Often refered to as the greatest musical of all time, Singin in the Rain centers around silent actor Don Lockwood.
Don barely tolerates his hilariously vapid leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who is convinced their screen romance is real. After the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, proves to be a smash hit, Don's studio decides to convert the current Lockwood/Lamont vehicle, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties (most if not all taken from real life), not least of which is Lina's comical voice. In fact, her ridiculously awful voice becomes the driving force behind the plot.
After a disastrous test screening, Don's best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), comes up with the idea to overdub Lina's voice and they convince studio head R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) to turn The Dueling Cavalier into The Dancing Cavalier, a musical comedy. Meanwhile, Don falls in love with aspiring actress and overdub artist Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). Furious, Lina does everything possible to sabotage the romance.
----------
All information reproduced from Wikipedia (
Singin the Rain) under the GNU Free Documentation License.