The Artist and Singin in the Rain

The Artist and Singin’ in the Rain both deal with a very important time in film history- the transition of silent films into talkies. The Artist tells that story essentially as a silent film while Singin’ in the Rain is a musical. One film came out in 2011, while the other film came out in 1952, but the subject at hand is very universal.
The main protagonists of both films are both very similar. Jean Dujardin, a French actor, plays George Valentin, the Douglas Fairbanks–esque action actor who is a man’s man and ladies love him. He is tall, handsome, with a killer smile, and is at the top of his career. Gene Kelly, an American actor, whom Jean Dujardin oddly resembles, plays a very similar character in Singin in the Rain. Don Lockwood, Gene Kelly’s character in Singin in the Rain is another Douglas Fairbanks-esque action actor. Men want to be him and women want to make love to him. Both protagonists made their careers in silent films and have risen to the top. When the talkies, arrive, they each have their own reaction. Don Lockwood, the audience don’t get a clear reaction but there is a scene that he taking voice lessons. George Valentin is one of many actors who believed that this phenomena is just a fad and will die, but he is proven wrong.
The musical plays a role in both The Artist and Singin in the Rain, even though Singin in the Rain is a musical. While watching both films, in order for our hero to conquer their obstacles, which are the talkies, they are both able to overcome it by making a musical. So Singin in the Rain is a musical within a musical. Don Lockwood is able to save his first talkie, after a disastrous preview, into a musical, with the help of Cosmo and Cathy secretly dubbing for Nina. Since Don Lockwood is played by that charismatic hoofer Gene Kelly, the man can obviously sing and dance!
In The Artist, from the beginning the audience knows that George Valentin is not only an action man, but he can dance. Peppy knows this and the only way to save him from complete oblivion and into that deep dark hole of depression and suicidal thoughts, is to make a musical around him. He may not believe in talkies, but a musical is that last stretch of hope. Jean Dujardin can be Gene Kelly’s stunt double, they resemble so much. The man has some moves and that’s from taking tap dance lessons which he is able to pull off in the finale. Now, I don’t know about singing, but look at Maurice Chevalier. He is French and he can sing and dance, all with an accent.
Both films tell a very important time of cinema when silent films and the actors who have built an amazing career in silent films, come across the transition into talkies. A lot of actors have lost their careers in just a split second and never recover from it which is a heartbreaking fact. Each film have their own way of dealing with the transition, but at the end, it’s the musicals that save the day and the careers of our heroes, along with the help of their female partner who will stay with them thick and thin.