Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303102467
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6303102468
Label: 20th Century Fox
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Running Time: 103
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1939-09-15

A trio of great performances and Academy Award-winning special effects recommend this saga of sin, scandal, and redemption based on Louis Bromfield's novel. George Brent stars as Tom Ransome, the reputation-tarnished son of an English earl who has found refuge from the world's ills in Ranchupur, India. Myrna Loy, cast against type, costars as his former lover, now the Lady Edwina Esketh, whose elderly husband (Nigel "Dr. Watson" Bruce) is more interested in the Maharaja's horses and money than her. "Dying of galloping boredom," she sets her sights on Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power), a dedicated and selfless doctor, but nature calls with a devastating earthquake and flood that will open her jaded eyes. Drenched with atmosphere, The Rains Came further benefits from such venerable character actors as Maria Ouspenskaya (The Wolf Man) as the Maharani, Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath) as Tom's missionary aunt, and Henry Travers (Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life) as his uncle. The Rains Came was released in 1939, considered by some to be the movies' best-ever year. While it is not in the same class as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or Stagecoach, this is a stellar example of old-school Hollywood. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Rating:
Summary: Suffers from Miscasting & a Muddled Plot
Comment: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

Although I'd heard a lot about it, I had never seen THE RAINS CAME (1939) before watching it on DVD.

Directed by Clarence Brown from Philip Dunne and Julien Josephson's adaptation of the best-selling Louis Bromfield novel, the picture won an Oscar for its Special Effects in a spectacular earthquake/flood sequence that is still the equal of anything on the screen today.

On the other hand, the film's plot is a bit muddled and, frankly, I think that two of the key players were miscast.

The main problem is that we're never really sure who this story is about. Is the central character George Brent, a hard-drinking artist who has come to India to escape the more modern world, or is it Myrna Loy, the promiscuous wife of a British Lord (Nigel Bruce)?

Because of this lack of focus, the story often wanders.

Ms. Loy is in India on a business trip with her husband when she falls for Indian doctor Tyrone Power. After the disastrous earthquake and flood strike, Loy and Brent turn their lives around to help the disaster victims.

The roles played by both Loy and Brent could have been better cast. She is not convincing as a tramp, and, though pleasant, he has never been the screen's most interesting actor. Lana Turner and Fred MacMurray, who did the roles in the 1955 remake, were much more convincing.

© Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

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Customer Rating:
Summary: a good disaster movie (& the disaster isnamed tyrone)
Comment: yet another fine movie that stops just short of greatness because of the miscasting of tyrone power, herein cast as an indian physician (and presumptive heir to a royal seat of power) caught up in a taboo love affair with an english woman of questionable morality (the always terrific myrna loy), against a flood-wracked and pestilence-ridden land. as usual in this type of movie, there are scads of good supporting performances, most notably that of maria ouspenskaya (no werewolves, sorry). it holds up well against the other disaster flicks of the mid & late 30s, but power stops it from being a classic movie.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great spectacle, weak drama
Comment: The Rains Came is one of the less successful examples of the genius of the studio system. Part of the 30s vogue for disaster movies (San Francisco, In Old Chicago), the violence of the spectacle is truly impressive when the earthquakes and floods hit at the halfway point, but the human drama is less engaging, partially due to a plethora of weak characters that it's hard to care about in too many tired scenes that don't catch fire. Too much of the film is carried by George Brent's dissolute ex-pat fending off Brenda Joyce's advances, while an uflatteringly shot Myrna Loy is too self-centered to care for. Tyrone Power's noble Indian doctor almost seems an afterthought, getting surprisingly little screentime (presumably in case he kisses a white woman and gives the censors a coronary), although there is some novelty value in Nigel Bruce playing Loy's genuinely unpleasant husband (a match almost as unlikely as H.B. Warner and Maria Ouspenskaya's Maharajah and Maharani).

This is extras-lite for a Fox Classics release - an enjoyable audio commentary, poor reissue trailer (that almost completely ignores the spectacle) and brief stills gallery.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sentimental - But that's really about all there is here
Comment:
If you like watching a clever woman (the character of Lady Esketh) who has a self-pitying martyr complex, you may like this movie. For the most part 'The Rains Came' is just a sentimental dreary film.

I was truly hoping for something better here! But nevertheless judge for yourself - you may find something really worth while about the movie.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Proper Disaster Drama with Cultural Oddities and a Love Story...
Comment: The Rains Came was released the same year Gone with the Wind (1939) brought a storm of viewers to the silver screen. Unlike Gone with the Wind, which received a legendary status in the cinema history, The Rains Came only made an impact in the special effects department. The special effects are rather amazing, even today many viewers will drop their jaws, as they ponder the age of the film and the fantastic catastrophe sequence in the film's midpoint. However, the film presents an experience that parallels the cheap thrills of melodramatic afternoon TV drama of longing homemakers and bored college students.

The film follows a traditional Hollywood concept of star-loaded talent attracting a large audience, which is blatantly obvious in the film. Tyrone Power, as the Indian medical doctor Major Rama Safti, will have the women of the 1940s having their knees give away. A lively George Brent provides the role of the aging playboy Thomas Ransome seeking seclusion in the Indian province of the story while encountering the love struck 18-year old Fern cast by first time actor and beauty Brenda Joyce. Additional melodrama emerges through the appearance of the infamous Myrna Loy, best remembered for her part in the Thin Man films. Together these four actors provide a solid cast, which is backed up by an equally impressive supporting cast.

The film opens in a sweltering India in 1938 where drought, famine, and sickness trouble the Indian province of Ranchipur. It is midday and people are going about their business while Thomas Ransome sits in the shade of his porch trying to cool down and preoccupy his boredom with a slingshot. An amusing notion is that there are no sweat rings, or other signs of heavy perspiration, besides to the water pearls on the foreheads, which would be normal in heat such as the one in the film. An assumption could be that stars do not perspire heavily, as it would probably lower their star quality. Nonetheless, the beginning of the story discloses that Major Safti and Thomas are good friends, Thomas cannot get out of a garden party, and everyone prays for the rainy season to arrive. The story is told out of Thomas' perspective, but the focus is on the events taking place around him.

At the garden party, Thomas meets the youthful beauty Fern, who requests his help to break the chains of her parents. It puts Thomas in an awkward situation, but he does not really worry about it. Later, he also meets an old friend and confidant, Lady Esketh (Myrna Loy), at Maharajah's palace, and it is here the witch's brew begins to simmer. Lady Esketh first drifts off to some secluded area of the palace with Thomas where something (let your imagination run free) happened, and later falls for Major Safti. This instigates an intriguing triangle drama between Thomas, Lady Esketh, and Lord Esketh (Nigel Bruce), but Lord Esketh doesn't ever suspect Major Safti for anything.

When the emotional witch brew seems to hit its high point the rains begin followed by a severe earthquake. Here the audience gets a chance to experience a magnificent example of the special effects capabilities of the 1940s. However, the emotional turmoil begins to seep away, as a greater problem has emerged that has set all people in danger. There are several other subplots within, but the film only touches on the issues the way a soap opera would. In addition, there are cultural misconceptions within the film, which often have the purpose of glamorizing the actors. Jean Renoir's the River (1951) does a far better job depicting the Indian culture, as he also shot the film on location. Yet, the film tries to be good, and tries to enlighten the audience, but does not achieve the film's full potential. Despite the culturally awkward situations, it is within the effort of trying to teach the audience a valuable lesson where it also puts forth a cinematic experience worthwhile in a Western perspective that will amuse an attentive audience.

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