Amazon.com Essentials:
No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by any
standard and international consensus, this is the best movie musical
of them all. Its arcane, unlikely milieu is Hollywood during the
transition in the late 1920s from silent to sound motion pictures. Its
reason for being was producer Arthur Freed's desire to use the catalog
of songs he had written with Nacio Herb Brown in the '20s and '30s for
various shows and movies. But, ironically, it's now the soundtrack
that seems cobbled together from disparate sources, while the movie
itself remains seamless. That's thanks to a literate screenplay by
Adolph Green and Betty Comden and ebulliant acting and dancing by the
young Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Jean Hagen is
especially brilliant as the silent-screen star whose speaking voice is
so screechy she has to be dubbed for talkies. Kelly codirected with
Stanley Donen, and both can take credit for a masterpiece. Musical
standouts are "You Were Meant for Me," "Good Morning" and "All I Do Is
Dream of You." Visually, the indelible image will always be Kelly
sloshing around in puddles while singin' in the rain. That said, this
coupling of video with a definitive version of the soundtrack benefits
from Rhino's meticulous reconstruction of the material and extensive
annotations, which only enhance our grasp of this film and musical
legend's gestation. ---Robert Windeler
Amazon.com Essentials:
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. --Jim Emerson
