Classic Movies - Fabulous Films of 1939: The Rains Came

Today, let’s talk Classic Disaster Film-The Rains Came! In a decade of movie extravaganzas, producer Darryl F. Zanuck brought Louis Bromfield’s best-seller to the screen in 1939. Complete with romance, intrigue, action, and suffering, 20th Century-Fox spared no expense (other than filming in black and white) in the making of The Rains Came. Special-effects technicians had a massive undertaking in the creation of an earthquake, a breaking dam and flood, and a falling temple-all done without computer graphics!

A first-rate cast was also assembled and headed by Zanuck’s top male star, Tyrone Power, in the lead role of Major Safti, a high-caste Indian surgeon. Myrna Loy was borrowed from MGM to play the spoiled Lady Esketh, George Brent was brought from Warner Brothers to portray rich, hard-living, Tom Ransome, and starlet Brenda Joyce appears as Fern Simon, the missionary’s daughter who falls for Ransome. Leading the strong supporting cast is the marvelous Maria Ouspenskaya in a powerful role as the wise Maharani.

As the plot develops in The Rains Came, the lives of all who live in the Indian city of Ranchipur are drastically altered with the coming of the monsoons. Against this backdrop of natural disaster, Major Safti tries to resist another kind of disaster-the advances of Lady Esketh, who, do to her hedonistic lifestyle and marital status, is considered “taboo” by his social caste. Resistance is made more difficult when the disasters mount and the two are thrown together in the treatment of the injured and dying. By the end, she has helped him through the floods and a cholera epidemic, but contracts the disease herself and dies. This resolution may be a bit too pat, but it does get everyone off the hook!

The Rains Came is a classic motion picture of epic proportions. The spectacular “Oscar-winning” special-effects and marvelous performances make it a film well worth watching. Check it out along with any of our other featured films from the fabulous year of 1939! In fact, there are so many great films from that year that we will continue featuring them for another week or two. We hope you enjoy the posts.

**Trivia Question for Today: The Rains Came was remade in 1955. What was the remake’s title and who starred as the four lead characters?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: In Wuthering Heights, the “castle” where Heathcliff and Cathy held their trysts was a rocky formation on the moors called Peniston Crag.