The Gene Kelly Collection - Gene Kelly [DVD]

Collection of four musicals starring Gene Kelly. In 'Singin' in the Rain' (1952), set in 1927, Don Lockwood (Kelly) has worked his way up from being a song-and-dance man with partner Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) to become a top movie star. His on-screen partner, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who believes that Don loves her for real, needs to have her awful singing voice dubbed with the arrival of talkies. The girl selected is 'serious' actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), for whom Don soon falls. Musical numbers include the famous title song, as well as 'Make 'Em Laugh', 'Good Morning' and 'You Were Meant for Me'. 'An American in Paris' (1951) follows American G.I. Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) who has remained in Paris after the war to become a painter. There he falls in love with Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron), only to discover that she is engaged to his friend, Henri Baurel (Georges Guetary). With music and songs by George and Ira Gershwin, including 'I Got Rhythm' and 'Embraceable You', the film went on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In 'Anchors Aweigh' (1945) Kelly and Frank Sinatra star as two sailors looking for female companionship while on a four-day pass in Los Angeles. They meet a Hollywood extra (Kathryn Grayson) and try to help her realise her dream of being a star. The film features a famous sequence where Kelly dances with Jerry, the cartoon mouse of 'Tom and Jerry' fame. In 'On the Town' (1949) three sailors (Kelly, Sinatra and Jules Munshin) hit New York City for a 24-hour shore leave. The first order of business is to find some women to spend it with and the boys hook up with Ivy (Vera-Ellen), an aspiring dancer, Hildy (Betty Garrett), a lady cab-driver, and Claire (Ann Miller), a paleontology student, causing mayhem across Manhattan. This was the first musical to make extensive use of location shooting rather than studio bound sets and includes the song-and-dance numbers 'New York, New York' and 'Miss Turnstiles Ballet'.