Singin’ in the Rain
It’s 1927 and the first sound film, The Jazz Singer, has just become a huge hit. So the next production for silent film idols and manufactured sweethearts Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont has to be a “talkie” too. But Lina’s voice is a horror. So Don’s new flame, chorus girl Kathy, is hired to dub her. When Lina finds out, she rebels ... “If you must wear fox to the opera / dame fashion says dye it!” This musical makes no bones about putting the artificiality of its colours – and its emotions – on display. On an empty sound stage, Don reveals how movie magic works by declaring his love for Kathy in front of a painted backdrop of a sunset, whose romantic hues are intensified by lights gelled in purple, pink and apricot. The later 17-minute long “Broadway Ballet” finale is akin to avant-garde, with the dream dancers in black and white performing on an abstract surface done in the same sunset colours. The number was designed to frame the film within a film story and actually represents the core of the colourful musical, giving it an added dimension. With its modern, fluorescent hues, it is to the rest of Singin’ in the Rain as the talkies were to silent film.
details
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Runtime
100 min -
Country
United States -
Year of Presentation
2015 -
Year of Production
1952 -
Director
Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen -
Cast
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds -
Production Company
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Berlinale Section
Retrospective -
Berlinale Category
Feature Film
pictures from the movie
Biography Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor of film, stage, and television, singer, film director, producer, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, and the likable characters that he played on screen. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical, and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences.
Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements, the same year An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982), and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute also numbered him 15th in their Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood cinema list.
source: wikipedia.org
Filmography Gene Kelly
1949 On the Town | 1949 Take Me Out to the Ball Game | 1951 An American in Paris
Biography Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen (born April 13, 1924) is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. He began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Kelly. In 1952 Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical Singin' in the Rain, regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated in 1955. He then broke his contract with MGM to become an independent producer in 1957. He continued making films throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, often financial successes that were critically acclaimed. He briefly returned to the stage as a director in the 1990s and again in 2002. Donen married five times and had three children. His long term partner since 1999 is film director and comedian Elaine May. He is the last surviving notable director of Hollywood's Golden Age.
source: wikipedia.org
Filmography Stanley Donen
1949 On the Town | 1957 The Pajama Game | 1963 Charade | 1967 Two for the Road