The Rains Came

I was eight years old when I saw this movie. It was the first movie I remember seeing. My mother says that initially I refused to go into the movie theater because it was a dark, and to me, forbidding place. Once inside, however, I didn't want to leave. I have never seen the movie since, but the images of flooding and sick people under mosquito nets are as vivid to me as if I had seen it yesterday. I also have memories of being put through an emotional wringer by the film, thinking it was "real" and crying at the death and destruction it portrayed. The total effect was to hook me on movies for good and I could hardly wait to get back into that dark, engrossing place.

Incredible special effects, a solid story, beautiful directing, and marvelous acting are the highlights of "The Rains Came," another movie from that famous year in film-making, 1939. Its stars are Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, and Maria Ouspenskaya. A bored Loy and her disagreeable wealthy older husband, portrayed by Nigel Bruce, are in Ranchipur, India when the rains and an earthquake hit. Loy, whose husband keeps a list of her lovers, once had a fling with Brent. Then she gets a gander at Power who plays Major Rama Safti, a doctor highly regarded by the rulers of Ranchipur. One look at him, and there's no sense in treading over old territory. Despite Power's apparent lack of interest, Loy falls madly in love with him, even volunteering at the hospital after the disaster.

I was completely captivated by this film, particularly in light of the recent Katrina horror. The flooding, the destroyed homes, demonstrated by brilliant special effects, the orphaned children, the need for volunteers, were all too familiar.

Two love stories go on during the rains - one between Brent and the lovely Fern, portrayed by Brenda Joyce, and the other between Power and Loy. Both romances are unbelievably tender - with very little actual physical contact shown.

Loy gives a compelling performance as a haughty, spoiled woman who is suddenly consumed by love. When I read the book, one thing I remember is that the character just screamed Lana Turner and sure enough, she did the role in the remake. But Loy makes it her own. The studios didn't like their leading men to do accents, so Power, in dark makeup as the "Copper Apollo" so described by Loy, has none. He is handsome as ever until one sees him without his turban. Then, in closeup, he describes to Loy how he came to love her, and his face is beyond breathtaking. His monologue is beautifully done, as is his essaying of the character's conflict of love versus responsibility. This is one of his finest performances, and no camera ever loved an actor like it did Tyrone Power. George Brent, usually not commanding enough, does fine under Brown's direction in his role as a man with no purpose in life who finally finds one. Tiny Maria Ouspenskaya gives a strong performance.

The only thing I didn't like was that Loy had to pay for her sins (i.e., slutty behavior) and of course, Brent did not.

Like the rains of Ranchipur, India, "The Rains Came" will sweep the viewer away. Highly recommended.

High gloss drama with first class special effects. In fact the film was the winner of the first Oscar given for special effects. Myrna somewhat surprisingly plays at least in the beginning a selfish slut, a high class slut but a slut nonetheless, redeemed by love and hardship. Tyrone Power although not at all believable as an Indian is capable and sincere and almost supernaturally beautiful. Even the customarily stolid George Brent after some initial stiffness is better and more relaxed than usual. Excellent production values and a first rate supporting cast make this an entertaining winner. Another classy enterprise from that golden year of 1939.

Remade in color, but with a lot of the guts cut out, as the Rains of Ranchipur with Lana Turner and Richard Burton. That version is an okay time filler but this one is superior in every way.

One of the unique things about this film is that for once a British Raj story is told not from a British point of view. It should never be forgotten that John Bromfield was an American. You would never see a character like Nigel Bruce in any British screenplay about the Raj. Of all the supporting players, he comes off best in what has to be the most unusual part in his career. For those used to seeing him as the ineffectual Dr. Watson in those Sherlock Holmes movies, playing the bigoted Lord Esketh is quite a switch.

Not until A Passage to India was filmed in the 80s was the Raj ever shown in a less than perfect light.

Ty Power is his usual noble self, the rest of the cast plays well. Twentieth Century Fox borrowed two big names from other studios, Myrna Loy from MGM and George Brent from Warner Brothers to support Power. Loy is Lady Esketh, a woman of the world, left pretty much to her own devices by her husband, decides Power would be a perfect boy toy for her. The part is a throwback to Loy's earlier days of playing mostly bad girls before The Thin Man.

Brent has a very nice role her as a man who's living a dissolute life himself in India, but really steps to the plate during the time of crisis when the flooding starts.

H.B. Warner and Maria Ouspenskaya play the rulers of Ranchipur, you will not forget Ouspenskaya easily. Nor will you forget first the cultured, than the wailing Joseph Schildkraut as Bannerjee. Today no producer could ever get away with casting all these occidental types as Indians, but they all do a fine job.

In the year of Gone With The Wind and all the Oscars it won, the one for Special Effects went to The Rains Came, beating out Gone With The Wind's burning of Atlanta. Judge for yourself if the Academy voters were right.

There was quite a lot to want to see 'The Rains Came'. Beautiful source material, with Louis Bromfield's source material being a great read. Clarence Brown as director, while he was not a consistent director and not all his films were great or even good at his best he was great. The cast is a very talented one, George Brent has always been one of those take or leave actors for me but Tyrone Power did prove more than once that with the right material he could act and Myrna Loy is always watchable.

While not a great film, and one of those films that may be easy to criticise for some, 'The Rains Came' to me was actually not bad at all and has a lot to recommend. Quite the opposite of bad really in my view, it is easy to see why some may not and do not like 'The Rains Came' but it is just as easy to see why others may like and do like it. It is easy perhaps to see why it is overlooked, considering that it was released in such an iconic year in film history.

It is by no means a perfect film. The story is not always involving, with the Brenda Joyce subplot and role being underdeveloped, at times tedious and at times silly and there are scenes that veer on the overwrought.

A lot of the dialogue is very soapy and talk-heavy and could have gone into a lot more depth and had more nuance. Personally found Power miscast, have made it clear many times about having nothing against him but he looks out of place, is rather bland and a few of his later scenes are overacted.

However, Brent to me was just great and gives one of his best performances. Was not expecting him to be this noble or commanding, things he not always was and he is a good deal more relaxed than usual. Loy is class and sensuality personified, nothing melodramatic or sickly sweet here which were things considering the role she could have been. Her chemistry with Power fares a lot better and is the far more interesting of the subplots. Nigel Bruce has a ball as an unusually repellent character, never did he have a character this loathsome and he relishes it. Maria Ouspenskaya has a brave character worth identifying with and she brings scene stealing dignity to it. Most of the cast are very good actually, only Power to me didn't work.

Clarence Brown's direction didn't bowl me over but enough of it is sensitive and forceful. Alfred Newman's score is beautiful and stirring. 'The Rains Came' is a great looking film, with exotic scenery and quite stunning photography at its best. The best thing about the film is the special effects, which are still astonishing today and unlike anything seen in any film at this point in film history. Flood special effects have possibly never been equalled.

Overall, worth the look but didn't quite come together for me. 6/10