Set up in the dying days of silent movies, this film tells a story of a silent movies’ superstar Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly). Stuck up into a pair with an annoying female co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) for the sake of studio-publicity, the hero finds love in an aspiring singer- actress Kathy (Debbie Reynolds). As the rival studio’s  first ‘talkie’ Jazz Singer becomes a huge hit, the studio- chief too decides to switch to ‘talking’ films but soon finds himself in hot soup as the star- heroine Lina has a terrible accent and diction. To overcome this drawback, hero’s talented musician friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) makes use of Kathy’s sweet and cultured voice as a playback for Lina’s screen character. The stupendous success of the movie is largely due to Kathy’s playback singing and voice-over but the vain Lina tries to sabotage her career by claiming all the credit. An ingenious trick by Don and his friends finally saves the day and brings love in the charming Kathy’s life.

 

Shot in the Technicolor with its bright yellows and reds, the film’s strength lies mainly in its well-knit plot and perfect characterizations. Director Stanley Donen’s comic talents come to fore when he doesn’t miss a trick in capturing the gaffes in the tedious shooting- recording process of the initial ‘talkies’. His takes on the publicity hungry celebrities of Hollywood seem fresh even today. Add to this, plenty of superbly choreographed song-and-dance sequences like Singin’ in the rain, All I do is dream of you, Would You, Moses supposes, Good morning and You are my lucky star and what you get to see is an exhilarating musical.

 

For the modern viewers, what it offers is a glimpse into the past, lost world of cinema when technology was in its infancy and every step in film-making was such a big chore. After watching such films, one just marvels at those creative people who could still make such great movies despite so many handicaps!

 

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