Film Forum

(1952, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donan) The switch to talkies proves a smooth one for Gene Kelly’s silent swashbuckler Don Lockwood (Dignity! Always Dignity!) he declares, after flashbacks reveal his low beginnings as Western stuntman and third-rate hoofer), but the nasal screech of his screen inamorata, Jean Hagen’s Lina Lamont, calls for dubbing by Hollywood hopeful Debbie Reynolds, while sidekick Donald O’Connor knocks himself out (literally) to “Make ‘Em Laugh” and Kelly and Cyd Charisse dance the Broadway ballet to end all Broadway ballets. Voted one of the 10 Best Films of All Time in a 2002 international critics’ poll, Singin’ in the Rain boasts more great song, dance, and joie de vivre (especially in the iconic title number) than just about any other musical, and, as written by Broadway wunderkinds/ uber-buffs Betty Comden and Adolph Green, it’s also the funniest of all movies about movie making. Sixty years later, Singin’ in the Rain is still to most people what Pauline Kael called it : “Just about the best Hollywood musical of all time.” DCP. Approx 103 mins.