Gene Kelly’s dancing is how normal people would move if normal people had an ideal combination of style, grace, strength, and self-assurance.
His Singin In The Rain is him alone on a movie set, and one awash with rain at that.
Nowhere to hide, and no-one else to detract the focus from him alone.
And yet, in a movie which is a series of stand-out set pieces linked by a self-deprecatingly slight narrative, this two minutes is elevates above the rest and lifts everything else up with it.
Singin’ In The Rain is a perfect movie.
The stars shine.
Gene Kelly, an effortless combination of strength and grace.
Debbie Reynolds, equalling the efforts of her more famous, older and skilled co-stars through talent and tenacity.
Donald O’Connor, embracing the second male lead providing comedic timing and contrasting well with the skills of the iconic Kelly.
But one actor who steals every scene in which she appears is Jean Hagen’s Lina Lamont.
Hagen ties the whole movie together, her over the top persona creating every issue the other characters are confronted with, both personal and professional.
Kelly’s solo song and dance of the title song is the stuff of movie legend; Hagan’s performance is the foundation on which the rest of the movie stands.
Andrew Peterson’s Risen Indeed is not a congregational song.
But it’s the song I’m featuring this resurrection day.
And Father Abraham could not have dreamed of this
Could never understand the end of all those promises
How all the pieces fit, every star and grain of sand
Is safely hid in Jesus’ hand
Let every tongue confess
He is not dead
He is risen, risen
He is not dead
He is risen
Risen indeed
Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 14
Q & A 46
Q What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?
A The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection *1.
Q & A 47
Q How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fulness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with various circumstances of more than ordinary abasement *2.
Q & A 48
Q How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law *3, which he perfectly fulfilled *4; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world *5, temptations of Satan *6, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition *7.
Q & A 49
Q How did Christ humble himself in his death?
A Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been betrayed by Judas *8, forsaken by his disciples *9, scorned and rejected by the world *10, condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors *11; having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and the powers of darkness, felt and borne the weight of God’s wrath *12, he laid down his life an offering for sin *13, enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross *14.
Q & A 50
Q Wherein consisted Christ’s humiliation after his death?
A Christ’s humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried *15, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day *16; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.
*1 Philippians 2:6-8; Luke 1:31; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Acts 2:24.
*2 John 1:14, 18; Galatians 4:4; Luke 2:7.
*3 Galatians 4:4.
*4 Matthew 5:17; Romans 5:19.
*5 Psalm 22:6; Hebrews 12:2-3.
*6 Matthew 4:1-12; Luke 4:13.
*7 Hebrews 2:17-18; Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 52:13-14.
*8 Matthew 27:4.
*9 Matthew 26:56.
*10 Isaiah 53:2-3.
*11 Matthew 27:26-50; John 19:34.
*12 Luke 22:44; Matthew 27:46.
*13 Isaiah 53:10.
*14 Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 12:2; Galatians 3:13.
*15 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
*16 Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:24-27, 31; Romans 6:9; Matthew 12:40.
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