Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds
One of the best-loved movies in the history of movies is represented by the pictures here… Singin’ in the Rain. While I love the cast, I used to have a problem with the chemistry between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. I’ve always loved both stars to distraction (and back) but the lack of chemistry or spark between them always caused me to enjoy the movie a bit less than most people are able to.
While I still don’t think they had much of a spark, I revisited the iconic movie recently and loved it more than I ever have. There’s absolutely enough spark there to make things work!
I think my problem may have been three-fold:
- I watch a lot (make that A LOT) of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movies… as in over and over… and their chemistry was off the charts.
- One of my favorite musicals is An American in Paris and Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron had TONS of chemistry.
- I frequently watch other Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly films where they have so much rapport with their co-stars – for example, Debbie Reynolds and James Garner sparked so much you could FEEL it (see How Sweet It Is for proof!).
I finally managed to get out of my own way and appreciate this wonderful movie for what it is – a truly iconic, feel-great musical that deserves the fame it enjoys. Sometimes we have to do just that… get out of our own way and allow the magic to come shining through.
When it comes to old Hollywood, it almost always does.
You can find Singin’ in the Rain (Amazon link) on dvd or watch it on Prime Video (link to Amazon’s Prime Video).