“The Rains Came,” (1939)

“The Rains Came,” (1939) adapted from a popular novel of the time. Action-adventure in Colonial India with a cast list that just won’t quit: Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, Nigel Bruce (playing against type), Maria Ouspenskaya (playing something other than a Romany in a Universal Horror pic) Joseph Schildkraut, Jane Darwell, Henry Travers (not as “angelic” as Clarence) and H.B. Warner (Young George Bailey’s boss). Two wastrel figures, Loy and Brent, each find salvation of a sort against the backdrop of poverty and disease in a small Indian principality - one heroically, the other tragically. Power, a much better actor than he is generally given credit for, is the Indian doctor caught between two worlds. [Please note: this film is of its time and may have characters and performances that some may fine offensive.] Has the distinction of having won the Oscar for Special Effects - by beating “The Wizard Of Oz.” (1939)