Singin' in the Rain |  | Director: Donen, Stanley
Actors: Cyd Charisse, Mae Clarke, Harry Cody, Douglas Fowley, Lance Fuller
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $6.86
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Rating:  345 reviews
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D65020D
ISBN: 0790744228
UPC: 012569502024
EAN: 9780790744223
Theatrical Release Date: April 11, 1952
Release Date: June 6, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by any standard and international consensus, this is the best movie musical of them all. Its arcane, unlikely milieu is Hollywood during the transition in the late 1920s from silent to sound motion pictures. Its reason for being was producer Arthur Freed's desire to use the catalog of songs he had written with Nacio Herb Brown in the '20s and '30s for various shows and movies. But, ironically, it's now the soundtrack that seems cobbled together from disparate sources, while the movie itself remains seamless. That's thanks to a literate screenplay by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and ebulliant acting and dancing by the young Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Jean Hagen is especially brilliant as the silent-screen star whose speaking voice is so screechy she has to be dubbed for talkies. Kelly codirected with Stanley Donen, and both can take credit for a masterpiece. Musical standouts are "You Were Meant for Me," "Good Morning" and "All I Do Is Dream of You." Visually, the indelible image will always be Kelly sloshing around in puddles while singin' in the rain. That said, this coupling of video with a definitive version of the soundtrack benefits from Rhino's meticulous reconstruction of the material and extensive annotations, which only enhance our grasp of this film and musical legend's gestation. ---Robert Windeler
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 345
 Humility is divine, arrogance is laughable November 2, 2009
Jacques COULARDEAU (OLLIERGUES France)
That film is one of these classics we all know about but we most of us have never seen, in full or in parts. And that was my case. That film of 1952 looks back at the great shift in the cinema from silent movies to talkies and the drama it may have represented for some artists who could not adapt. This film adds to that some nasty aspects of that change, of silent films (and that has not really changed), how everything is artificial and nothing but a glossy appearance. Those actors and actresses love one another in so bizarre ways at times, and they have to cope with producers and directors. But the film is funny because so many elements are shown as ironical, humorous or just plain hilarious, not to mention some cruelty here and there. Then the plot is sentimental and even romantic with a complete rift between a fake mediatic love affair and another secret and deep love that is no affair at all but a passion. The film amplifies that rift by giving to the mediatic mistress the voice of a goat and her impossibility or rather unwillingness to train herself into some kind of drinkable vocal sound, drinkable for the audience. So the studio invents dubbing and the actress is dumb enough to want to speak to her audience who liked the voice on the screen so much. The shock is so hard that they require a song and then the dubbing has to be revealed and that is the end of a career that gets silent and mute because it should have stayed silent and mute, but vanity requires adulation and worship and then a voice has to be put on the nice face and it is the discovery of the lie, of the illusion and the public never takes it with a grain of salt when they discover they have been fooled. That film is famous for one song though it is a singing and dancing treat from beginning to end, an allusion to the career of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and some others, but with a touch of realism in the behavior of these Hollywood people. And that touch is the best fun of the film: vanity has no limits and vainer than I you die. A real treat of entertainment and an important page in the huge history book of the cinema.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID
classic November 2, 2009
Joan D. Harrington
bought this for my son who is doing this as their high school musical play. Funny because he didnt realize all the dancing! absolutley loves it and just happens to be one of my favorite movies.
one we will watch for a long time.
 Singin' in the Rain November 1, 2009
R. Margolies
I got this for my boyfriend as an anniversary gift because he needed more musicals in his collection. Bought it without a hitch. Love this movie so much!
Truly Worthy of It's Status September 30, 2009
Untitled (nowhere)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Unlike many other movies that top various best of lists, I absolytley agree that Singin in the Rain deserves to be tops in many great musical lists. There's something that makes Singin in the rain a magical experience, especially when it's stacked against the competition of musicals that threaten it's reputation (West Side Story blows). Maybe musicals aren't my thing, but most songs are slow, drawn out, boring, and the same thing over and over again in most musicals. Music such as Grease have a pretty weak lack of energy (though sometimes that musical evokes some guity pleasures). Singin in the Rain is fasts moving, sometimes implausable and plot hole-ridden (Who the hell conveices an idea like Cosmo and Don did to the RF?), but when your laughing at Lina's hideous vioce (I tend to go Mystery Science Theater 3000 and insult and answer her questions), feeling the rhythmic tap dancing, being hilarious entertained by the humor of it all, or just simple indulging in the movies extreme energy and charisma, who the ______ cares? I sure don't, which is one reason why I enjoy this knockout movie quite the bit.
