
Singin’ in the Rain. 1952. USA. Directed by Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen. 103 min.
Screenplay by Adolph Green, Betty Comden. Songs by Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed. With Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse. Arguably the greatest MGM musical of all time—presented here in a rare dye-transfer 35mm print—Singin' in the Rain is also a marvelous movie about moviemaking, set during Hollywood’s bumpy transition to the talkies in the late 1920s. Directing (with 28-year-old Stanley Donen) and choreographing while also dancing and acting, Gene Kelly artfully captures bodies in motion through graceful camera movements and a wash of diaphanous colors during the film’s dreamily romantic sequences, and eye-popping yellows, greens, and reds to accentuate moments of comic absurdity, joy, or sexual tension. Print courtesy of the ConstellationCenter Collection at the Academy Film Archive.