O Amor Nunca Morre

I was just a young girl when I saw this movie for the first time. It was so moving and so sad that I never forgot it. The acting may seem alittle corny in this day and age but the story is wonderful, and the cast was excellent. I lost count how many times I've watched it over the years, I finally own a copy of it although its on VHS it's nice to know I can watch it again whenever I want. Would be nice if it was released on DVD. This is also one of my favorite Van Johnson movies. If I could compare it to a modern day movie that would be "Message in a Bottle" with Kevin Costner. Although it didn't have a miraculous ending it was a story of finding love and losing it so suddenly. If you like tear-jerkers both of these movies would fit the bill.

"Miracle in the Rain" is the sort of movie that would make a stone cry. It's also the sort of movie that's unlikely to see the light of day again: a middle-aged, virgin heroine; a squeaky-clean, hands-off hero who woos with the line, "I'll love you till the cows come home all over the world," then goes off to fight a war with just one chaste kiss; unabashed appeals to sentimentalism and invocations of the most literal, unreconstructed religion...it's a movie that sets out to bring out the handkerchiefs and makes no apologies for it. I can't decide whether it's a movie to lift the spirit (because its final message is one of hope) or whether it's so unrealistic that it's a downer, because today's equivalent of the heroine is likely to say, "Yeah, I really would need a miracle to find a man like that. I might as well pack it in!" If you're the type that can smile at corn instead of sneering at it, see this movie. It's as sweet and tender a confection as Hollywood ever produced.

I cannot say enough nice things about this movie, but rather than write about the movie, I will write about my brief meeting with Van Johnson.

Back in 1988, I met Van Johnnson by accident in a restaurant in NYC. I don't know what made me go up to him, but I introduced myself and began a conversation with him.

While Van could have sent me away, he interrupted his meal and told me to sit down. I told him how much I enjoyed the movie and that it was my favorite. He was flattered that someone as young as me liked the movie and also confided that it was his favorite movie as well, going as far to show me the coin from that movie that he continues to wear around his neck. We both left the restaurant at the same time, shook hands and he said it was a pleasure speaking with me.

It was a very special moment for me. The warm and sensitive person he portrays in Miracle in the Rain is an understatement. Van Johnson is more wonderful in person.

Miracle in the Rain has just been screened here in the UK and I am so pleased that I recorded it as I intend to keep it along with my growing collection of classic movies from the forties and fifties and watch it again and again.

The performances of Jane Wyman and Van Johnson were very moving and the ending was magical and moved me to tears!

Reminiscent of the wonderful "The Clock" (see reviews), this wartime romance was made eleven years after the was over, somewhat oddly to me. But, based upon the ending, there was absolutely no way it could have been made during the war. The reasons should be obvious.

Van Johnson is his usual charming self and Wyman rather diffident at first. But they fall deeply in love, and spend much time on their plans for the future when he returns from overseas - and how poignant that turned out to be.

It is no spoiler to say that Wyman's character is completely distraught towards the end of the movie, and the "miracle", on the steps of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, does give her some hope. But it remains the saddest movie I had seen since "Waterloo Bridge" (see reviews). But such was life after a World War and hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.

Don't forget this was written (and very well) by the famous journalist, writer, and screenwriter, Ben Hecht, who first gave us "The Front Page".

If you don't mind using your hankie, watch "Miracle in the Rain". It's a wonderful movie.