I don't know if I would go #1, but it certainly deserves to be in the top 10. Yes, Danny Kaye was absolutely hilarious, and the script was awesome. I have watched it over and over again throughout my life. It is a fine example of comedy at it's best.
SLIH is a good movie. It is decently funny, but not riotously on a constant basis (and like CJ, also has a “long” slow start, complete with killings).
Maybe back when it was made it was cutting edge funny, but for someone of my age group, already jaded by mobster movies and shows with cross dressing in them, it just didn't work. I guess the gag of men dressing as women had already been worn out on me, and I just didn't really see the humor in it.
I love the jokes and the put-ons in SITR. My God, I can’t believe Lina Lamont doesn’t have a whole line of promotionals and never has. Talk about quotable! “I make more money than...than Calvin Coolidge! Put togither!”
I have actually yet to see "singing in the rain." I have always intended to see it, but I just haven't so far.
I decided some 15 years ago or so that SITR is my #1 movie, period. It has everything perfect, but perhaps no “drama”.
It’s short and sweet (1-1/2 hrs), to the point, hilarious, and wonderful in songs and dance.
There is physical humor but LOTS of quotable humor due to Lina Lamont, and at her expense. “What am I, dumb er sumthin?” (yes). That voice!
OK, I’ll stop trying to sell it. It’s usually rated #1 musical for good reason. It was not a broadway adaption, either. Some may find the “ballet” dull but I think it’s entertaining, and MUCH better (and shorter - again, key) than Kelly’s overrated “ballet” in his American in Paris the year prior.