SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)

Part of the Sunday Silvers
Director: | S. Donen & G. Kelly |
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Certificate: | BBFC U |
Length: | |
Format: | 35mm |
Language: | English (US) |
Country: |
The ultimate Hollywood Hollywood movie ends this year's SUNDAY SILVERS!Movies, stars, movie-stars, songs, dance, Technicolor, comedy and romance in one of MGM's finest musicals.Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse and Jean Hagen star, and oh boy - what a glorious feeling!
Come dressed as your favourite classic Hollywood movie star or character and get in for £1 (50p concs) less!
You can buy your tickets in advance and online from here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/145375
SOME FACTS ABOUT SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN:
- A plot had to be constructed around the songs as the songs came first!
- Gene Kelly was such a tyrant that both O’Connor and Reynolds didn’t enjoy making this film.Kelly criticised the then newcomer Debbie Reynolds’ dancing so much that he made her cry.Luckily for her, Fred Astaire found her in tears and coached her.
- Donald O’Connor had to perform a vaudeville trick from his youth – running up a wall to do a summersault. However, he wasn’t as young as he once was and also smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day, so after shooting this number he was bedridden for a week through exhaustion.Unfortunately, the original footage was ruined in an accident and he had to do it all over again!
- This film was the sixth time that the song ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ was used. In fact only two songs were written especially for the film (‘Make ‘em Laugh’ and ‘Moses Supposes’), the rest were recycled from other films.
- Kelly dubbed Reynolds’ tap sounds for ‘Good Morning’; choreography assistants Carol Haney and Gwen Verdon dubbed Kelly’s tap sounds in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’; singer Betty Noyles dubbed Reynolds’ singing voice in ‘Would You’ and ‘You are my lucky star’; Hagen dubs Reynolds’ voice in the speaking parts of Reynolds’ dubbing Lina Lamont in ‘Would You’ (Hagen dubbing Reynolds dubbing Hagen!).
Other important little facts
- The title number was shot in one take due to Gene Kelly suffering a high-fever.That’s all it took.
- Jean Hagen was nominated for an Oscar for her fantastic roll as the screeching Lina Lemont.
- Cyd Charisse had to be taught how to smoke for her scene as a vampish gangster’s moll.
- The rain in the title number was a mix of water and milk so that it would show up on film.
Based on silent movie stars
A lot of the characters were based on real-life silent movie stars and incidents:the loudly tapping hand-fan on film – Rio Rita (1929);‘The Zip Girl’ in the beginning scene could be the ‘It-Girl’, Clara Bow; Olga Mara as Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson; Roscoe Dexter as Eric von Stromheim; R.F. Simpson as Louis B. Mayer and Arthur Freed; Lockwood’s dialogue in ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ based on John Gilbert; Lamont’s dilemma based on Norma Talmadge.
Other films in the Sunday Silvers:

09
Film: Some Like It Hot (1959)
9 Jan 2011, 7 p.m.
To start the new SUNDAY SILVERS season off with a bang, we bring you quite possibly the greatest Hollywood comedy ever made! Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemon and the late and wonderful Tony Curtis star in Billy Wilder’s film of cross-dressing, jazz, prohibition, mobsters and romance. Plus short film, 'Keeping Time', by Ellen Phethean/Richard Lawson.

06
Film: All About Eve (1950)
6 Feb 2011, 7:30 p.m.
"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" The second SUNDAY SILVERS brings you the definitive backstage drama saga of ambition and betrayal. Starring BETTE DAVIS in one of her finest roles!

06
Film: A Night At The Opera (1935)
6 Mar 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Groucho, Harpo and Chico take on high society in the third of our SUNDAY SILVERS. Slapstick, good (and bad) jokes, routines, musical numbers, chaos and a bit of romance make this one of the finest Marx Brothers films out there.

03
Film: Jezebel (1938)
3 Apr 2011, 7 p.m.
A tale of defiance, love and redemption sees another SUNDAY SILVER! A headstrong Southern Belle forces away her love through her pride, vanity and sedition - all in a red dress - but vows to get him back. The amazing Bette Davis and Henry Fonda star in this 1850's Southern-set romantic melodrama. Why not come dressed in RED for tonight's screening?! MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL OFFER… Bring your mother and she gets in at the concession price of £3.50!

01
Film: Mildred Pierce (1945)
1 May 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Joan Crawford stars as the ultimate self-sacrificing mother in May's SUNDAY SILVERS. Based on James M. Cain's maternal hard-boiled novel, Mildred Pierce is a film noir with a difference. Please don't tell anyone what Mildred Pierce did!

05
Film: High Society (1956)
5 Jun 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and his band all star in this Technicolor Cole Porter musical for another classic SUNDAY SILVERS! A well-to-do lady is set to marry into stability and potential boredom, but her free-loving, jazz musician ex-husband is set to win her back - although the dashing reporter has something to say about that! Well, what's a gal to do?

03
Film: The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
3 Jul 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Ah, Lubitsch! Subtle, sharp, sad, romantic and funny - a film fit for the SUNDAY SILVERS! Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star in this tale of despise for those you know and love for those you don't - whoever they might be…

04
Film: King Kong (1933)
4 Sep 2011, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY SILVERS brings you the definitive sci-fi, fantasy, special effects movie. A film crew go to a mysterious, tropical island to finish a shoot, but what they find there was bigger than they ever imagined… Adventure to make you wonder if it's TRUE, while your very eyes convince you that it IS!

02
Film: The Night Of The Hunter (1955)
2 Oct 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Doe-eyed Bob Mitchum turns nasty in a classic film-noir that showcases the sinister side of our Sunday Silvers. Watch, as our anti-hero's tattooed knuckles take hold of an unsuspecting family whose widowed matriarch is initially hoodwinked by his preacher-man act. Behold, the charming charlatan's pursuit of the widow's fortune.

06
Film: Gun Crazy (1949)
6 Nov 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Bart's got a thing for guns and when he meets Laurie, a carnival gun-slinging, trick-shot beauty, he falls in love. But a married life without luxury isn't Laurie's idea of happily-ever-after and they put their skills to thrilling use… Perhaps technically a B-Movie, this film deserves to be a SUNDAY SILVER!