Review of The Rains Came

Nothing redeems the reputation of a "fallen" woman like natural disaster or illness. Just ask Greta Garbo in "The Painted Veil", Elizabeth Taylor in "Elephant Walk" or Eleanor Parker in "The Naked Jungle" and "The Seventh Sin". Audiences love to see a woman who has slid slightly off the moral track win back approval by pitching in during the aftermath of a plague or an earthquake, even if, in some cases, she doesn't make it herself! Here Loy is the unfulfilled wife of a stodgy British lord who comes to India to buy horses and runs into a former lover (Brent.) Though she dallies briefly with him, it isn't long before a handsome Indian doctor (Power) catches her eye and so she sets her sights on that prize. This doesn't sit well with the Maharani (Ouspenskaya) who has high hopes for Power as a future leader of her country. Meanwhile, an antsy, curvy, teen (Joyce) has her eye on Brent, to the quasi-dismay of her missionary parents. As the social and romantic entanglements play out, the rains of the monsoon season begin to fall. Then an earthquake rips apart an ominously placed dam and the entire area is flooded. What the water doesn't kill, a plague threatens to. The formerly selfish and self-involved survivors volunteer their aid in the hopes of redemption. This works out better for some than for others. Loy isn't always lit as beautifully here as she was at her home studio of MGM, but manages to look quite lovely during most of her scenes. She gives a knowing and well thought out portrayal. One of her evening gowns (a chiffon number with a jewel-encrusted scarf) is a real knockout. It's a bit raunchier role than she was doing during the height of her fame and she handles it nicely. She has one striking scene as she relieves a collapsing hospital attendant and her final scene is memorable, too. Power has a surprisingly small role for most of the film. Covered in "brownface", he has a puzzling Clark Gable mustache and makes no attempt at an Indian accent, though that may be a good thing. He gives a solid, but unremarkable performance, though he does look handsome, especially near the end when his hair is revealed. Brent is enjoyable in his ne'er do well role with one particularly amusing line as he's about to escort Loy to a stuffy party. Never an earth-shattering actor, he does better than usual in this film. He does become rather unintentionally funny as he swims through the storm-tossed water, though. Joyce is attractive and alluring in her film debut, though obviously a bit unseasoned. The ever-impish Ouspenskaya effortlessly steals most of the scenes she appears in. A nice dose of fine character actors including Bruce, Schildkraut, Darwell, Rambeau, Warner and especially Hope Crews help to enliven the earlier part of the film. Sadly, most of these folks are scarcely or never seen after the big event. The credits for this film are inventive and striking, even now more than half a century later. The direction is sure-handed. The music, as is nearly always the case with Alfred Newman, is solid. The real attraction, though, is the chance to see some early special effects which still hold up reasonably well. Three or four decades later, the disaster would BE the point of the movie, but in this age, the story of the characters was still the attraction and the catastrophes were either a story point or a climactic event (see "San Francisco", "Green Dolphin Street", "In Old Chicago") causing changes in the characters' lives. This was remade rather glossily and in color with Lana Turner, Richard Burton and Fred MacMurray, but the original remains the one with the edge.