You should be my lucky star

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title You should be my lucky star
Original title Singin 'in the Rain
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Stanley Donen ,
Gene Kelly
script Betty Comden ,
Adolph Green
production Arthur Freed
music Nacio Herb Brown ,
Al Goodhart
camera Harold Rosson
cut Adrienne Fazan
occupation
synchronization

You shall be my lucky star (original title: Singin 'in the Rain ) is an American film musical filmed in Technicolor from 1952 and directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly . Kelly also starred alongside Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds . Singin 'in the Rain was voted the best American musical film of all time by the American Film Institute , and many film critics shared this opinion.

plot

Japanese movie poster shows Debbie Reynolds with Gene Kelly

Hollywood 1927: Don Lockwood is a popular silent movie star. He attends the acclaimed premiere of his new film and tells a reporter the story of his rise. With his film partner Lina Lamont, he forms a romantic dream couple at the request of his Monumental Pictures studio , but in reality Don doesn't particularly like the conceited Lina, although she is convinced that they are in love with each other.

On the way to a company party, Don is harassed by hysterical admirers. He escapes by jumping into a passing car driven by young actress Kathy Selden. At the party, studio boss R. F. Simpson shows a short Vitaphone film, which is supposed to demonstrate the possibilities of the sound film. However, the guests are not very enthusiastic. To Don's surprise, Kathy jumps out of a dummy cake shortly afterwards. It turns out that she is a member of a girls dance troupe. Annoyed by Don's teasing, she throws a cake at him, but hits Lina in the face and quickly leaves the party. It was only after Don's unsuccessful search for weeks that the two met again when Kathy was involved in another Monumental Pictures production. Don confesses his love to her.

After a rival studio achieved tremendous success with the first sound film The Jazz Singer in 1927 , R. F. Simpson decided that the new Lockwood and Lamont film The Dueling Cavalier should be shot as a sound film. The shooting turns out to be difficult. The biggest problem is Lina's squawking voice and accent. Even a language teacher is powerless. A test screening of the film turns into a disaster - also due to many technical problems. The audience reacts partly amused, partly angry.

Don's best friend Cosmo Brown has the idea. He suggests that Lina's part be spoken and singed by Kathy. In addition, the film is to be converted into a musical : The Dancing Cavalier . When Lina learns of the plans, she gets angry and tries everything possible to break up Don and Kathy. When she learns that R. F. Simpson wants to make Kathy big through advertising, she threatens to sue him if he does not force Kathy to continue to work unnamed as her dubbing voice. The studio boss reluctantly agrees.

The premiere of the Dancing Cavalier will be a huge success. When Lina begins to give a speech in front of the audience, the audience is taken aback by her shrill voice and calls out to her that she would rather sing. To save the awkward situation, Don, Cosmo and RF suggest that Lina sing lip-synchronic into a microphone on stage, while Kathy, hidden behind the curtain, sings into a second microphone, the sound of which is transmitted to the speakers. Lina and reluctantly Kathy get involved in the act. While Lina pretends to sing ("Singin 'in the Rain Reprise"), the three men, winking mischievously at each other, swing the curtain up and reveal the deception. The audience bursts into laughter when they see Lina simulating the singing while Kathy is the actual singer. Humiliated, Lina escapes from the stage. The irritated Kathy tries to leave the hall, but Don stops her and proudly announces to the audience that she is the "real star" of the film. ("You Are My Lucky Star"). In the final scene, Kathy and Don stand in front of a large billboard for their new film "Singin 'in the Rain" and kiss each other.

background

In 1928, after the great success of The Jazz Singer , Hollywood began mass production of talkies . The changeover was associated with major changes for the stars of the silent film industry , with many silent film stars losing their entire popularity almost suddenly (e.g. Pola Negri ).

The film represents a high point of the genre, which flourished in the Hollywood studio system in the early 1950s. The spirited dance and music scenes result in a perfect symbiosis of playful precision, ironic refraction and high-spirited verve. The musical shows off its overwhelming possibilities of sets and decorations with relish and takes the audience to an important moment in film history by relocating the plot. At the same time, it is reminiscent of the cinema's own past.

