Singin' In The Rain
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Singin' In The Rain |
| Friday,
July 12th 2002 at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes
Showtime: 8:40 pm PRINT INFO! Sponsored by Tomalas Bay Foods |
Sponsored by the City Of Mill Valley |
1952 MGM
103 minutes It's hard to imagine a film that cheers the soul as much as Singin' in the Rain. Think of your favorite songs and dances and scenes, then just keep thinking and more will come to you: Donald O'Connor somersaulting off the walls to "Make 'em Laugh." O'Connor and Gene Kelly doing a number on Kathleen Freeman in "Moses Supposes" or playing tandem violins in "Fit as a Fiddle." The two of them joining Debbie Reynolds for the exuberant "Good Morning," as they dance over the couch and toward the camera. But then what about the tour de force that is "Gotta Dance" the long, intricate stage number that spans an entire reel, stretches the imagination to the limits, and includes several set pieces, incredible art direction, humor, great dancing, and as if that wasn't enough the incredible Cyd Charisse in the world's smokiest pas de deux with Kelly? Has sex ever been sexier on-screen? And then there's the film's signature scene: Gene, playing like a kid in the puddles, twirling around that lamppost with the umbrella, grinning sheepishly at that cop, singing out with pure joy, not giving a damn if the heavens are opening up above him. Has there ever been a more eloquent expression of the joy of being in love? And then there's the other thing that really sets this film apart from any other film musical, the glue that holds it together: it simply has the best script ever. Betty Comden and Adolph Green have written their story of the coming of sound to Hollywood with wit, romance, and heaping helpings of hilarity. If Robert Altman's The Player is a look at Hollywood from the dark side, Singin' in the Rain is Hollywood's best look at itself from the light side. If you've never seen Singin' in the Rain, you simply must or your life is not complete. If your children have never seen it, it's time you bring it into their lives. If you have seen it, but never on a big screen, this is your chance to see that dancing the way it was meant to be seen. This time, watch two of the less obvious heroes of the film: Jean Hagen, for her brilliant performance as Lina Lamont (it's a performance that's not as easy as it looks), and Millard Mitchell as the studio head, R.F. Simpson, who adds a classic 1930s screwball comedy rhythm and good cheer to the goings-on. Some Singin' acting trivia: sharp-eyed viewers will notice a young Rita Moreno in the small role of Zelda, the bitchy chorus girl, an older Mae Clarke (Frankenstein, The Front Page, Public Enemy) as the hairdresser, and King Donovan (who we'll also see this season in the park in Invasion of the Body Snatchers) as Rod. Kathleen Freeman, one of Hollywood's perennial favorite character actresses, plays Phoebe Dinsmore, the vocal coach in the "Moses Supposes" scene. She has had a long career in film and television spanning over 50 years, starting out in a small, uncredited role in The Naked City (1948), working in several of Jerry Lewis' films as his foil, and appearing in over 120 other films since then (including The Fly, The Blues Brothers, A Place in the Sun) She has also been a regular in such TV series as "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Married With Children," and "Growing Pains," and just last year (after appearing in the original 1963 Nutty Professor,) showed up in the Eddy Murphy Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Currently, she's on Broadway, still going strong in the stage musical version of The Full Monty. Here's the greatest thing about Singin' in the Rain, the reason you should see it at least once a year, and the reason it will forever be on everyone's top ten list: you can have the worst day, get stuck in traffic, fight with your boss, fight with your family, tear your hair out, your stocks can go down, your golf score can go up in short, you can bring everything wrong with your life with you to this movie . . . and by the time the film is done, it will all be okay again. You'll leave with hope, good humor, and, most important, your faith in humankind restored. And that is some kind of rare gift indeed, better, in fact, than Prozac. By Kenn Rabin
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