This Feel-Good Musical From 1952 Was Just Named the Greatest Film of All Time
In a newly released list of the top 50 greatest films of all time, one beloved classic took the No. 1 spot: 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain!
The feel-good musical features Hollywood icons Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, and is widely considered one of the best movie musicals ever for it's perfect combination of comedy, romance, and fun choreography. It was directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen.
Related: Which Classic Movie Matches Your Birth Date
The plot follows Kelly and Jean Hagen as silent film stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont while they struggle to transition into "talkies," and as Lockwood falls in love with Reynolds' Kathy Selden. Donald O'Connor is also featured as Cosmo Brown, Lockwood's best friend, and both Cyd Charisse and Rita Moreno make appearances.
The Telegraph's chief film critic Robbie Collin gave Singin' in the Rain his nod for best film of all time due to its dance sequences, which "are beyond comparison with anything else, showing astonishing grace, physicality and comic prowess of the three leads," and its soundtrack, which is "elevated to... legendary status."
Collin describes the film as "a dream ballet," writing that "watching Singin' in the Rain is as close as most of us will come to experiencing one of our own."
Critics and audiences alike have maintained their love of Singin' in the Rain through the decades, with a perfect 100% critics' score on film review site Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of about 95%. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert called it a "transcendent experience," and this is far from the first time it's made a "greatest films" list.
Reynolds, who was just a teenager when they started rehearsing for a film and later called it one of the hardest things she's ever done, opened up about the experience to the American Film Institute in 2012. "To dance with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in three months-well, anyone else should've passed out," she said. "But I didn't. I just thought, ‘well, let's get started.'"
The Hollywood legend died at age 84 on Dec. 28, 2016, predeceased by her costar Kelly, who died at age 83 on Feb. 2, 1996.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 12:47 PM.