The Rains Came (1939)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Philip Dunne (screenplay) and
Julien Josephson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Plot:

An Indian aristocrat Rama Safti returns from medical training in the U.S. to give his life to the poor folk of Ranchipur...

Plot Keywords:

India | Plague | Rain | Disaster | Earthquake

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 31

12:00 AM

TCM

Cast

Myrna Loy	...	Lady Edwina Esketh
Tyrone Power	...	Major Rama Safti
George Brent	...	Tom Ransome
Brenda Joyce	...	Fern Simon
Nigel Bruce	...	Lord Albert Esketh
Maria Ouspenskaya	...	Maharani
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Mr. Bannerjee
Mary Nash	...	Miss MacDaid
Jane Darwell	...	Aunt Phoebe (Mrs. Smiley)
Marjorie Rambeau	...	Mrs. Simon
Henry Travers	...	Rev. Homer Smiley
H.B. Warner	...	Maharajah
Laura Hope Crews	...	Lily Hoggett-Egburry
William Royle	...	Raschid Ali Khan
C. Montague Shaw	...	General Keith (as Montague Shaw)

Runtime:

103 min | 105 min (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #5320)

Filming Locations:

Balboa Park, San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The Ranchipur of novelist Louis Bromfield was built on 18 acres of the back lot. The maharajah's palace, which was wrecked room by room in the earthquake, cost $75,000. The breaking of the dam was shot in two nights using 14 cameras.

Goofs:

Continuity: Even though Rama and Lady Edwima are caught in the same thundershower on the same street, when they arrive at Mr. Das' music school, his clothes are wet while hers are amazingly dry. Also's the wet spots on Rama's clothes migrate to different areas from scene to scene as they move from room to room in the school.

Quotes:

Maharani: What is Lady Esketh doing at the hospital?
Thomas 'Tom' Ransome: Every conceivable filthy and drudging task.
Maharani: Yes, I suppose Miss MacDaid would have seen to that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Boom! Hollywood's Greatest Disaster Movies (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Rains Came

American Perspective

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.