clanciai This is one of the best films of India I have seen, for its realism, its fantastic story, its characters and their fates and the overwhelming disaster sequences. All major problems that could occur in India of some overwhelming nature happen in this film, the earthquake, the floods, the epidemics, but the characters that meet their destiny in these fatalities are all well fit and up to it, George Brent leading in one of his best roles as a local veteran with experience and some reputation as a rogue, Myrna Loy in an unusually sensitive and complicated role for her comedy career, and Tyrone Power as an Indian doctor. It's actually his film. He doesn't come across to the centre of the stage until towards the end, but then he proves himself also with an advanced and inusual sensitivity under the strain of great national crisis. Maria Ouspenskaya is also glorious as the begum and totally convincing as such, while at the same time she plays poker and smokes cigarettes with a mouthpiece - her character is actually the most picturesque, while she also has the right backbone to lead her country out of the crisis. It's a great film on a great story, and everyone involved has a maximum of credit for it.

mcannady1 I had seen this film on TV growing up in the 60's and was as impressed with it as my mother had been. Besides a marvelous cast, superb special effects and a haunting romance, the film ably entices the viewer.Today, many years later, I find myself really loving the movie more than I ever had. Somehow I had never really seen the depth of romance between Lady Esketh (Myrna Loy) and the handsome Major Safti (Tyrone Power) she comes to love. The story of that love is subtly expressed in music at first when Rama Safti brings her attention to an Indian love song and translates it for her. The song is sublimely beautiful and affects them both deeply. After that the aristocratic Edwina Esketh who is bored with her life and in a loveless marriage begins to admire the unselfish Indian doctor who works hard for his people. In turn, the stalwart physician is attracted by Edwina, but strives to conceal his feelings, as he is continuing to pursue his work per the wishes of the Maharajah and Maharani. When disaster strikes with heavy rains and a tidal wave following, Lady Esketh wins the doctor's approval and admiration by becoming a nurse at the hospital and working tirelessly to help the patients. In addition to flooding victims, there are also many perishing of cholera.Before the final personal tragedy strikes, Dr.Safti expresses his love and admiration for Lady Esketh.Many, many lives are lost in the wake of the disaster, and the Major finds himself back on course to help the Maharani (Maria Outspenskaya) who has lost her husband in the flooding. Ironically, Lady Esketh's brutish husband (played out of character by Nigel Bruce) drowns, along with the valet he had verbally abused.One of the final messages is the timeless quality of love given unselfishly.Not to spoil it for those that have not seen this wonderful film, I will go no further except to say that it withstands the test of time.

edwagreen The remake done years later with Lana Turner and Richard Burton was far better than this 1939 film.Myrna Loy actually needed some life breathed into her as well as the production. Tyrone Power is ridiculous as the Indian doctor who found love with her, and Nigel Bruce was a complete joke as Loy's husband in this adventure.Maria Ouspenskaya has some scene stealing scenes in the film. As ugly as ever, with that veil over her head, Maria shows courage, fortitude and resiliency when her husband, the leader dies, and is resolute in taking over his duties in an area ravaged by torrential downpours and an earthquake.

dinky-4 Note the running time: 104 minutes. A richly-plotted, 600-page novel reduced to a mere 104 minutes? One fears that far too much of the novel has been condensed or even skipped entirely and alas, this fear proves to be well-grounded. Louis Bromfield's "The Rains Came" may not be great literature but it is a great "read," one of those larger than life sagas which sets a host of vibrant characters against a panoramic background of exotic richness. Hollywood, however, reduces this material to a movie which, despite its glamorous cast and handsome mounting, is barely a notch above the routine.Missing from the movie are (1) Miss Dirks and Miss Hodge, the British spinsters who run the Girls' High School (2) Fern Simon's younger sister, Hazel, (3) Maria Lishinskaya, companion to the Maharani, (4) Harry Bauer, the Swiss nurse loved by Maria Lishinskaya, (5) Harry Loder, who wants to marry Fern, (6) the annoying Miss Murgatroyd, (7) Bertha Smiley, whose role as Mr. Smiley's wife has been taken over by Aunt Phoebe, plus a host of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs who now, at most, are simply glimpsed in the background. Even those who are left, such as the redoubtable Mrs. Hoggert-Egburry and the social-climbing Mrs. Simon, are sometimes reduced to just a single scene. By severely reducing and simplifying the novel's impressive cast of characters, "The Rains Came" loses its "epic" quality and becomes a mere tale of two-sets of disparate lovers: Lady Edwina and the Hindu doctor, plus Tom Ransome and young Fern. Even these two romances lack resonance because so much of the characters' backgrounds has been left out. (Perhaps Fern Simon has lost the most in the transition from book to screen. Her yearning to be "Blythe Summerfield, The Pearl of the Orient," has been almost entirely ignored, and she seems curiously uncaring that her parents have apparently been killed in the flood.) Yes, the sets reflect the skill and opulence of Hollywood's Golden Age, and the special effects -- for 1939 -- are quite impressive, but the result still strikes one is being little more than a passable exercise in "escapism."Myrna Loy seems a bit miscast and while George Brent isn't a particularly good choice as Tom Ransome, he's better in the role than one might expect.