The stylish film direction by Stanley Donen and the energetic direction of the dance scenes by Gene Kelly complement each other perfectly. Kelly, who choreographed rather sporty, effects and comedy-related, represented a modern type of dancer and proved to be the rightful heir of the elegant dancer Fred Astaire .

The film shot by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gives humorous, but realistic insights into the film production. Proof of this are, among other things, props from the film Quo Vadis that were lying around in the background of the stage , which was also produced at MGM six months earlier. It is unimportant whether they were taken from the magazine especially for the film or perhaps taken from the Cinecittà studios and still stood there; it is crucial that the studio rooms shown are real MGM studio rooms.

Premiere had Singin 'in the Rain March 27, 1952 in New York . In the Federal Republic of Germany , the cinema was released on March 30, 1953, the television first broadcast on March 11, 1971 on ZDF . DFF 1 first aired the film on March 2, 1985.

The theme song

The song Singin 'in the Rain , sung by Gene Kelly in the film , dates back to 1929. It was first presented in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 . In 2004 the American Film Institute voted the song number 3 in the list of AFI's 100 Years… 100 Songs of the 100 Best American Film Songs .

The theme song can also be heard in another well-known scene in film history. In the film A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick , the main character sings, played by Malcolm McDowell , the song during a dramatic representation of a robbery. The end credits of the film are also highlighted with the original sung by Gene Kelly.

synchronization

The German synchronized editing was created in 1953 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin-Tempelhof . The dialogue book was written by Erik Ode , who also did the dubbing and gave Gene Kelly his voice.

role actor Voice actor
Don Lockwood Gene Kelly Erik Ode
Cosmo Brown Donald O'Connor Wolfgang Kieling
Kathy Selden Debbie Reynolds Marianne Prenzel
Lina Lamont Jean Hagen Gertrud Spalke
RF Simpson Millard Mitchell Hans Nielsen
Roscoe Dexter Douglas Fowley Ernst Constantine
Schott, press officer King Donovan Franz-Otto Kruger
Sid, assistant director Dan Foster Gerd Vespermann
Dora Bailey Madge Blake Ursula War
Boy David Kasday Horst Gentzen
Sound engineer Harry Tenbrook Horst Niendorf
Singer Jimmy Thompson Dietrich Frauboes
Orchestra chief Jack George Erich Poremski
Fat dancer Paul Maxey Victor Janson

The German dubbing could easily keep up with the original vocally for the songs. However, the translation did not always meet the high demands of the fans. In particular, the translation of the title song “Singin 'in the Rain” with “I'm really twisted today” was probably so little catchy even for distributors that the film was renamed in Germany and Austria after the title of another song from the film: "You should be my lucky star" ("You are my lucky star").

The film has another special feature in the original: In the film, Debbie Reynolds plays Kathy Selden, who saves the conversion of the silent film into a musical by synchronizing the squeaky voice of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). In reality, the producers found the youthful voice of Debbie Reynolds not ladylike enough and had Debbie Reynolds again dubbed Jean Hagen in the crucial dubbing scene, who in fact had a very pleasant voice. In the decisive vocal scene with the song “Would You”, however, they did not trust both of them to do the vocal part, but left it to the singer Betty Noyes , as with “You are my lucky star” . So Debbie Reynolds had three votes in this film. Her original vocal part can be heard on “Good morning” and the solo “You are my lucky Star” (on the DVD Special Edition).

