Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Timing: 1:43 (103 min)

8.135/10
3451

8.051/10
35312

8.3/10
281000

All about film

Video 20

Photo 139

Actors and characters

Release date

1952-04-10

Country

United States

Production

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Loew's Incorporated, MGM

Genre

Comedy, Romance

Budget

$2 540 800

Revenue

$1 729 345

Website

Director

Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

Actors

Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Cyd Charisse, Douglas Fowley, Rita Moreno, Mae Clarke, Bess Flowers
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Arthur Freed

Operator

Harold Rosson

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Adrienne Fazan
All team (21)

• 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.
• 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 written by the screenwriters with Oscar Levant in mind. However, it was played by Donald O'Connor.
• After Gene Kelly performed the famous dance in the rain, he developed pneumonia.
• The rain was made of water and milk. It looked perfect on camera, but during filming, Gene Kelly’s wool suit was ruined by this “rain”.
• Most of the costumes worn on screen by Gene Kelly parody his own roles in the films “The Three Musketeers” (1948), “The Pirate” (1948), “Easter Parade” (1948), “An American in Paris” (1951) and others.
• Stanley Donen reused some costumes from the film on the set of another of his films – “Deep in My Heart” (1954).
• 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.
• Donald O’Connor recounted that Gene Kelly was far from the image of a sensitive older colleague on set. He was famous for his tyrannical tendencies, and O’Connor felt the weight of that – the feeling of making even the slightest mistake in Kelly’s presence – within the first few weeks.
• 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 was living 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 catch up on sleep 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 thanks to 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.
• MGM Studios wanted to cast Howard Keel in the lead role.
• During the making of the film, shooting days sometimes lasted 19 hours.
• The downfall of Lina Lamont, a silent film star who failed to adapt to the advent of sound, seemed like a comedy only 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 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.
• The film contains a number of parodies of Hollywood stars from the 'silent' era. Thus, 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, Gloria Swanson’s husband.
• 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 scene between Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen is based on a similar scene between Bibi Daniels and John Boles in the film 'Rio Rita' (1929).
• 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.
• The characters of Lina Lamont were based on actress Judy Holliday, with whom Adolf Green and Betty Comden had previously worked in nightclubs as part of the comedy quartet “The Revuers.” There was even a plan to cast Holliday herself in the role of Lina, but after the release of the controversial 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 featuring Don and Lina, whose premiere is shown at the beginning, is actually an excerpt from the real film “The Three Musketeers” (1948), in which 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 several additional shots featuring Kelly and Jean Hagen were filmed in the same sets. However, in some shots, Lana Turner, who played Lady Winter in “The Three Musketeers,” is seen instead of Hagen.
• While staging 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 (received when he tumbled face-first onto the carpet in one scene) for a week 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 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.
• In the film, Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) dubs the talentless actress Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). However, in reality, almost all of the songs that Reynolds performed on screen were sung off-screen by singer Betty Noyes. Debbie only sings the song “Happy Star” herself in one scene.
• 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.