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September 1994

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Subject:
From:
Donald Larsson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 2 Sep 1994 12:36:12 -0600
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Kelley writes:
"Wollen goes on to say, "It remains an endearing irony that, in reality,
if I can so use the phrase, Debbie Reynolds's singing voice in the film
was in fact dubbed by Jean Hagen, so that what we see and hear is the
unveiling of a mystery which subverts its own appearance of
authenticity."  (p. 56, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, London: BFI, 1992).
 
So there you have it."
 
But according to the commentator on the laserdisc edition, it was a different
actress who sang REeynolds' songs, but Hagen did dub the words "Our love
will last until the stars fall from the sky" at the end of the "Dancing
Cavalier".
 
Contra Wollen, I'd suggest that what we see and hear is precisely the
VEILING of a mystery and that nothing is subverted (or darn little, anyway).
 
The film in fact is a nearly non-stop gloss on the myth of the Roaring
Twenties and the silent films which evokes simultaneously nostalgia and
contempt for its targets, all the better to reinforce 50s ideological
agendas.
 
(But I do enjoy it tremendously, too!)
 
--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN

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