Singing in the Rain!

This fact may disgust some of you, but to be perfectly honest, until last Thursday I had never heard of Gene Kelly or the movie Singing in the Rain. I had heard positive things about this film though, so I was very excited to see it! And I am so glad I did because I enjoyed it tremendously! There are so many different aspects of this film that make it entertaining and enjoyable for the audience. From the sound and theme to the dialogue and plot, I found myself forgetting to take notes because I was so engrossed in the film.

Immediately I noticed a key theme and major element of this movie is the sound, particularly the music and musical numbers performed by the actors. This important aspect of the film is seen within the first few minutes and persists throughout the entire length of the movie. When the musical numbers were shown, the choreography and setting for the different scenes impressed me. This movie was a musical to the fullest extent, and you can see the crew's hard work with the lighting, props, music, and choreography within its musical scenes (especially the Broadway scene).

The primary theme that the film focused on was that of the film making industry and a tug of war between appearance versus reality. It somewhat reminded me of Sunset Boulevard in how its plot was centered around the crew members of Hollywood. Both movies highlight the skewed reality some people tend to have toward movie stars and the lack of glamour that is sometimes present. Yet I enjoyed Singing in the Rain much more, probably due to the fact that it is more upbeat and colorful. It conveyed this message by having the silent films mask the truth, while the introduction of sound to the film business brought in a new element of reality. The sound shattered everyone's perspective of Lina Lamont, the pretty face who became popular on the screens of silent films. It seemed amusing and ironic to me that Lina's agent would never let her speak to the public, keeping her voice from ruining her glamorous image. I see irony in this part of the movie simply because even today, our society is still concerned with the external image above all else; and not much, in this aspect, has changed.

The technical aspects of the movie, such as when sound was introduced into show-business, made me realize how far the film making industry has come. One scene, where Lina keeps forgetting to speak into the "hidden microphone" and the camera is locked in a soundproof room, shows that the cinematography equipment we use today is highly advanced. Compared to this early time period in film's history, we can now swing cameras across the top of fields during football games. It is highly impressive. I guess I just never realized how far the sound technology in films has truly come.

Overall, this movie was spectacular. It definitely goes on my list of favorite movies (which is not an easy task, by the way). I hope that I can find other classics like this film and get a chance to see them. I feel like some of the movies I see today are too predictable and hum-drum. Watching movies like Singing in the Rain entertain me while keeping me on my toes; and I think these two sensations are what crew members should strive to capture in their audience as they produce new films.