Which 1952 musical starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds showcases Hollywood's transition to sound?

The 1952 musical starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds that showcases Hollywood’s transition to sound is Singin’ in the Rain. Kelly plays silent-film star Don Lockwood, whose career is threatened when studios begin producing talking pictures and his co-star Lina Lamont has an unsuitable speaking voice.

Directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, the film turns the late-1920s arrival of “talkies” into a comic backstage story. Donald O’Connor plays Don’s friend Cosmo Brown, while Debbie Reynolds portrays Kathy Selden, an aspiring performer whose voice helps solve the studio’s crisis. Jean Hagen’s Lina deliberately embodies the difficulties many silent stars faced when dialogue became central to filmmaking.

The story was built around songs by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, many of which predated the film. The title song itself originated in 1929, before the movie was made. Although Singin’ in the Rain was not initially treated as an obvious masterpiece by MGM, it later became one of cinema’s most celebrated musicals.