PREVIEW- Classic Matinees: Singin' In The Rain (1952)

We began our season of cinema from the Golden Age last month with the Academy Award-winning A Streetcar Named Desire. Following on from its tremendous reception, the monthly Classic Matinees programme continues with what can only be described as the greatest movie musical ever made. Whilst only a modest hit on its original release in 1952, it has since cemented itself into the pantheon of cinema history thanks to its memorable moments and wonderful music. Often imitated, rarely equalled and never surpassed it can only be as the poster screams: 'MGM's musical treasure...Singin' In The Rain' co-directed and starring the irreplaceable Gene Kelly.

The year is 1927. The place is Hollywood. The silent-film romantic team of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is the toast of Tinseltown. While Lockwood and Lamont personify smoldering passions onscreen, in real life the down-to-earth Lockwood can't stand the egotistical, brainless Lina. He prefers the company of aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), whom he met while escaping his screaming fans. Watching these intrigues from the sidelines is Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), Don's best pal and on-set pianist. Cosmo is promoted to musical director of Monumental Pictures by studio head R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) when the talking-picture revolution commences. That's all right for Cosmo, but how will talkies affect the upcoming Lockwood-Lamont vehicle "The Dueling Cavalier"? Don, an accomplished song-and-dance man, should have no trouble adapting to the microphone. Lina, however, is another matter; put as charitably as possible, she has a voice that sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. The disastrous preview of the team's first talkie has the audience howling with derisive laughter. Can Don, Cosmo and Kathy save the studio and their careers from ruin?

Whilst parallels could be easily be drawn to that of 2011's Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist, Singin' In The Rain is nevertheless an untouchable masterpiece for two reasons. The strength of the clever, concise and funny plot alone, concocted by the dream writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green who were responsible for the libretti of some of Hollywood’s most memorable musicals of the genre’s heyday, makes it an absolute delight. Yet the addition of MGM's catalog of Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown songs including "You Were Meant for Me," "You Are My Lucky Star," "The Broadway Melody," and of course the title song, combined with Gene Kelly’s supreme choreography sets it as the benchmark that many movie musicals have since failed to reach. Forget Les Miserables, forget Moulin Rouge! and forget Mamma Mia!....there’s only one Singin' In The Rain and there’s only one place to see it on the big screen where it belongs: The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall.

"There is no movie musical more fun than Singin' in the Rain, and few that remain as fresh over the years."

Roger Ebert- Chicago Sun-Times

"For humour and sheer energy, no musical betters Singin' In The Rain."

Film 4

"If you've never seen it and don't, you're bonkers"

Stephen Garrett- Time Out

Check out the original trailer below:

Singin' In The Rain (U) plays on Friday 5th April @ 2pm and Saturday 6th April @ 3pm. For an extra £1 you can enjoy a Screen Tea which includes a hot drink and a slice of cake.