1927 Hollywood. Monumental Pictures' biggest stars, glamorous on-screen couple Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood, are also an off-screen couple if the trade papers and gossip columns are to be believed. Both perpetuate the public perception if only to please their adoring fans and bring people into the movie theaters. In reality, Don barely tolerates her, while Lina is just possessive. Meanwhile THE JAZZ SINGER (1927) becomes a big success and the chief of Monumental company decides that Don and Lina have to jump on the talking picture bandwagon, despite no one at the studio knowing anything about the technology. Musician Cosmo Brown, Don's best friend, gets hired as Monumental's musical director and Don has secretly started dating Kathy Selden, a chorus girl who is trying to make it big in pictures herself. Cosmo and Kathy help Don to make the leap to talking picture stardom, with Kathy following along the way. However, they have to overcome the technological issues and, above all, Lina. The actress will do anything to ensure she also makes the successful leap into talking pictures, despite her own inabilities and at anyone and everyone else's expense if they get in her way, especially Kathy as Don's off screen girlfriend and possibly his new talking picture leading lady.
film giffoni 2023
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
| Category | Out of competition |
| Section | Warner 100 |
| Tipology | Feature Film |
| Duration | 103' |
| Production Year | 1952 |
| Nationality | USA |
| Directed by | Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly |
| Screenplay | Adolph Green, Betty Comden |
| loosely based on | "Singin' in the Rain" |
| Director of photography | Harold Rosson |
| Editor | Adrienne Fazan |
| Music | Nacio Herb Brown (music), Arthur Freed (lyrics) |
| Main cast |
key cast/interpreti principali Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Cyd Charisse |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Production | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen was born in 1924 and died in 2019. American film director and choreographer, he directed some of the most iconic films of the Golden Age of Cinema. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 1998, and the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Four of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Donen began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott. From 1943, he worked in Hollywood as a choreographer before collaborating with Gene Kelly when Donen worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed. Donen and Kelly directed the films ON THE TOWN (1949), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955). Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated during their final collaboration. His other films during this period include ROYAL WEDDING (1951), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), and FUNNY FACE (1957). He then broke his contract with MGM to become an independent producer in 1957. Among his later films: INDISCREET (1958), CHARADE (1963), TWO FOR THE ROAD (1967), ARABESQUE (1966), BEDAZZLED (1967), DAMN YANKEES (1958), THE LITTLE PRINCE (1974) and LUCKY LADY (1975).
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly, known to the public as Gene Kelly, was born in 1912 and died in 1996 in the USA. Dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer, he was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessible to the general public, which he called "dance for the common man". He starred in, choreographed, and co-directed with Stanley Donen some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s. Among his unforgettable performances: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951, Academy Award for Best Picture), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), which he and Donen directed and choreographed, and other musical films of that era such as COVER GIRL (1944) and ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. ON THE TOWN (1949), which he co-directed with Donen, was his directorial debut. Later in the 1950s, as musicals waned in popularity, he starred in BRIGADOON (1954) and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955), the last film he directed with Donen. His solo directorial debut was INVITATION TO THE DANCE (1956), one of the last MGM musicals, which was not a commercial success.
He continued as a director in the 1960s, with his credits including A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN (1967) and HELLO, DOLLY! (1969), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. He co-hosted and appeared in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (1946), THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! (1974), THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, PART II (1976), THAT'S DANCING! (1985), and THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, PART III (1994).
Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements; the same year, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982) and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute also ranked him as the 15th greatest male screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
distribution/distribuzione
festival contact
Warner Bros. Discovery
(Italy/Italia)
www.warnerbros.it