...as good as it gets...

Singin’ In The Rain – Stanley Donen and Gene kelly

My wife has my funeral wishes. She will just need a movie-loving, liberal vicar. So to speak. At the end of what I expect to be at best, a modestly attended event: large screen, good sound, no popcorn – not that liberal a vicar; and then the immortal Donald O’Connor, for just one more time – Make ‘Em Laugh. If there is a more joyous, funny, delightful, life-enhancing, supremely skilful 5 minutes of musical dance action ever committed to celluloid, I certainly haven’t seen it. And yes, O’Connor did do that somersault, spent a week in hospital, and then had to do it all again as the original footage was damaged. For those who disapprove of my plan – a polite raspberry; this too is reverence. Even God likes Singin’ In The Rain.

I know you’ve seen it so many times you’ve almost forgotten the words. And it isn’t Christmas, Easter or even a slack afternoon in August with a gap in the TV schedules. Forget it. Remember the wise words of that most acute and emotionally sound movie critic, Pauline Kael: “to watch a movie on video is to commit an aesthetic crime of which you are yourself the victim.” The rare opportunity to see this perfectly polished gem of a movie on a large screen with good sound, in the company of civilised discriminating cinema-goers is not to be missed. I’d even miss my own funeral for the big screen at the wonderfully restored Berkhamsted Rex where you can see it just as it would have been experienced on release in 1952.

I guess everyone has their favourite moments. Not least of course the iconic Gene Kelly title song routine. There can be few people on the planet who don’t know this sequence, so good it can easily withstand the combined assault of Morecombe and Wise and the Volkswagen Motor Company. Despite it’s place in our hearts, it’s not in my view, even the best purely dance sequence Kelly ever did. (That for me was his wonderfully skilful droll routine on roller skates in It’s Always Fair Weather). I have catholic tastes even in musicals: I admire Sondheim, though I don’t always warm to him. Bernstein’s West Side Story grabbed me by the throat with its style and innovative power. But I love of the unique musical genre that Singin’ in the Rain perfectly represents. No opera this. Everything, including the plot, subserves the music and the sheer talent of performance. We are in On The Town, Anchor’s Aweigh territory, a breathless plot that rushes you, unthinking, from one great song and dance routine to another. Indeed, Singin’ in The Rain has a better storyline than most, offering great opportunities for comedy. Lina Lamont, the silent screen star, beached with an excruciating voice as the talkie movie tide rushes out, though written with Judy Holliday in mind, brings out of Jean Hagen, one of the great comic performances. She was Holliday’s understudy on Broadway for Born Yesterday. But even Holliday couldn’t have done this one better.

This movie is like a string of pearls: a series of perfect song and dance gems strung together with a thread of a plot which was written after the songs were in place. If the Broadway Melody sequence looks like a surreal, timewarped orphan from a different movie – who cares? Some orphan. Gallantly Fred Astaire would never name his favourite partner, but my money’s on Cyd Charisse, here adding a bit of erotic class to Kelly’s slightly narcissistic fantasy.

Singin’ In The Rain is like a very good, close, old friend you can only see occasionally. As with all good friends, from the moment you are back together, you feel completely at home, and just relish one another’s company with affection and much laughter. Go for it: when did you last have a completely innocent night of pure unadulterated fun at the movies?

(2005)

Filed under: 5 stars, Comedy, Gene Kelly, General, Hollywood, Musical, Oscar Winner, Stanley Donen