If you’ve ever wondered what the title number from the classic movie Singin’ in the Rain would look like without the music, click above. Removing the music allows you to appreciate Gene Kelly’s phenomenal, loose-limbed dancing all the better — though does it have to have all the heightened sound effects?
If, for some strange reason, you don’t remember what the original number looks like — who knows why that would ever be the case! — but you’d like a refresher, here it is.
Singin’ in the Rain was released in 1952, and quickly became an all-time movie musical classic. The glorious dance sequence you just watched continues to fascinate movie historians because of the level of talent it demanded from not only Kelly, but from those behind the camera, as well.
Though MGM, the studio that made the film, had a different cinematographer in mind, Kelly and director Stanley Donen tapped Harold Rosson, whom they had worked with on On the Town, to shoot the film. This proved to be a good decision since Rosson’s work is almost as memorable as Kelly’s shuffling, as TCM notes. Particularly noteworthy is his decision to backlight the dance sequence and mix the rain water with milk to ensure that the raindrops showed up on camera. It creates a sequence that fairly glows — appropriate for a man in love.
