Thanks to JA’s write-up of Singin’ in the Rain on The Film Experience blog, I found myself forced to put the movie into the DVD player for the umpteenth time. JA had never seen the film and as part of an experiment he took votes on what two musicals he should see for the first time. West Side Story and Singin’ in the Rain won the vote. His opinion on West Side Story was mixed, but Singin’ had him excited:
Two hours of shameless mugging and buffoonery? Singin’ in the Rain is a disgrace to the “talkies”
Riiiiight. You have to go read it for the full effect.
But try to imagine the ability to see the movie for the first time. Sure, you know that it’s a classic and loved by film fans, but you’ve never seen it. It’s an old movie so may not hold up to current standards or it just could end up a boring movie. I remember the first time that I saw it. This was waaaaaaay before video and I had to watch it on TV, interrupted by commercials, late one night. I didn’t really know the story, but had seen some of the dance numbers in documentaries. So I gasped and laughed the first time movie star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) opened her mouth and…um…talked.
Here’s the trailer:
I’d love to see it again, but see it for that first time.
