Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

SamHardy Much of what I have to say about this film has already been said, so I will not repeat it. Here are some (I think) original thoughts.If this film were released a year before or a year after 1939 I am guessing it would have swept the Oscars. Being released the same year as "Gone With The Wind" kept that from happening. The one Oscar it won (for best special effects) was richly deserved. In fact, the effects in GWTW during the burning of Atlanta are no where near as good. Way ahead of it's time. In fact, I think the entire film was ahead of it's time by at least 20 years. The black and white cinematography made a major contribution to the overall emotional impact. Very creative use of lighting, and each frame is like a painting. It should have gotten the Oscar for that. The direction and the acting was subtle and very layered. I was especially impressed by the staging of the Myrna Loy's character's death. Most of the Hollywood death scenes at that time involve the character closing his eyes and turning his head. Very heavy handed and not very realistic. I will not spoil it for you but watch how understated it is. Occasionally the acting is over the top, but as a whole it is restrained and totally right for the material.Music is used sparingly unlike GWTW where it is wall to wall. Don't get me wrong, I love the music in that film and it is just right for it. But in The Rains Came a lighter touch is called for. And it gets it.It seemed that everyone involved in this was aware that it would be released the same year as GWTW and knew that this film had to be on a par with it. GWTW was pretty much of it's time but The Rains Came was a preview of how great films would be made in the 1950's and 1960's. The only thing that did not ring true for me was the casting of Tyrone Power as an Indian native. Even with the dark make-up he is just plain wrong. Add to that that he does not even attempt an accent! Everyone else seems just right. Newcomer Brenda Joyce is particularly good and stunningly beautiful as well.The idea of casting a love story (2 love stories really) against significant events in history was not original even in 1939, but I can think of only a few films that did it better. One of those was A Passage to India, a film that echos the style and setting of The Rains Came.I wish someone would do a remake of this. I think the material begs for it.A very unusual production for it's time and well worth a look. I could even see it as being made in say 1963. Very modern and polished.

ljspin I probably should not be commenting on this movie, as I have not seen it yet. I have, however, read the novel on which the film is based, and I have downloaded and listened to the "Lux Presents Hollywood" radio version of the story. I will admit that does not make my comments acceptable until I see the film.Several people have commented that Tyrone Power does not have an Indian accent. But Major Safti went to college and studied medicine. To do that, at that time, he would have to leave India and study in England. Hence, his English would be much better than those who only learned their English in Ranchipor.About Lady Edwina drinking from the cholera glass: In the novel, she is working the night shift. She checks her patients, gives them water, covers them, etc. She sits down exhausted and pours herself a drink of water. After she drinks, she notices that a patient is staring at her horrified. It is then that she realizes that she has drunk from the glass reserved for the cholera patients. She brushes it aside, but a day or so later comes down with the disease. I see that TCM will be showing this film next week. I will watch it and make further comments.Spin

blanche-2 Incredible special effects, a solid story, beautiful directing, and marvelous acting are the highlights of "The Rains Came," another movie from that famous year in film-making, 1939. Its stars are Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, and Maria Ouspenskaya. A bored Loy and her disagreeable wealthy older husband, portrayed by Nigel Bruce, are in Ranchipur, India when the rains and an earthquake hit. Loy, whose husband keeps a list of her lovers, once had a fling with Brent. Then she gets a gander at Power who plays Major Rama Safti, a doctor highly regarded by the rulers of Ranchipur. One look at him, and there's no sense in treading over old territory. Despite Power's apparent lack of interest, Loy falls madly in love with him, even volunteering at the hospital after the disaster.I was completely captivated by this film, particularly in light of the recent Katrina horror. The flooding, the destroyed homes, demonstrated by brilliant special effects, the orphaned children, the need for volunteers, were all too familiar.Two love stories go on during the rains - one between Brent and the lovely Fern, portrayed by Brenda Joyce, and the other between Power and Loy. Both romances are unbelievably tender - with very little actual physical contact shown.Loy gives a compelling performance as a haughty, spoiled woman who is suddenly consumed by love. When I read the book, one thing I remember is that the character just screamed Lana Turner and sure enough, she did the role in the remake. But Loy makes it her own. The studios didn't like their leading men to do accents, so Power, in dark makeup as the "Copper Apollo" so described by Loy, has none. He is handsome as ever until one sees him without his turban. Then, in closeup, he describes to Loy how he came to love her, and his face is beyond breathtaking. His monologue is beautifully done, as is his essaying of the character's conflict of love versus responsibility. This is one of his finest performances, and no camera ever loved an actor like it did Tyrone Power. George Brent, usually not commanding enough, does fine under Brown's direction in his role as a man with no purpose in life who finally finds one. Tiny Maria Ouspenskaya gives a strong performance.The only thing I didn't like was that Loy had to pay for her sins (i.e., slutty behavior) and of course, Brent did not.Like the rains of Ranchipur, India, "The Rains Came" will sweep the viewer away. Highly recommended.

dj_bassett In some made-up Indian province in 1938 we have a dissolute artist (Brent, who couldn't carry a picture to save his life), an up-and-coming doctor (Tyrone Powers in normal slick mode; he was that era's Tom Cruise), Brenda Joyce as a naive missionary's daughter (pretty, but unremarkable) and Myrna Loy as what they used to call "an adventuress". They're all having soap opera style problems until the middle of the picture, when monsoon rains come and wreck the province.Big budget for the time, but mostly pretty sleepy. The acting is unremarkable throughout: Brent is stiff and awful and unfortunately the lead, Powers is not that convincing as an idealistic doctor -- he'd have made a good dissolute guy, though. And while Loy in general is fine, nobody wants to see her in hospital scrubs picking up operating room waste. The two best performances are supporting ones, Nigel Bruce as Loy's older pain of a husband, and Ouspensky as the queen of the province -- though you have to get past her Yiddish accent.The story's over-drawn out, with some really bad speeches here and there and some extraordinarily tedious moments. The best part of the movie, and what it's probably most remembered for nowadays, is the special effects halfway through, all of which are very impressive. The movie picks up dramatically in those sections, before settling back down to sleepiness.RAINS is sort of an early Hollywood disaster picture: it's interesting to see that while nowadays a disaster picture is conceived as a kind of action movie, in the thirties it was more a subset of the soap opera. If you happen to catch it on television, it's worth seeing for the special effects, but other than that I'd pass.