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 Don, outside the cinema prior to the premiere of "The Royal Rascal", tells us his history. This sequence establishes a relation between word and image where image is privileged, and so is the first point in the film where speaking (as opposed to singing) is not a sufficient condition.
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 The placement of the star in front of the microphone is repeated at the premiere of "The Dancing Cavalier" where Lina is now speaking to the assembled fans. Here comment is passed on her voice, which again is 'insufficient' so she is required to sing to authenticate herself.
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This shot, of curtains closing, is from the premiere of "The Royal Rascal". What is emphasised here is the closing of the curtains, a concealing of the cinema screen behind, and this allows Don and Lina to appear before their fans.
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At the end of Singin' in the Rain the curtains close again, in a shot that clearly mirrors the film's opening. However the screen is now white, not black (it is, after all, the screen that has just presented Don's first musical), but even more importantly these curtains will be opened again.
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Don and Lina receive the applause of their fans, with Don pointedly making an obsequious speech that probably is best described as "dumb show". At this point Lina still has not spoken in the film, and the couple appear before the closed curtain of the stage. |
By film's end Lina, who now has the microphone, will find that voice alone is not sufficient. For just as she is required to sing to prove her legitimacy, so the opening of the curtains will reveal the true. The opening operates as a revealing that simultaneously requires the presence of the cinema screen (it is played out against the screen), as well as the audience who are invested with the authority to judge.
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