Content
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.
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Credits
- Original title
- Singin’ in the Rain