THE RAINS CAME *

 From a time when 'blackening up' wasn't just acceptable but apparently essential if you wanted to make a movie set in some exotic locale. "The Rains Came" is set in India so in the absence of any Indian actors of note or indeed of any Indian actors at all, here we get Tyrone Power, H.B. Warner, Joseph Schildkraut and that go to actress when you need someone to play someone of whatever nationality going, Maria Ouspenskaya, (this time she's a Maharani), applying the make-up and going native.

It might seem offensive today but if you can get your head around such carryings on back in the day then this is a slightly better than average melodrama with some really special special-effects, (they won the Oscar), comprising not just the rains of the title but also an earthquake and a flood, killing thousands no doubt but sparing most of the cast at least until the plague hits, (disaster movies really lived up to their name in the thirties).

Cast somewhat against type as a rich bitch who finds love and a kind of salvation when the rains come, Myrna Loy gives the movie a touch of class while the supporting cast of Hollywood regulars are all excellent. Remade as "The Rains of Ranchipur" with Richard Burton applying the paint as the Indian doctor and Lana Turner as the self-sacrificing lady but despite all the glitz and glamour it never measured up to the original. For reasons that should be obvious it's unlikely that either version will be seen much today.