly Stanley Donen
• Format: NTSC, Color, HiFi Sound, Closed-captioned
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM/UA
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000JYZGOW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,800 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

In 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a famous on-screen romantic pair. Lina, however, mistakes the on-screen romance for real love. Don has worked hard to get where he is today, with his former partner Cosmo. When Don and Lina's latest film is transformed into a musical, Don has the perfect voice for the songs. But Lina - well, even with the best efforts of a diction coach, they still decide to dub over her voice. Kathy Selden is brought in, an aspiring actress, and while she is working on the movie, Don falls in love with her. Will Kathy continue to "aspire", or will she get the break she deserves ? Decades before the Hollywood film industry became famous for megabudget disaster and science fiction spectaculars, the studios of Southern California (and particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were renowned for a uniquely American (and nearly extinct) kind of picture known as The Musical. Indeed, when the prestigious British film magazine Sight & Sound conducts its international critics poll in the second year of every decade, this 1952 MGM picture is the American musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds; it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy transition from silent pictures to "talkies." Kelly plays debonair star Don Lockwood, whose leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) has a screechy voice hilariously ill-suited to the new technology (and her glamorous screen image). Among the musical highlights: O'Connor's knockout "Make 'Em Laugh"; the big "Broadway Melody" production number; and, best of all, that charming little title ditty in which Kelly makes movie magic on a drenched set with nothing but a few puddles, a lamppost, and an umbrella

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars GOTTA dance!, February 7, 2009

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Singin' In the Rain (MGM Musicals Series) (VHS Tape)

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) is a pure delight!
All of its songs were composed by that prolific team of Arthur Freed and Nacio Brown, and not just the few sung by the main characters. There's references here to dozens of familiar tunes written by these talented men back in the 1920s and '30s.

Kudos to Jean Hagen, who is simply remarkable as the always repulsive, forever screechy Lina Lamont. The character is based on Norma and Constance Talmadge-- Their star-rank careers came to a sudden end with the advent of talkies because both had heavy Brooklyn accents and unpleasant voices.

A description here of the movie's most famous sequence, "Broadway Melody."

In this extended number, the new-to-New York Gene Kelly enters briskly from stage left. He wears a straw hat, striped jacket and black frame glasses and carries a valise as he gaily calls out the opening phrase, "Gotta dance!" Kelly is then ushered into a fast-paced NY world. He quickly rises from burlesque clown to baggy pants vaudevillian to a tuxedoed gent in the Ziegfeld Follies.

Kelly becomes infatuated with the beautiful girlfriend of a gangster (Cyd Charisse in a stunning green gown) and the two perform an elegant fantasy ballet. From here it's all downhill. The small town boy ends up as he started: on the street. Although now clad in a fine suit of evening clothes, the enthusiasm is gone-- he looks mournful.

At that moment, another new arrival strides rapidly from stage left. He's dressed just as Gene was when he came to Broadway and he sings out the same "Gotta dance!" Gene's spirits revive. He happily calls back and the production ends on a high note.

The entire story is most entertaining and like all great films, it holds up well. The above sequence is nothing less than stunning and if you've never seen it before, you are in for the rarest of treats. Highest recommendation to Comden & Green's SINGIN' IN THE RAIN!

This classic musical is also available on DVD.

Also recommended--
The "American in Paris" suite from the 1951 Gene Kelly/MGM musical of the same name may just be the most beautiful ever committed to film. (VHS edition) (DVD edition)

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(8.4) Singin' in the Rain (1952) - Gene Kelly/Donald O'Connor/Debbie Reynolds/Jean Hagen/Millard Mitchell/Cyd Charisse/Douglas Fowley/Rita Moreno (uncredited: King Donovan/William Schallert/'Snub' Pollard)