Singin' in the Rain (NR, 1952)

Silent movie star Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is paired on screen with the ultra-annoying Lina Lamont (Jean Hagan), who would like to be paired with him off screen as well. Sparks fly when Don encounters actress Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds), which makes Lina jealous. When the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, becomes a hit, the stars of the latest Lockwood/Lamont movie, The Dueling Cavalier, are coached in vocal technique in an attempt at a talkie, but the results are disastrous. Meanwhile, Don and Kathy have fallen in love. After an all-night brainstorming session, Don, Kathy, and Don's best friend, Cosmo (Donald O'Connor), decide to turn the production into a musical, dubbing Kathy's voice for Lina's. However, it's not long before Lina and Kathy are put on the spot and have to face the music.

This is often considered the finest musical of all time. Certainly it has it all: classic musical numbers and a witty script that's unusually sharp and satiric for a musical comedy, especially one making fun of the industry that produced it. Asked to name the top ten moments in the history of movies, most people would include the title number from this movie, in which Gene Kelly splashes and sings in the rain a "glorious feeling" that's contagious.

Only in a movie containing that sequence would Donald O'Connor's sensational "Make 'Em Laugh" number be mentioned second. It is a wildly funny pastiche of every possible slapstick gag, done with energy and skill so meticulous that it appears entirely spontaneous.