Recently I read a post on BB's Creations about best movies of 1952. I thought about watching them, but it can be hard to find what you want on streaming services.
Amazon makes you pay for nearly every film they offer, even if you have Prime. Netflix never has anything good anymore. HBO Max isn't too bad and offers a nice variety of classic films. They had Singin' In the Rain, one mentioned in Birgit's post. I was sorry they didn't have The Quiet Man because it sounded good.
Singin' in the Rain has the dance numbers, the music, Gene Kelly dancing through puddles--these well-known clips that show up everywhere. Yet I had never seen it in its entirety and didn't know the story.
Well, I watched it and wasn't that impressed. Now, White Christmas is another movie with familiar music. The story holds up and decades later, it's still mesmerizing. Singin' in the Rain, on the other hand, has a thin plot and predictable characters. I couldn't see how it qualifies as one of the greatest films ever made, Academy Award-worthy, or deserving of all the praise heaped on it in its Wikipedia description.
What I did find interesting was Debbie Reynolds, who was only eighteen when she filmed it. This was her first real role and it made her a star. A beloved star who is 100% real and honest and as true to who she was at eighteen as at eighty.
I then watched Bright Lights, also on HBO Max, a documentary about her and her daughter Carrie Fisher, and their close relationship. It's especially poignant knowing they died within a day of each other. Carrie died of heart issues at 60. The next day while discussing arrangements with her son Todd, Debbie said, "I just want to be with Carrie." She died shortly after that at age 84.
Debbie's beautiful spirit shines through her eyes in Bright Lights, filmed a year before they died, just as it did 70 years ago in Singin' in the Rain. Despite aging, she still had that special quality of goodness and honesty that made people love her in every movie she did. Singin' in the Rain is worth watching to see the emergence of this eighteen-year-old actress who doesn't look anything like a movie star. She just looks like a really nice and kind person.
And watch it for the dancing, of course, and all of the fun music that just makes you happy to hear it.
Welcome back to the blogosphere, Karen.
ReplyDeleteSinging in the Rain has an iconic number where Mr. Kelly is singing in the rain. I agree that the rest hasn't aged that well.
Thanks, Mirka. Those were my feelings as well until I read Birgit's reply below. She makes some great points and thoroughly explains why Hollywood has always loved Singin' In the Rain.
DeleteI can see Singing in the Rain being dated.
ReplyDeleteSad Debbie and Carrie died that close together...
Oh my! This is something, as you can figure, I so disagree with. To be fair, it is based on the very real and very realistic happenings that occurred during the silent to sound era. The famous stars they portray can be taken from real life. Gene Kelly portrays someone like Ronald Colman or William Powell who transitioned well from silent to sound. He was actually portraying a more Douglas Fairbanks who was a huge star in the silent days and played in films like what you see in this movie. When they converted to sound and Gene Kelly was in those loud pants, that was a costume that Rudolph Valentino wore and his words, “I love you, I love you…etc…” were actual dialogue that poor Matinee Idol John Gilbert said in an early sound picture. Lena Lamont could easily be based on Norma Talmadge who played sophisticated ladies but her career was ruined due to sound because she had a thick Bronx accent. The booth where the camera man was in is real and, in fact, someone once died in it due to the heat. Placing the mike in the bush and down her top picking up the heartbeat…all, true. Musicals were a huge draw to audiences back then. This film is not dated but so right on point with characters shown from a Clara Bow flapper to the spider woman that is the actress, Pola Negri married (actually it was Gloria Swanson who was married to this man)to the Marquis De La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye…yup too long…lol. Cyd Charisse, who danced seductively around Gene Kelly, looked like Louise Brooks. It’s a great retelling of actual events. Oh…when Donald O’Connor sang and danced, he spent a week in the hospital from exhaustion and Gene Kelly created that famous dance under dark tarps( it was midday) in sweltering heat and he had a 103 fever!
ReplyDeleteBrigitte, thank you for this analysis! I love this feedback to my post. Wow, you really know your movies. I had no idea about how these details so truthfully reflected real incidents and people in the silent film era. I think you should have written the Singin' in the Rain Wikipedia post instead of whatever expert it was.
DeleteHi Karen - I'll be looking at a few films ... but my choices are probably different to most ... but it's great we can get ideas from fellow bloggers - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeletethecontemplativecat here. Debbie Reynolds wasn't really skilled at the dancing. Gene Kelly taught her a lot, and she took it, making her one heck of a star.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that she wasn't a skilled dancer or singer either just points to how amazing it is that she became such a star. It was not exceptional talent in any arena--not dancing, singing or acting. It was her personality that made people love her. It shone through no matter what role she had.
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