One of the greatest tap dance duets ever captured on film. Notice the expressions on Donald O'Connor's face throughout the number. Looks like he was having a blast doing this scene.
Possibly the best number in the whole film. I love watching Gene Kelly dance low into his knees while Donald O'Connor looks like he's springing out of the earth. Thanks for this old favorite!
I can’t freaking imagine how talented these guys have to be to pull off this dance scene where they are basically going almost non stop for 3 minutes. And doing it so flawlessly. And the poor teacher getting an unexpected and a probably annoying show for him 😂
1:51 - see the look on Kelly’s face - he knows they nailed this take and he’s not performing at all anymore - he’s genuinely in love with what he’s doing 👏
This dance number is phenomenal. Adore Donald and Gene's synchronicity showing their differences and they work so well. Love this so much, that we named our new kitten Cosmo. ❤❤❤
At least in one stage production I saw (an excellent high school production my cousin's daughter was in), the elocution teacher (female in this production) was allowed to join in the fun along with Don and Cosmo.
That final "AAAAAAAAAAAAA" at the end absolutely kills me every time. Either older movies understood what made comedy great better than those we're getting now or those working on them understood that our sense of humor would become so broken that it results in us cackling at the most mundane things.
To be real with everyone here, i used to learn my lessons and studies by singing and dancing like that ,and it works SO WELL, whenever I get in class and have the exams I see the questions and remember which song it was about and my brain memory starts singing in my mind the song I used to sing all nights and I even start to dance a little as i would start happily write the answers and I would get high scores… I am so thankful to have used my young self to watch old singing drama movies like these especially as a gen z ❤
They completely confused the poor teacher 😂 Moses supposes his toeses are Roses, But Moses supposes Erroneously, A mose is a mose! A rose is a rose! A toes a toes! Hooptie doodie doodle!
2nd comment says-"Nostalgic when it is like the old times reminds me of Bugs bunny when He is singing...Thanks WB for entertaining me with animation and The Batman movie... Keep it on ! Team up with MCU..." Now Ieave a like below to remind me of nostalgia Times...
My parents both really appreciated this film in particular out of those they had seen from that era, often considering it a personal favorite along with _Mary Poppins_ (at least for my mother). I’m a young man not far into collegiate studies, and I have to agree, one large part of it coming from Gene Kelley’s dancing abilities. He brings a powerful masculine sensibility into the art that I can almost never find in modern dancing (and also something he was rather passionate about during his life), and I think that aspect makes it timeless for me. I will admit that I have seen few of his roles (the one other feature-length one might be a viewing of _An American in Paris_ with questionable audio quality/volume during a flight), so I have no right to say whether this was one of his best numbers, but I am a fan of it. Needless to say, Kelley is a bit of a role model of mine, insofar that if I were ever to develop the physical coordination to dance well (something unlikely to occur if I began at my age, though it is a skill I no doubt ought to have), I would want to credit him to a fair part of it. He is one of the few dancers that would make me want to take it up. No doubt, Donald O’Connor was an excellent dancer in his own right if he was able to be up there with Kelley, and his “Make ‘Em Laugh” will always be an utter riot, but I know next to nothing about the man and can’t give as through an assessment.
You know Gene & Donald did this in one take? This was when Hollywood had true talent 👏 in it. They didn't have all the cgi and extra stuff they have now. Nope they did this in one flat out take the two best tap dancers in the world playing off of each other.
This scene shows exactly why Donald was in the film. There were and are very few dancers who could keep up with Gene. Donald could and it shows in this number. It was essential that a top class dancer was chosen . In Anchors Aweigh Frank Sinatra danced with Gene. Gene had to teach him everything. The bed scene, where they jump in time down the row of beds in the dorm, was shot about 82 times as Frank could not get it right. If you watch the film he just about makes it. Thus chosing Donald for this film. It had to be perfect. And it is!
While I do think that in musicals, the songs should help develop either the characters or the story, I do kind of miss when musicals would have numbers that were literally just “look what our performers can do!”
Bobby Watson probably went home each day and said to his wife, "Yeah, I'm still doing that number with Gene and Donald. Yeah, Gene says I'm doing perfectI"
