In Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a silent film star who must adjust to talking pictures, with help from Kathy Selden, played by Debbie Reynolds. Co-directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, the musical is set in Hollywood in the late 1920s and follows Don and his friend Cosmo, played by Donald O’Connor, as they turn a silent drama into a musical.
Kelly’s title number, dancing in the rain with a lamppost, is one of the most famous sequences in film history, and it captures his style perfectly: athletic, joyful, and seemingly effortless. The film is now regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever made.
