What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is often considered the
finest musical of all time. There is no offensive content --
just lots of dancing and catchy songs.
Families can talk about the characters and their motivations. Why does Kathy at first lie about liking the movies? Why does Don lie about his background? How is that different from the way that Lina behaves? Have there been any new inventions that you have seen that have changed people's jobs a lot? What inventions do you use that your parents didn't have when they were children? Your grandparents? Children might like to see some of the early silent movies to get an idea of what Hollywood was like in the days depicted in this movie. The films of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are still wonderful, and kids will enjoy learning that a story can be told without words.
Common Sense Media Review
Silent movie star Don Lockwood (
Gene
Kelly) is paired on screen with Lina Lamont (Jean Hagan),
who would like to be paired with him off screen as well. But
Lina's personality is as grating as her squeaky, nasal voice.
She is mean, selfish, arrogant, and stupid. Chased by fans
following the opening of their latest movie, Don jumps into the
car of Kathy Seldon (
Debbie
Reynolds), who tells him she is a serious actress, and not
at all interested in the movies. But later, at a party
celebrating the new movie, Kathy appears again, jumping out of
a cake. Don teases her about her "art" and she throws a pie at
him, getting Lina right in the face by mistake. Lina, furious,
has Kathy fired.
At the party, the guests are treated to an exhibition of the latest technology, "talking pictures." Everyone present dismisses it as a novelty. But when The Jazz Singer becomes a hit, Hollywood gets on the bandwagon. Production is halted on the latest Lockwood/Lamont movie, The Dueling Cavalier, while the stars are coached in vocal technique (with a delightful song mocking the exercises, "Moses Supposes"). But the movie is a disaster. Test audiences jeer and laugh.
Meanwhile, Don and Kathy have fallen in love. After an all-night brainstorming session, Don, Kathy, and Don's best friend, Cosmo (Donald O'Connor), come up with an idea. They can make their production into a musical, dubbing Kathy's voice for Lina's. Don resists at first, because it's unfair to Kathy. But they persuade him that it will just be this one time, and he goes along. However, it doesn't turn into a one-time thing and it's not long before Lina and Kathy are put on the spot and have to face the music.
This is often considered the finest musical of all time. Certainly it has it all: classic musical numbers and a witty script that's unusually sharp and satiric for a musical comedy, especially one making fun of the industry that produced it. Asked to name the top ten moments in the history of movies, most people would include the title number from this movie, in which Gene Kelly splashes and sings in the rain with what Roger Ebert called "saturated ecstasy." When Kelly swings the umbrella around and around and dances on and off the curb, his "glorious feeling" is contagious. Only in a movie containing that sequence would Donald O'Connor's sensational "Make 'Em Laugh" number be mentioned second. It is a wildly funny pastiche of every possible slapstick gag, done with energy and skill so meticulous that it appears entirely spontaneous.
