Five things to know about classic ‘Singin’ in the Rain’
PARIS: Debbie Reynolds, who died on Wednesday aged 84, is best remembered as voice artiste Kathy Selden in “Singin’ in the Rain”.
Here are five things to know about the smash 1952 film that has become a Hollywood classic: - That legendary scene - The film’s most famous moment sees star Gene Kelly tap dancing in torrential rain with his umbrella after bidding goodbye to his sweetheart, played by Reynolds.
Director Stanley Donen had no idea he was creating cinema history with the sequence but its success is down to the “simplicity that there is nothing better to do than to dance out of joy,” according to Patrick Niedo, an expert on American musicals. - A tricky (and wet) shoot - It took two and half days to shoot the scene and Kelly’s soaked wool suit kept shrinking in the rain. - An Oscars flop - It was nominated for just two Oscars in 1953, best female performance in a supporting role (Jean Hagan) and best musical score. It won neither. - A stage phenomenon - The film has been adapted multiple times for the stage despite objections from director Stanley Donen: in London in 1983, for Broadway in 1986 and in London again in 2000.
Other versions have been performed internationally.
A new adaptation done for Broadway in 2003 particularly angered Donen who criticised the producers for trying to replicate his film rather than trying something new. - Imitation as flattery - The story’s central plot line in which an actor struggles to adapt to the change from silent film to speaking roles in the 1920s has been copied since.
In “Singin’ in The Rain,” Kelly’s character Don Lockwood manages to make the transition thanks to help from Reynolds who plays sweet but shy Kathy Selden.
The challenges in 1920s Hollywood were reprised in the Oscars favourite “The Artist” ( 2011), which recounts the life of silent actor George Valentin whose career plummets with the arrival of the “talkies”. — AFP