Singin in the Rain is refreshing for me because of it's songs and topics, a fair and well departure from the tired musicals that feature inane plot lines about characters I don't care about, and heavy, drawn out gabage. There are only two things wrong this with this movie. You are my Lucky Star's great music beneath it is slaughtered by the terrifyingly awful lyrics ruining the singing (corny as _____), and You Were Meant for Me is the same way that is saved by a great instrumental passage. That's it. It absolutely bursts with movie magic, something that I often have trouble finding in movies. Movies like Casablanca evoke no sort of emotion in me, it's kind of sad. But Singin' In the Rain does the exact opposite, it's bubbly as hell, but when I enjoy this great movie, I forget I am an cynic and really sometimes believe in movie magic (then once I think of Disney, my gears start grinding again).
The music numbers are all knockouts. Few musicals (I dig Chicago's jazzy numbers as a close second) have this much infectious numbers in abundance, but Singin in The Rain possesses an insane amount of energy. The vocals are all richly sang and extremely vibrant and infectious, and the music itself that backs up the movie is virbant, high energy, and often jazzy or big band ish (and sometimes comes off as cartoony, but I think that's kind of a good thing) If the lyrics are about love, I have trouble hating them, as even somebody who is proud of never succumbing to romantic crap, loves songs such as Dreaming of You, Would You, and Beautiful Girl. The music and singing makes it happen like magic every time. Also, the title track may have been sang after he was supposed to be in love with Kathy, but nuts to that emotion. Seriously, I don't even think about love when rain and the music itself makes the magic without the emotion of being in love. ____ love, you don't need it to enjoy the title track. You will wan to know these songs by heart because You will want to sing along. Oh, and how about that dancing. Gene Kelly and Donald O Conner are both excellent, extremely athletic and rhythmatic, and Debbie Reynolds had a fire light under her @$$ and danced excellent as an outcome. Can't forget the others that dance along, being the other dancers and Cyd Charisse as the gangster's girlfriend.
But what really what makes Singin in the rain such a great movie is the story line. The love story is there, but it's trivial and takes a second hand to it's main story line: the movie industry itself. This is about the transitions from silent to talking, and delivers it in a sometimes satricial way and satires many of it's aspects, among those including it's reaction and Reynold's character making fun of the way acting was in silent movies (which, in my opinion, was extremely exaggerated). The period the movie is set is handled with great ease, as Gene Kelly was even said to have studied numerous stills and pictures of the time period to get it terribly right. It also has a refreshing lack of heavy drama (thank god), something that pegs down most crappy musicals. The humor is fast paced, sometimes dry, and the slapstick isn't annoying beyond belief (often funny). I also love watching the hilariously awful debut of the Dueling Cavalier, with a horrible sound design that wuold make Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space sound as well done as a David Lynch movie.
I won't say as much as I should, but this is such a gem that I think that it should speak for itself. Singin' In The Rain contains the best set and renditions of Arthur Freed's excellent music. I'm kind of at loss for words, but please just see this movie, especially if you like musicals. I was surprised that this really seems like one of the greatest musicals that film has brought us.
Instead, if you are wondering if you should pay some money for this two disc edition, I say it is pretty great and designed very well. I usually don't care that much for this kind of thing as much as I do the movie itself (I wish I would have got the single disc edition of Goodfellas because the special features felt like filler. You only need the movie to speak for itself). Aside from having the movie itself, both discs flow very well with interseting bits, documentaries, out takes, stills galleries, trailers, and even showing where many of the songs originally came. Some of the things arent as interesting as the others, but having the songs without the taps, for example, is great to hear, because there feature great background music. Perhaps one great treat is Debbie ReynoldsI kind of agree with the commentary, it's not bad, but you never get to hear everybody comment at the same time, which would be a total blast to hear. The people that would contribute would have been something to hear. The only time I think this could be topped is when they release it on Blu-Ray with even richer picture and sound.
Also, I like the background music for both discs, which play through the whole song. So you can hear the music if you want to and just stay on the menu.
This movie is the kind of movie that makes my day better at times, almost so if I have had my Grande Latte Enema and it hasn't even worn out. if people think I'm too happy or something, _____ em'. Heh, jokes on them if they know me (do you tend to notice that once you get know people, you sometimes like them less and less as much as you like them more and more?). Singin' In the Rain is one of the very few things that I love (among others include Pushing Daisies, the romance story in Dead Aive, Pixar, Tom Waits, and Blue Velvet's optimism which is stunning, and ) that are happy and heartwarming, only many, many other forms of media (*cough* Titanc *cough*)that make me feel absolutely nothing. This is a gem of a movie, and while it isn't perfect, nothing quite comes close to it. The Citizen Kane of musicals? Maybe, only it's actually deserving of it's place on the polls.
A- For Movie
A+ For the DVD itself
Great movie to lower your blood pressure September 11, 2009
Norma Cole (Springfield, Ma)
This heartwarming,funny musical will keep your toes tapping with a smile on your face. The performers are wonderful and talented. They don't make these kind of movies anymore. I can watch it over and over again and not be bored.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 345
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