Singin’ in the Rain directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly delivers all aspects of a successful Hollywood movie musical while poking fun at Hollywood’s difficulties in adapting to the advent of the “talking picture.” I have chosen to do a close reading of the opening “red carpet” scene through which the film makers cleverly tell the audience what they should anticipate is to come; it is a “teaser” in terms of setting up the drama of the story, the relationship of the characters and a movie musical’s essential elements, song and dance – a lot for one scene to achieve.
It begins by having fun with the idea of a movie premiere. The fans screaming for fictional movie stars arriving on the red carpet and the movie stars themselves, all are portrayed as broad stereotypes – almost cartoon. Even our initial protagonists, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelley) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) arrive both dressed all in white symbolizing they are the stars of this premiere, but this color co-ordination also emphasizes they are a couple. However, when interviewed on the red carpet we can immediately see that all is not what it seems and this phrase, “all is not what it seems” echoes throughout the movie right up to the finale when Debbie Reynolds’ character is revealed as the voice of Lina Lamont.
This “teaser” element of the opening sequence is cleverly integrated into Don’s interview on the red carpet. While Don tells us of his classical training and early stage career we see the truth depicted in a series of cameos where Don and Cosmo progress though their early careers playing in bars and obscure Vaudeville joints. The film makers use these cameos to give the audience a preview of the singing, dancing and comedy that is to come with Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood) and Donald O’Connor (Cosmo) demonstrating why they were considered two of the finest song and dance men in Hollywood. The audience is deftly warned that if Don is lying about his past, is he also lying about his relationship with Lina Lamont? The film makers have now introduced the underlying drama of their story.
Much is said about the characters in this opening scene before they even speak, (Lina Lamont says nothing in the opening scene. In a story about movie stars of the silent era making the transition to the “talkies,” the film makers cleverly prevent Lina Lamont from speaking until that critical moment when the maximum impact of her horribly grating voice can be unleashed on the audience). Let’s consider the positioning of Don and Lina when they first step out of their Limo: Lina is on the right of screen and Don is on the left. As they approach the interviewer they nimbly adjust positions so that Lina remains on the far right, Don is located in the middle with the announcer and Cosmo stands on the far left. Their positioning may not seem that important at first, but it is. Most movies tend to follow a convention where the bad guys are introduced on the right of screen while the good guys are introduced from the left. If this convention holds for “Singing in the Rain” then Lina is a bad guy and Cosmo is a good guy. Don is in the middle with the announcer, in neutral territory – the audience will have to make up their own minds about Don’s character, (Were it not for Cosmo’s presence and the obvious respect that Cosmo and Don have for each other – clearly seen in Don’s interview – the audience might find Don too dislikeable from the outset). This foreshadowing of characters may not seem important at first, but if the convention holds true, then by the end of the opening sequence a subconscious opinion of each character has been planted in the audience’s mind.
Opening a movie with a “teaser” has become synonymous today with many blockbuster action movies; the opening sequence of a James Bond movie is almost a short movie in itself as is the opening sequence of “Singing in the Rain.” All is not what it seems in this opening scene, but an awful lot is happening.