There are some movies I happen to see through a bizarre set of connections.
Consider this: I just happened to buy the three-disc edition of the Al Jolson The Jazz Singer because it was cheap enough and I hadn’t seen it before. One of the special features was about the difficulty studios had to adjusting to the sound era, and it was illustrated with many clips from Singin’ In The Rain. Funny but, before seeing this clips, I knew of this famous musical but I didn’t realize it was about anything.
I realize how daft that seems. After all, every film is about something. It’s more so I didn’t care, given I have avoided musicals most of my life. Fortunately for me, I set aside my prejudices and so have seen this amazing movie.
Given this movie is famous for its musical numbers and choreography, what surprised me was how sharp and funny the script is. It’s a good premise. On the set of the movies within this movie, the characters struggle as much with where to place mics as they do with a diva who possesses a singularly grating voice.
Back to those musical numbers—there’s a great amount of humor and spectacle in them. I’ll admit I have trouble appreciating dancing talent, but the ability, timing and stamina of these performers is astounding.
In one justifiably legendary scene, Donald O’Connor runs up one wall and does a backflip off of it. I have seen exactly one other person do this before, and that was Jackie Chan several decades after O’Connor’s stunt. But then O’Connor does the same thing off another wall. And then he runs up to a third wall and…well, I won’t ruin what happens.
Then there’s the number for the title tune. Everybody already has a mental image of this scene, even if they have only seen stills of it. I’ll admit I couldn’t imagine what the big deal was until I finally watched it in its entirety here. Before that, I primarily knew the song from how it was used ironically in A Clockwork Orange.
Turns out this scene is pure bliss. The way I regard it is like in opera, where a character expresses feelings that only last a few seconds in real life, but which are stretched across several minutes of song. You know, like how some king or another is dying and their final moments are sung by them, like a moment preserved in amber somehow.
If there is one flaw in the movie it is the extended Broadway melody sequence finale. It goes on for waaaay too long. Also, I found it largely lacked the energy and inventiveness of the other sequences, which makes it seem even longer than it really is.
If you’re like me, there are many movies so embedded in the collective consciousness that you may think you’ve already seen them even if you really haven’t. Take the time to see some of those films and you may be pleasantly surprised by what you’ve been missing.
Dir: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Watched on 4K UHD blu-ray