Directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is among the most celebrated musical comedies of all time. Starring Kelly himself, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, it presents a light-hearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to “talkies”. Most of the soundtrack consists of songs with music by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Arthur Freed, who also produced the film. However, these songs were not composed especially for Singin’ in the Rain, but had been originally used in various late 1920s and early 1930s movies. Drawing on Freed and Brown’s output from that period, the music provides a vivid portrait of what popular songs were like when sound came to motion pictures.