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When a romantic comedy has a star of Kelly's magnitude, it needs someone equally talented and charismatic to play opposite them. Debbie Reynolds was more than up to the task. Her performance as Kathy is sly, witty, charming, and surprisingly sexy. I've only seen Reynolds in films from the last 20-30 years and was caught off guard by how beautiful she was as a young woman. And, considering she wasn't a trained dancer before being cast in the role, I thought she handled all the musical numbers exceptionally well. In fact, while watching her perform, I assumed she did have a background in dance - it wasn't until researching for this review that I found out otherwise. Reynolds faltered, just a little bit, with some of the more dramatic moments, but never to the point of taking me out of the film. All in all, she turned in a wonderful performance.

The majority of the conflict in Singin' in the Rain comes directly from Lina Lamont, played wonderfully by Jean Hagen. Lina hates Kathy, especially when she finds out Kathy can sing, dance, AND Don is romantically interested in her, so Lina gets her fired. In addition to that, Lina's terribly grating voice - which obviously isn't an issue when they're making silent pictures - is hard to overcome when the studio decides to start making talkies. Don, Cosmo, and Kathy come up with an ingenious plan to overcome that obstacle, but it isn't long before Lina begins to exploit the situation. Hagen is the perfect foil in a film like this. She's devious and scheming, but not an awful person or anything. She does underhanded things, but doesn't stoop to anything too evil. Hagen is very attractive and you can imagine her being a star in the 20s with very little difficulty. Lina's speaking voice is a greatly exaggerated New York accent and is very funny when it's first revealed. Hagen is the only main character without a musical number, but she still shows off considerable talents as a comic actress. Her reactions and timing are first rate and she has more than enough personality to hold her own.

The last main cast member, Donald O'Connor, may have been my favorite of the film. Cosmo, as the best friend/comic relief character, could have just been a stock caricature, but instead is a blast to watch and shines in his solo number and alongside Kelly and Reynolds in several songs. O'Connor hit all sorts of comedy bases - like facial contortions, slapstick, and witty repartee - and hit them all very well, all while singing, dancing, and playing the piano! Whenever he was on screen, I felt my gaze pulled in his direction.

His showcase moment came when Cosmo performed "Make 'Em Laugh." It's an impressive routine of physical comedy mixed with singing and dancing. While slapstick comedy isn't normally my cup of tea, I thought it worked very well here. I wasn't laughing out loud, but it was amusing and, more importantly, I was taken aback by how gifted O'Connor was from a dancing perspective. It's all the more impressive when you consider that O'Connor had a heavy smoking habit - he went through up to four packs per day! - and could barely breathe after each take. The performance impressed a lot of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, too, as they awarded O'Connor the Best Supporting Actor prize at that year's Golden Globes. Surprisingly, this would be one of Singin' in the Rain's very, very few major wins in the 1952/1953 award season.

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