The Rains Came

The Rains Came (1939)

Indian aristocrat Rama Safti returns from medical training in the U.S. to give his life to the poor folk of Ranchipur. Lady Edwina and her drunken artist ex-lover Tom Ransome get in the way, but everyone shapes up when faced by earthquake, flooding, and plague.

Date of release
1939-09-15
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (28)
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
Drama, Romance, Adventure
Director
Clarence Brown

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: San Diego
  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 6. Including: Academy Award for Best Special Effects

The Rains Came is a 1939 20th Century Fox film based on an American novel by Louis Bromfield. The film was directed by Clarence Brown and stars Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, Nigel Bruce, and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Production

The budget was $2.5 million ($58 million in 2025).

In later years, Loy recalled that her belief in director Clarence Brown made her willing to try his suggestion for her death scene: "'people don't die with their eyes closed...Why don't you try dying with your eyes open? You've just got to hold your breath.' I held my breath, staring at some fixed object until I began to see stars and everything started to blur and run together.

Loy's stylish bad girl role harks back to the vamps, villainesses and dramatic leads she was known for until her success in The Thin Man established her comedic talent. After a series of romantic comedies, Loy wanted a good dramatic role.

The special effects that produced the earthquakes and floods won the first Oscar issued in that category (see below). However, Variety praised the human drama: "The simple heroics following the quake are more effective than the earth-rending sequences themselves."

TCM.com reports some of cinematographer Arthur Miller's recollections about The Rains Came, including his "obsession" with the rain.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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