"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) influenced generations of musicians, dancers and singers as more than a simple musical, but rather closer to movie-art.
What comes across as carefree hoofing on film was actually days and weeks of grueling physical work. Debbie Reynolds, a 19-year-old Miss Burbank winner handpicked by Louis Mayer, was a true amateur among professionals. She endured weeks of training sessions under the scrutiny of Gene Kelly to prepare herself for the role. Her most difficult task was the "Good Morning" number, in which she had to keep up with co-stars Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Shooting went late into the evening, and when it was all over, Debbie fainted, having burst a blood vessel in her foot. She received doctor's orders to stay in bed for three days. Debbie wasn't the only one who ended up bed-ridden. Donald O'Connor needed a full three days rest after his solo number, "Make 'Em Laugh."
In the famous dance routine in which Gene Kelly sings the title song while twirling an umbrella, splashing through puddles and getting soaked to the skin, he was actually dancing in water with a little bit of milk added, so that the water puddles and raindrops would show up in the filming. Kelly was sick with a 103-degree fever at the time.
Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer at the time she made Singin' in the Rain — her background was as a gymnast. Kelly apparently insulted her for her lack of dance experience, upsetting her. Fred Astaire was hanging around the studio and found Reynolds crying under a piano. Hearing what had happened, Astaire volunteered to help her with her dancing. Kelly later admitted that he had not been kind to Reynolds and was surprised that she was still willing to talk to him afterwards.
Singin' in the Rain has appeared twice on Sight and Sound's list of the ten best films of all time, in 1982 and 2002
In 1989, Singin' in the Rain was also deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
