Singin' in the Rain ☔️ remains the undefeated movie musical
Happy Thursday! I hope your week has been going swimmingly. Did you know that this newsletter also has a website? Go to smashcutreviews.com for all my mildly amusing musings about movies. Today’s movie is a personal favorite around the holiday times.
Today’s movie is the classic Hollywood musical Singin’ in the Rain directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen and starring Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, and Donald O’Connor. Here’s what it’s about:
It’s Hollywood. 1927. Talkies (aka movies with sound) are on the horizon throwing a silent film production company for a loop. Popular silent film star Don (Kelly) and his best friend Cosmo (O’Connor) have to find a way to make his leading lady Lina’s (Hagen) shrill voice work for a world of sound, which is when they turn to chorus girl Kathy (Reynolds) for help. [Trailer]
▶︎ Streaming on HBO Max. Buy or rent on Amazon, YouTube, or Apple TV.
Why you should watch it: I’m going to say it, Singin’ In the Rain is a movie that is impossible to not like. Simultaneously a glorious technicolor classic Hollywood musical and a biting satire of the very industry it was created out of, it’s a movie that targets all the right spots in your brain to just feel joyous and happy.
O’Connor’s hilarious slapstick “Make ‘Em Laugh,” the main trio’s tap dancing-fueled “Good Morning,” and the bright and brassy dream sequence “Broadway Melody”—it directly inspired the epilogue in La La Land—are just some of the numbers that put a smile on your face, something that we take for granted in these hard times.
🍷 Pair it with: La La Land
If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bake six dozen holiday cookies this weekend because I’m what? Festive! Have a terrific weekend!
See you Monday —
Karl