#9: Singin In The Rain

Singin In The Rain (Kelly, 1952)

This was a pleasant surprise for me. All the other comedies from the same era I've seen have been inane. I'm biased against musicals. But, Singin In The Rain pulls it off in a way that's intelligent but still really identifiable and easy to watch. It finds a way to sum up the soul of pop culture and the art of entertainment.

The main characters are famous silent film actors, right before the beginning of talking pictures. When they try to make their latest project into a talking picture, it turns out all the exaggerated pantomime and cheesy dialog you could get away with in a silent film seems ridiculous when you add sound. They realize they don't have the acting talent to pull off a talking picture and think their careers are over. But then they realize, the sort of pure performance charisma and campy antics they worked at through their early career is accepted in a musical. So they work through some lame plot devices to justify having modern singing and dancing in a rennaisance setting. We see the fickleness of taste and also our willingness to accept pure ridiculousness so long as it's entertaining and the ridiculousness is the point. Also, it manages to compare popular entertainment to 'Serious theatre', and you come off with the message, "Yes, it can't be compared to Hamlet, but who cares?"

Rating: **** / 5

57/101