The two films shown by TCM tonight in prime time happen to be films I showcase when teaching early film history at Rowan University. Even though 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain is a bit too “young” for a class that’s supposed to culminate with 1941’s Citizen Kane, I slip it in there anyway – because we spend so much time on silent films and the transition to sound, the comic treatment of it in Rain is something they newly enjoy in context. Besides, Gene Kelly singing and dancing the title song? What else was the cinema made for?