| No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by any standard and international consensus, this is the best movie musical of them all. Its arcane, unlikely milieu is Hollywood during the transition in the late 1920s from silent to sound motion pictures. In 1927, dashing actor Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and blonde bombshell Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are one of Hollywood's favorite romantic teams, though Lina mistakenly believes that their on-screen love is for real. Don and his less famous partner Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) have worked their way to the top the hard way, through vaudeville, stunt work etc. When "The Jazz Player" arrives and sound changes everything in the movie business, Don is ready. Not so Lina, whose shrill voice makes a mockery of the musical that their new film has been made into, despite the best efforts of a voice coach. Aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) saves the film by dubbing Lina's voice, but Don is in trouble when he starts to fall in love with her. |
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