All I Do Is Dream of You the Whole Night Through.

I. All I Do Is Dream of You the Whole Night Through

This number was one of my favourite scenes in the movie. Not only because it was entertaining, but also because it made a significant difference to the relationship between Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). Before this number came up, Kathy was practically “making fun” of Don Lockwood – emphasizing how she doesn’t know who he is, how she doesn’t read the magazines or know of the movie stars that everyone else was crazy about. Don felt somewhat insulted by this and his ego was somewhat shattered as well. The entire scene of the both of them in the car made Don rather unhappy and he wasn’t very fond of Kathy at that point. When this number came up, the roles were switched. Kathy was the one being “made fun of” and Don was simply “enjoying the moment”. The very first thing that happened was Kathy bursting out of the cake dressed in all pink; the dance and lyrics were childish in an entertaining way; and only a few moments before this scene, Kathy was talking about doing plays of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet… and there she was dressed in all baby pink doing a cute dance for the movie stars and producers in the room. I personally think this made a significant difference in the movie because it broke that “wall of egos” between Don and Kathy and surely enough, Don and Kathy’s relationship changed completely after this scene. They started conversing without any form of insult and everything only got better after that.

II. Good Mornin’

“Good mornin’, good moooornin”… one of the most used phrases in the English language; and also one of the defining numbers in Singin’ In The Rain. Before Good Mornin’, Don had just witnessed his stardom and his hardwork all come crashing down as his primiere of The Duelling Cavalier was a hit – to rock bottom. Don felt that his career was about to fail because of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). But, out of the blue, somebody came up with a brilliant idea of making The Duelling Cavalier a musical (Kathy of course). And suddenly, Don had hope. He saw the light at the end of the tunnel; he saw hope. The phrase “good morning” itself signifies a new day; and a new day signifies hope – hope for a better change, hope for a fresh start; and this was significantly related to Don’s situation.

When the band began to play
the stars were shinin’ bright.
Now the milkman’s on his way,
it’s too late to say goodnight.

So, good mornin’, good mornin’!
Sunbeams will soon smile through,
good mornin’, good mornin’, to you, and you, and you, and you!

Besides that, the lyrics is also largely related to “having hope”. ‘Now the milkman’s on his way, it’s too late to say goodnight’… in my opinion, that particular part of the lyrics was saying that there’s no use crying over spilt milk. The primiere of The Duelling Cavalier was a disaster, but it wouldn’t help at all if Don had continued sulking about it; he would’ve been better off trying to solve the problem instead of sulking about it. ‘So good mornin’, good mornin’ sunbeams will soon smile through’… this, to me, signified that everything was going to be okay again – that Kathy’s idea of turning The Duelling Cavalier into a musical was going to work. The dance choreography of this number was also very cheerful and full of hope & joy.

III. Singing In The Rain

Similar to ‘All I Do Is Dream of You the Whole Night through’, this song also made a significant difference to the relationship between Don and Kathy – only this was the “making point” (the antonym of breaking point) of their relationship. Everyone already knew that Don and Kathy were going to fall in love, but this entire scene including the scene before the number came in confirmed our expectations. In my opinion, this number was needed also for the “hope” factor. This entire scene was cheerful in a romantic way – it made everything seem perfect and in order, as if nothing could go wrong now that Don has Kathy. It was very much needed in the movie because of the audience’s aestethics. Throughout most of the movie, we felt that Don deserved a lot better  but isn’t getting any better because of Lina Lamont. Somewhere inside our minds we were thinking “get rid of Lina already!”. This scene in my opinion satisfied our “internal desire” for things to work out well for once. It made us feel content and satisfied – knowing that everything was working out well, finally. The tap dancing, the little moment with the cop, Don giving his coat away and then cheerfully walks on by… everything about the number were signs of joy and content; and I feel that this was very much needed at that point in the movie after all the trouble Lina had caused.