Wrap Shot Singin' in the Rain (1952) Gene Kelly croons directly into the lens of a Technicolor three-strip camera while performing in the classic musical comedy Singin' in the Rain, co-directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen and photographed by Harold Rosson, ASC. The picture depicts Hollywood's rocky transition from the Silent Era to " talkies, " with silver-screen stars - played by Kelly, Jean Hagen and Debbie Reynolds - struggling through the making of their first sound picture. Behind the three-strip camera is operator John M. Nickolaus Jr., who would later become a cinematographer himself, primarily working in television on shows that included Perry Mason, The Waltons and Room 222. Nickolaus was invited to join the ASC in 1966. Rosson's other Technicolor credits include The Wizard of Oz (1939); Duel in the Sun (1946); and On the Town (1949), another musical directed by Kelly and Donen. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected Singin' in the Rain for preservation in the National Film Registry. The picture has been described as " the pinnacle of the Technicolor musical and the finest example of Hollywood cinema as pure showmanship. " - David E. Williams 72 / FEBRUARY 2023