Even people who don’t like musicals love Singin’ in the Rain – yet it is the quintessential musical, the apotheosis, conceived as nothing more (and nothing less) than a celebration of the form: “Gotta dance! Gotta dance! Gotta dance!”
The script (by Adolph Green and Betty Comden) was written around some two dozen numbers by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The title song hails from one of the earliest screen musicals, The Hollywood Revue of 1928, and it was Green and Comden’s inspiration to make that transitional period the fulcrum of their story. Unlike Sunset Blvd, made three years later, Singin in the Rain doesn’t eulogise the silent era, it guys its innocence and exults in the liberating possibilities of sound. It’s an affectionate satire on the foibles and folklore of the movie biz: the vanity of stars, philistine producers and pretentious artists all combining to make something truly magical – at least sometimes.
Featuring breathtaking dance numbers from Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse and even Donald O’Connor, this film would be considered a classic even if it didn’t include the title number, Gene Kelly’s legendary late night tap dance in the street, one of those sequences that alone would justify the very existence of Hollywood. The film was recently a touchstone and inspiration for Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. In Sight & Sound’s canonical poll, it came in at #10 in 2022.
Sunday’s screening in our PANTHEON series will feature free refreshments and a short introduction by Harry Killas, filmmaker and Associate Professor, Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Presented by
Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse, Millard Mitchell
USA
1952
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Producer
Arthur Freed
Screenwriter
Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Cinematography
Harold Rosson
Editor
Adrienne Fazan
Original Music
Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed
Also in This Series
Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise)
The crowning glory of classical French cinema, this sumptuous melodrama brings to life the early 19th century Boulevard du Crime in Paris, where popular audiences for mime shows and carnival rub shoulders with wealthy patrons of classical theatre.
The Wild Bunch (Director's Cut)
The Mexico/Texas borderlands, 1913: Pike (William Holden) leads his gang of aging outlaws on a foray south for one last hurrah. Peckinpah's masterpiece, a savage lament for men who believe in nothing but find respect by dying in vain.
The Ascent
During the darkest winter of WWII, two Soviet partisans venture through the backwoods of Belarus in search of food, always at risk of falling into enemy hands. In her masterpiece Larisa Shepitko zeroes in on profound spiritual and philosophical themes.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Céline Sciamma's queer costume drama -- about a painter covertly studying a young noblewoman who refuses to sit for her portrait -- was voted 30th Greatest Film Ever Made in a 2022 poll, the highest ranking film of the past decade.
I Am Cuba
Infused with a palpable love for the country and a righteous anger at the injustices of the Batista era, I Am Cuba features some of the jaw-dropping camerawork ever filmed. A euphoric celebration of Cuba, the Revolution, and revolutionary cinema.
The Colour of Pomegranates + The House Is Black
This month's Pantheon screening is a double-bill, Sergei Parajanov's extraordinary evocation of the life and work of C18th Armenian poet Sayat Nova, and, The House is Black (22 min), the only film directed by the great Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad.
Fantasia
Walt Disney pushed the boundaries of animation and sound recording when he put together a movie concert: eight classical pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Stravinski et al, each animated in a different style. It's playful, sometimes cute, other times inspired.
Image: © Disney, 1940