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Singin' in the Rain:
sequence reversal
It is unclear what this reversal indicates, apart from providing a symmetry that does have a formal logic peculiar to itself. However it also suggests a transference of the thematic concerns of the sequence onto Kathy, so that in remaining within this new world the ambiguities and physicality of this world have been displaced (and condensed) onto the figure of the woman. This is, clearly, a very traditional trope, but does help account for the role of Lina, and more significantly the unnamed character played by Cyd Charisse, whose role in the film otherwise appears difficult to understand.
Another, and rather idiosyncratic possibility, is that Don's movement up the ladder is a unification of the two central terms of the film's cinematic argument, that the cinema is to be a dancing and singing cinema, and in this manner the ladder not only represents that which divides the couple, but also becomes the vehicle to indicate a distinction between voice and dance.
The narrative symmetry that is produced via the reversal of terms is the same as operates between the opening and closing premiere's within the film, and of course is also the narrative reversal identified and described by Greimas.
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