The Rains Came
Encyclopedia
The Rains Came is the title of a novel by Louis Bromfield
, published in 1937
, as well as the 1939
20th Century Fox
film
version which followed it. A remake of the film was released in 1955 under the name The Rains of Ranchipur
.
, the 1939 film starred Tyrone Power
, Myrna Loy
, George Brent
, Brenda Joyce
, Nigel Bruce
and Maria Ouspenskaya
. The plot follows the romantic entanglement of an Indian doctor, a British woman and her former (also British) flame.
The casting apparently was a lengthy process. Loy and Brown were loaned to 20th Century Fox from MGM (as part of a deal wherein Power was loaned by Fox to MGM
for Marie Antoinette
). Brent was also on loan from his home studio of Warner Bros.
The only cast member who was originally chosen for the role he or she played was Ouspenskaya, who was memorable as the Maharani. She later claimed that she learned all she needed to know about impersonating Indian royalty from her acquaintance with the Russian Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
.
The story centers on the redemption of its lead female character. George Brent
is Tom Ransome, an artist who leads a rather dissolute if socially active life in the town of Ranchipur. His routine is shattered with the arrival of his former lover, Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy
) who has since married the elderly Lord Esketh (Nigel Bruce
). Lady Edwina first sets out to seduce, then gradually falls in love with, Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power
) who represents the "new India."
Ranchipur is devastated by an earthquake and flood, followed by an epidemic. Lord Esketh dies and Lady Esketh renounces her hedonistic life in favor of helping the sick alongside Major Safti. Unfortunately, she becomes infected and dies, making it possible for Safti to become the ruler of a kingdom that he will presumably reform. In the course of the story, a missionary's daughter, Fern (Brenda Joyce
), and Ransome also fall in love.
The film is noted for a number of unusual features. Loy and Bruce are cast against type. Loy's stylish bad girl role was more akin to the sort that made Greta Garbo
famous than her own reputation as "the ideal wife" which MGM promoted for many years. Most famous are the scenes dealing with the earthquake and floods. It was nominated for six Academy Awards
, winning in the category of "Special Effects and Sound Effects", for the earthquake and flood sequences. It became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, beating out The Wizard of Oz
for the same Oscar.
The Rains Came was remade
in 1955
as The Rains of Ranchipur
, with Richard Burton, Lana Turner
and Fred MacMurray
in the Power, Loy and Brent roles. The 1939 film uses the original novel's ending; the 1955 film does not.
Louis Bromfield
Louis Bromfield was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.-Biography:...
, published in 1937
1937 in literature
The year 1937 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 9 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.*Thomas Quinn Curtiss meets Klaus Mann.-New books:*Eric Ambler - Uncommon Danger...
, as well as the 1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
version which followed it. A remake of the film was released in 1955 under the name The Rains of Ranchipur
The Rains of Ranchipur
The Rains of Ranchipur is a 1955 film drama made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Jean Negulesco and produced by Frank Ross from a screenplay by Merle Miller, based on the novel The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield. The music score was by Hugo Friedhofer and the cinematography by Milton R...
.
Film adaptations
Directed by Clarence BrownClarence Brown
Clarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was 11. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of...
, the 1939 film starred Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
, Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
, George Brent
George Brent
George Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, the son of a British Army officer.During the Irish...
, Brenda Joyce
Brenda Joyce (actress)
Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graftina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, although family and friends referred to her as Graftina....
, Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
and Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.-Life and career:...
. The plot follows the romantic entanglement of an Indian doctor, a British woman and her former (also British) flame.
The casting apparently was a lengthy process. Loy and Brown were loaned to 20th Century Fox from MGM (as part of a deal wherein Power was loaned by Fox to MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
for Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
). Brent was also on loan from his home studio of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
The only cast member who was originally chosen for the role he or she played was Ouspenskaya, who was memorable as the Maharani. She later claimed that she learned all she needed to know about impersonating Indian royalty from her acquaintance with the Russian Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia may refer to:*Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia , daughter of Paul I of Russia*Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , daughter-in-law of Alexander II of Russia...
.
The story centers on the redemption of its lead female character. George Brent
George Brent
George Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, the son of a British Army officer.During the Irish...
is Tom Ransome, an artist who leads a rather dissolute if socially active life in the town of Ranchipur. His routine is shattered with the arrival of his former lover, Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
) who has since married the elderly Lord Esketh (Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
). Lady Edwina first sets out to seduce, then gradually falls in love with, Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
) who represents the "new India."
Ranchipur is devastated by an earthquake and flood, followed by an epidemic. Lord Esketh dies and Lady Esketh renounces her hedonistic life in favor of helping the sick alongside Major Safti. Unfortunately, she becomes infected and dies, making it possible for Safti to become the ruler of a kingdom that he will presumably reform. In the course of the story, a missionary's daughter, Fern (Brenda Joyce
Brenda Joyce (actress)
Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graftina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, although family and friends referred to her as Graftina....
), and Ransome also fall in love.
The film is noted for a number of unusual features. Loy and Bruce are cast against type. Loy's stylish bad girl role was more akin to the sort that made Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
famous than her own reputation as "the ideal wife" which MGM promoted for many years. Most famous are the scenes dealing with the earthquake and floods. It was nominated for six Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, winning in the category of "Special Effects and Sound Effects", for the earthquake and flood sequences. It became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, beating out The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
for the same Oscar.
The Rains Came was remade
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
in 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
as The Rains of Ranchipur
The Rains of Ranchipur
The Rains of Ranchipur is a 1955 film drama made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Jean Negulesco and produced by Frank Ross from a screenplay by Merle Miller, based on the novel The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield. The music score was by Hugo Friedhofer and the cinematography by Milton R...
, with Richard Burton, Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
and Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
in the Power, Loy and Brent roles. The 1939 film uses the original novel's ending; the 1955 film does not.
External links
- The Rains Came: A Novel Of Modern India. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1937. From Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - Complete text of The Rains Came (public domain in Canada)