Singin' in the Rain
What a Glorious Feeling!
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Production
Budget
$2 540 800
Revenue
$1 729 345
Director
Scenario
Adolph Green
Author
Producer
Actors
Gene Kelly
Don Lockwood
Donald O'Connor
Cosmo Brown
Debbie Reynolds
Kathy Selden
Jean Hagen
Lina Lamont
Millard Mitchell
R.F. Simpson
Cyd Charisse
Dancer
Douglas Fowley
Roscoe Dexter
Rita Moreno
Zelda Zanders
Short description
Singin' in the Rain is set in late-1920s Hollywood, at the moment when silent pictures were giving way to sound. Don Lockwood is a popular silent-film star whose success has been built alongside his screen partner Lina Lamont, and the studio pairs them repeatedly as a romantic couple on screen. When talking pictures arrive, Lina's thin, harsh voice threatens both her career and the production the studio has underway. Don's friend Cosmo Brown comes up with a way to salvage the film, and a young performer named Kathy Selden becomes involved as well. Don, who had believed fame and fortune were enough, finds his feelings for Kathy changing what he wants from his life and work.
The film was directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, with a screenplay by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and production by Arthur Freed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the third of the sixteen films Donen directed, following Royal Wedding and preceding Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Gene Kelly, who also directed, plays Don Lockwood; Donald O'Connor plays Cosmo Brown, Debbie Reynolds plays Kathy Selden, and Jean Hagen plays Lina Lamont. The large production credits 203 cast members and 85 crew.
Produced for about 3 million dollars, Singin' in the Rain took roughly 2 million dollars at the worldwide box office. It holds a rating of 8.3 from around 281,000 votes on IMDb and 8.1 from about 3,622 votes on TMDB. A film critics' rating of 9.8 from 78 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming period: June 18 – November 21, 1951, December 26, 1951 (additional filming).
- Initially, all the songs were written for Stanley Donen's film. Then the script was created, taking into account the songs to fit organically into it.
- After Gene Kelly performed the famous dance in the rain, he developed pneumonia.
- Gene Kelly offended Debbie Reynolds by stating that she absolutely could not dance. Fortunately, Fred Astaire happened to be on set and found Reynolds sobbing under the piano. He helped her learn the dances for the film.
- MGM Studios wanted to cast Howard Keel in the lead role.
- During the making of the film, shooting days sometimes lasted 19 hours.
- The advent of sound in cinema indirectly inspired the film's screenwriters. The fact is that they once bought a house from a Hollywood silent film star, who also fell victim to the new era in cinema.
- MGM Studios initially aimed for a budget of $665,000. However, Walter Plunkett's costumes alone cost $157,000, and the budget ultimately rose to $2.5 million. These investments, however, resulted in enormous box office profits.
- The original film negatives were lost in a fire.
- In one of the early script versions, the musical number “Singin' in the Rain” was to be performed by all three main characters – Don, Kathy, and Cosmo – as they returned from a disastrous screen test for their sound film.
- The film was originally conceived as a remake of "Excess Baggage" (1928). And the opening credits reference "Hollywood Revue" (1929).
- The role of Cosmo Brown was originally written for Oscar Levant. However, Donald O'Connor played it.
- The rain was made of water and milk. It looked perfect on camera, but during filming, Gene Kelly's wool suit got soaked because of this 'rain'.
- Most of the costumes worn by Gene Kelly on screen parody his own roles in the films 'The Three Musketeers' (1948), 'The Pirate' (1948), 'On the Town' (1949), 'An American in Paris' (1951), and others.
- Stanley Donen reused some of the costumes from the film in his other movie – 'Deep in My Heart' (1954).
- Donald O'Connor recounted that Gene Kelly was far from the image of a sensitive mentor on set. He was notorious for his tyrannical tendencies, and O'Connor quickly experienced what it was like to make even the slightest mistake in Kelly's presence.
- For 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds, who had already played several roles in films, this movie was supposed to be a breakthrough in her career. To avoid being late for filming, Debbie, who lived with her parents at the time, had to get up at 4 am and travel to the studio on three different buses. Sometimes she would even nap right on the set. In addition, she gave herself so completely during filming that blood vessels in her legs would burst during dance rehearsals. Later, Reynolds said that filming this movie and carrying a child were the two most exhausting things she had to endure.
- It was precisely because of her youth that Debbie Reynolds got the role of Kathy Selden. MGM Studios really wanted to cast someone more famous, like Judy Garland, June Allyson, or Jane Powell, but they were all considered “too old” for the role of Kathy.
- The downfall of Lina Lamont, a silent film star who failed to adapt to the advent of sound, only appeared as a comedy on screen. In reality, sound in cinema destroyed more than one career. For example, Gene Kelly had several conversations with Buster Keaton to better understand how devastating sound was for the star of “silent comedy.”
- The film contains a number of parodies of Hollywood stars from the “silent” era. Zelda Zanders is a parody of Clara Bow, Olga Mara – of Pola Negri. And Baron de la Ma de la Toulon is a reference to Marquis Henri de la Falaise, the husband of Gloria Swanson.
- Sid Chariss had to learn to smoke – specifically for the “fatal” dance scene.
- Some gags were based on funny memories of costume designer Walter Plunkett, who began his career in 1929 – during the dawn of sound cinema.
- One of the scenes between Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen is based on a similar scene between Bebe Daniels and John Boles in the film “Rio Rita” (1929).
- The image of Lina Lamont was inspired by Judy Holliday, with whom Adolph Green and Betty Comden had previously worked in nightclubs as part of the comedy quartet “The Revuers.” There was even an idea to cast Holliday herself in the role of Lina, but after the release of the scandalous film “Born Yesterday” (1950), the actress came under FBI scrutiny (due to the plot, the filmmakers were accused of communist sympathies).
- The silent black-and-white film starring Don and Lina, the premiere of which is shown at the beginning, is actually an excerpt from the real film “The Three Musketeers” (1948), where Gene Kelly played the role of D'Artagnan. In reality, this film is in color and has sound, but for “Singin’ in the Rain,” the sound and color were removed from the shown excerpts, and additional footage with Kelly and Jean Hagen was filmed in the same sets. However, in some shots, instead of Hagen, the viewer sees Lana Turner, who played Lady Winter in “The Musketeers.”
- During the staging of the choreography for the song “Make 'Em Laugh,” Gene Kelly devised several difficult dance stunts for Donald O’Connor, which left the latter suffering from exhaustion and facial burns (which he received when he tumbled flat on his face on the carpet in one of the song’s scenes) after filming was completed. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the initially filmed take was rejected due to an accident, and O’Connor had to redo everything after a short break.
- In the film, Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) dubs the talentless actress Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). However, in reality, almost all the songs that Reynolds performs on screen were sung off-screen by singer Betty Noyes. Only in one scene does Debbie sing the song “Happy Star” herself.
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