‘Singin' In The Rain’ to be screened at Lok Virsa

Islamabad

Director: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen

Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen.  

Lok Virsa Film Club Mandwa has selected one of the best American musicals ever produced in Hollywood for screening on November 5 at 5pm.

MGM's ‘Singin’ In The Rain’, a 1952 colourful film, is comic depiction of Hollywood film industry in late 1920s, portraying transition from silent films to talkies. The sound movies arrived in Hollywood in 1927 with Warner Brothers Jazz Singer.

‘Singin' In the Rain’ was nominated for two Academy Awards: Supporting Actress and Original Musical score. However, the film was a sleeper on its release and picked up gradually with the passage of time, growing in status, both critically and at the box office. Now the film has become a legend with American Library of Congress preserving it in the National Film Registry. It also holds the distinction of being Number 1 at the AFI (American film Institute) Greatest Movie Musicals list and one of the Greatest American Films. Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen are the leading stars on this movie marquee. Budgeted at $2.5 million, the film grossed over $13 million and still making money from TV and video/DVD rights.

Since big films carry big rumours and gossip, ‘Singin' In The Rain’ was no exception. It was rumoured that while filming (of course in the rain), Gene Kelly filmed the song all wet and ran temperature 103F. The filming of the song with spinning umbrella took 2-3 days. Another rumour went around  that rain water was mixed with milk to show up whiter than white on camera. The fact was that this effect was produced through backlighting (without milk of course!).

Most of the wardrobe used in the film  was taken over by the heroine Debbie Reynolds and sold in Hollywood auction in 2011. Many dresses and other props are all on display at a museum in Florida.

‘Singin' In The Rain’ has been described as a musical gem both for children and adults. The film is not only rich in its musical numbers (with richest heart-warming colours from Technicolor Laboratory in Los Angeles) but also witt and sharp satiric lines, making fun of coming of talkies and film industry. This makes it entertaining and meaningful with insights on "real Hollywood" where silent era was fading into the past. The characters would ridicule and embarrass others but they would later collaborate to finish the film project. Understanding, hard work and even some love would surface as positive part of these charming characters.

Lensed in technicolor, camera work, lighting, production design and choreography are the highlights of the film and it still carries wide appeal not just in the West but for worldwide audiences. It does not carry heavy messages and melodrama. What it does carry is light entertainment with delightful songs, ironical dialogue and lots of laughter. One of the most memorable lines: "You have seen them once, you've seen them all".

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