S2 E3: What can Singin’ in the Rain (1952) tell us about the switch from silent to sound cinema?
For many, the 1950s represents the Golden Age of Hollywood. It might seem surprising, therefore, that a film synonymous with that era would itself be looking back to another Golden Age, one 25 years earlier, that of the birth of the talking picture. That film is Singin’ the Rain, the 1952 masterpiece co-directed, choreographed and starring Gene Kelly. And this episode’s question, featuring cinema historian Dr Sam Manning, is what can Singin’ in the Rain tell us about 1920s cinema, specifically about the switch from silent to sound.