Singin' in the Rain (BFI Film Classics)
by Peter Wollen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter WollenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992-12-27
ISBN: 0851703518
Number of pages: 72
Publisher: British Film Institute
Book Reviews of Singin' in the Rain (BFI Film Classics)
Book Review: What a Glorious Feeling!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a terrific book on what is probably the best American musical film. Wollen captured me when he compared Kelly's solo dance in "Rain" to a dance in "Cover Girl," something I had long thought, but had never seen anyone mention in print.Wollen does a fine job showing how the movie fits into Gene Kelly's career and the development of the movie musical. He also has some eye-opening stuff on how "Singin' in the Rain" nearly ran afoul of the Hollywood blacklist.
Even if you've seen the movie many times, you'll probably learn something about it in Wollen's book that you didn't know before. I did.
Summary of Singin' in the Rain (BFI Film Classics)
Forty Years after it first appeared, Singin' in the Rain remains one of the best loved films ever made. Yet despite dazzling success with the public, it never received its fair share of praise from the critics. Gene Kelly's genius as a performer is there for all to see. What is less acknowledged is his innovatory contribution as director. Peter Wollen has finally done justice to this landmark film. In a brilliant shot-by-shot analysis of the famous title number, illustrated by specially produced frame stills, he shows how skillfully Kelly binds the dance and musical elements into the narrative, and how he successfully combines two distinctive traditions within American Dance, tap and ballet.Scriptwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and indeed Kelly himself, were all under threat from the McCarthyism which menaced Hollywood at this time. The ethos in which the film was conceived could not long survive in the era of blacklisting. Wollen argues convincingly that Singin' in the Rain was the high point in the careers of those who worked on it.
Peter Wollen's remarkable treatment of Singin' in the Rain approaches the film from many different angles. Wollen sees the movie as an important contribution to the history of modern dance, a representative example of the 1950s musical, a significant comment on American McCarthyist policies, and a work that is at once a collaborative effort and the product of Gene Kelly's creative genius. As Wollen develops these points, he also provides a shot-by-shot analysis of Kelly's Singin' in the Rain number, perhaps the most famous dance sequence in any movie musical. Wollen concludes his revelatory book by talking about Singin' in the Rain as part of American mythmaking. He also provides an excellent annotated bibliography that will lead you to further reading on the filmmakers, the genre of the musical, and even the rudiments of tap dancing!
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