By humility, I don’t mean a kind of groveling I’m-no-good-ness; I mean an un-self-consciousness. For the craft to be perfect, you have to focus on it completely, and I think that the intention to create high art leads to self-consciousness. Did Michelangelo think he was creating high art? Possibly–but fantastically skilled painters were a dime-a-dozen in that time and place. I suspect he simply got on with the commission.

Regarding WB vs MGM: Oh. I think our copy of Singing in the Rain is distributed by Warner Home Video, hence my mistake.

I could make a snide comment about the quality of MGM’s efforts in the cartoon arena, but I won’t.

Gene Kelly was an obsessive craftsman, endlessly working on choreography of both actors and camera.

Chuck Jones was also, though he played that part of his personality down. He once said that the difference between a laugh and silence could be a matter of one frame of film. The Looney Tunes creators did aim for a kind of timelessness, though, they never knew when a particular short would be released, in a few months or a few years.

And, um, MGM was the studio of musicals, including Singin’ in the Rain. Warner was known for gritty urban dramas.

Singin’ is simply more fun to watch. I mean, how much Gershwin can one person stand? And, yes, Leslie Caron is cute, but can’t hold a candle to the adorable (whatever your opinion of her dancing skills) Debbie Reynolds.

O’Connor’s “Make ‘em Laugh” routine was always my favorite, despite (or perhaps because of) its absolute silliness. He looks like he’s having a ball (although, apparently, he had to be hospitalized after Gene Kelly made him do three complete takes in a row). “Fit as a Fiddle” stands out in my mind as well.

The key, I think, is that they made it look easy. And in American they make it too serious–to quote Bugs Bunny from A Hare Grows in Manhattan (during his inimitable rendition of “The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady”), “Look at me, I’m dancin’!” They sure fooled the Academy, who voted it Best Picture over A Place in the Sun and A Streetcar Named Desire.

Even with the sardonic humor of Oscar Levant to lighten things up, but I’ll take Singin’ in the Rain over An American in Paris any day.