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
IMDb

“Perhaps you can imagine what it would be like: you love Mozart's music, you have tickets for a concert, you go in, everything is as it always is, only that it is just a Mozart himself conducting. How that would be, is this film "

- Helmut Färber

“The principle of the film is actually to demonstrate errors in the development of the musical and to expose the means of creating illusions - but each time for a higher level of transfiguration: [...] When Don leads Kathy into the studio for his declaration of love and uses all the devices , they become perfect picture components before our eyes: spotlights, wind machine, repro canvas not only beautify the romantic scene and Kathy's face, but also themselves. "

- Helmut Merker, 1995

“It is surprising how many of the songs - mainly showstoppers according to their conception  - fit in organically into the narration. It almost seems as if the songs only slow down the course of the plot in order to give the viewer a deeper look at the inner soul state of the singing and dancing character during the song. "

- Britta Heiligenthal, 2009

"With loving irony, musical and dance verve, playful temperament and technical perfection, Kelly and Donen turned a piece of film history into an absolute highlight of the 'golden era' of film musicals, in which all elements harmonize with one another."

Awards

Oscar

In 1953 the film was nominated for an Oscar in two categories :

Mention in leaderboards

The film was featured in the American Film Institute's leaderboards several times :

  • 1998: 10th place of the 100 best films of all time (2007: 5th place)
  • # 16 of the 100 best movie comedies of all time
  • 16th place of the 100 best love films of all time
  • The song Singin 'in the Rain reached number 3 of the 100 best movie songs of all time, and number 49 went to Make'em Laugh
  • Number 1 of the 25 most important musical films of all time

The film was one of the first to be inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989 . In 2012, it was voted 20th among the best films of all time in a survey of filmmakers and critics by the film magazine Sight & Sound .

DVD release

The film was released on Warner Home Video under the title Singin 'in the Rain on January 26, 2000 (98 minutes), November 21, 2002 (Special Edition, 98 minutes), February 5, 2010 (98 minutes), August 24 2012 (99 minutes - also as Blu-ray, 103 minutes). In addition, in 2010 the Edición Especial Coleccionistas de Cine released a DVD collection with 20 musicals (2,144 minutes) under the title “Grandes Musicales De la Historia del Cine”, including You should be my lucky star .

Documentary film

  • Singin 'in the Rain - The most beautiful Hollywood musicals (Original title: Musicals Great Musicals - The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM ). American-British-French-Japanese documentary by David Thompson (1996). Color + b / w, 86 minutes [included on the Singin'-in-the-Rain -Special-Edition-DVD]

literature

  • Hey M. [Helmut Merker]: Singin 'in the Rain / You should be my lucky star . In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Classic films. Descriptions and Comments. With the assistance of Kerstin-Luise Neumann. 4 vol. Reclam, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-030011-8 , vol. 2, pp. 134-138 [with references].
  • Britta Heiligenthal: You should be my lucky star . In: Peter Moormann (Hrsg.): Classics of the film music. Reclam, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-018621-3 , pp. 110-112 [with references].

Web links

Commons : Singin 'in the Rain  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for you should be my lucky star . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2015 (PDF; test number: 38 603 V).
  2. AFI's 100 Years… 100 songs. (PDF; 134 kB) In: afi.com. American Film Institute (AFI), June 22, 2005, accessed August 28, 2015 .
  3. You shall be my lucky star (1952) in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ; Retrieved October 16, 2008
  4. Singin 'in the Rain / You should be my lucky star at oppisworld.de. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  5. a b You should be my lucky star at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
  6. You shall be my lucky star in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. Quoted from: He. M. [Helmut Merker]: Singin 'in the Rain / You should be my lucky star . In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Classic films. Descriptions and Comments. With the collaboration of Kerstin-Luise Neumann. 4 vol. Reclam, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-030011-8 , vol. 2, pp. 134-138, here 138.
  8. Hey. M. [Helmut Merker]: Singin 'in the Rain / You should be my lucky star . In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Classic films. Descriptions and Comments. With the assistance of Kerstin-Luise Neumann. 4 vols. Reclam, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-030011-8 , vol. 2, pp. 134-138, here 136.
  9. Britta Heiligenthal: You should be my lucky star . In: Peter Moormann (Hrsg.): Classics of the film music. Reclam, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-018621-3 , pp. 110-112, here 111.
  10. You should be my lucky star. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 5, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  11. ^ The 50 Greatest Films of All Time | Sight & Sound. Retrieved February 24, 2019 .