THE RAINS CAME

US, 1939, 103 minutes, Black and white.
Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, Nigel Bruce, Maria Ouspenskaya, Joseph Schildkraut, Mary Nash, Jane Darwell, Marjorie Rambeau, Henry Travers, H.B. Warner, Laura Hope Crews.
Directed by Clarence Brown.

The Rains Came was a spectacular drama from 20th Century Fox in 1939, a powerful year for films from MGM and Warner Bros as well. This was the year of Gone with the Wind as well as Stage Coach, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Dark Victory. The Rains Came was somewhat swamped in the his abundance of fine films.

It is based on a novel by Louis Bromfield (Mrs Parkington – a vehicle for Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson). The film has an Indian setting of the late 30s. The focus is on a British woman who is having an affair with an Indian doctor, the heir to be Maharajah of Ranchipur. He has studied medicine in the United States. The couple are played by Myrna Loy and Tyrone Power. In the background is George Brent as a former lover of the British lady, her pompous husband played by Nigel Bruce. The rulers of Ranchipur are played by Maria Ouspenskaya and H.B. Warner (Jesus in Cecil B. de Mille’s The King of Kings). Other prominent character actors of the period appear, Oscar winners Joseph Schildkraut, Jane Darwell.

Although filmed in black and white, the film is spectacular. It starts in drought, with the people of Ranchipur praying for rain. However, with the torrid human relationships, the rains come and there is flooding and disaster. Everybody has to draw on their inner and better selves to cope with the disaster and plague, especially the doctor and Lady Edwina.

The film was directed by Clarence Brown, usually a director at MGM of vehicles for Greta Garbo as well as family-oriented films like The Yearling and National Velvet.

The film was remade in 1955, with the benefit of Cinemascope and colour, a spectacular film with Lana Turner and Richard Burton in the central roles.

1. How enjoyable was this romantic film? Was the emphasis on romance and love? Or on local colour and adventure? The focus on India and disasters?

2. How important a film was this for its impact in its stars? The impact of the stars in their heyday? The scope and colourfulness of the film and its backgrounds? The ingredients for popular appeal?

3. Why was the film so popular? What traits in audiences did it appeal to? The typical Hollywood spectacular romance? Romance as contrasted with true love? How authentic was the story of the film? Its characters? The background of place, times, the racial issues? Or was it merely a celluloid world?

5. How are films like this, with their moral issues and romances, moral fables? For what kind of audience? How convincing are they? What basis for judging between good and evil do they presuppose in the audience? How were they illustrated in this film?

6. How was Edwina the central character? The popular Hollywood heroine? Romance, yet evil, and retribution? The initial presentation of Edwina and her relationship with her husband? Money, whims? Her relationship with Tom? The impact at the party? Her impact on the Maharani? Her flirting and impact on Dr Safti? The aspects of romance, of torment, of defiance? How selfish was she? How capable of love? How did she change in her love with Dr Safti? How convincingly was this presented? Which incidents? The importance of the disaster, her illness? The choices open to her? The growth in understanding? How convincing was the ending and her selflessness? Was this a good exploration of such a selfish woman?

7. How romantic a hero was Dr Safti? The star impact? An idealised Indian, dedicated to his work? His relationship to the Maharani and his place in the palace amongst the people? The impact of love, his understanding of Edwina, blind yet seeing? The impact of romance? The effect on his work? The choices open to him and the reason for his choices? How was he left at the end of the flim?

8. Edwina's husband? A weak kind of man, an insight into this bind of character, success and failure? The impact of the hunt? the impact of Edwina's romance on him? The impact of the disaster?

9. How attractive a couple were Tom and Fern? A parallel romance? Failure? Fern's running away and Tom's handling the situation? Society's attitudes towards them? Heroism in the face of disaster?

10. How interesting a character was the Maharani? The impact of her traits and character? Her role In society? Her protection of Dr Safti? Her insight into Edwina, how genuine?

11. The minor characters, the missionaries, the Indians? Genuine characters or just background for the romance?

12. How well filmed was the earthquake, the disasters, the floods and death? The build up to the rains, the significance of the rains, the bursting of dams, the effect on the Indians, the effect on the main characters?

13. Suffering and death in this romantic film? What meaning did they have? The meaning of sickness and feeding the sick?

14. What is the ultimate impact of a film like this? Mere entertainment or something of value?