Singin' In The Rain; Thursday, the 23rd of September

 For our second film screening, we are turning to another beloved and deservedly classic masterpiece: Singin' in the Rain.


Singin' in the Rain has often been called the "greatest film musical ever made" and while I personally wouldn't go that far (sorry, folks!) it is a joyous and heartfelt love letter to a very turbulent period in Hollywood's history - the transition from silents to sound. 


Gene Kelly is at his best as Don Lockwood, a swashbuckling silent film star who is faced with the prospect of re-inventing himself as a star of talking pictures (if anyone at the studio can figure out how to actually make one).


Quite apart from the memorable star turns of Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, the whole film is thoroughly stolen by Jean Hagen's once-in-a-lifetime performance as Don Lockwood's co-star, Lina Lamont. Jean Hagan received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the silent-film beauty queen who was, shall we say, not ideally suited to a career in Talking Pictures.


Lots of musicals have memorable tunes, spectacular dance sequences and talented singers, but far fewer of them manage to do all that while painting a surprisingly accurate portrait of a crisis moment in Hollywood history.



And, of course, there is the inevitable moment when it starts raining, and Gene Kelly starts singing.



Singin' in the Rain 

7.30pm

at the 

Victoria Park Baptist Church

186 Grove Road, 

London E3 5TG

Thursday the 23rd of September



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