''The Rains of Ranchipur'' is a 1955 American drama and disaster film made by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. It was directed by

Jean Negulesco Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu; – 18 July 1993) was a Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.Oliver, Myrna"Jean Negulesco 1900–1993 ''The Los Angeles Times'', 22 July 1993. He first gained notice for his film noirs and later ...

and produced by Frank Ross from a screenplay by

Merle Miller Merle Dale Miller (May 17, 1919 – June 10, 1986) was an American writer, novelist, and author who is perhaps best remembered for his best-selling biography of Harry S. Truman, and as a pioneer in the gay rights movement. Miller came out ...

, based on the 1937 novel ''The Rains Came'' by

Louis Bromfield Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896 – March 18, 1956) was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainab ...

. The music score was by

Hugo Friedhofer Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer (May 3, 1901May 17, 1981) was an American composer and cellist best known for his motion picture scores. Biography Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was born in San Francisco, California, United States. His father, Paul, was a ...

and the cinematography by Milton Krasner. The film stars

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

, Fred MacMurray,

Joan Caulfield Beatrice Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 – June 18, 1991) was an American actress and model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures. In th ...

and

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the s ...

with

Eugenie Leontovich Eugenie Leontovich (born Evgenia Konstantinovna Leontovich; russian: Евге́ния Константиновна Леонто́вич, tr. ; March 21 or April 3 "Eugenie Leontovich, 93; actress, writer, director", ''Chicago Tribune'', April ...

. Made in

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...

, Cinemascope, and four-track stereophonic sound, the film is a remake of the black-and-white film ''

The Rains Came ''The Rains Came'' is a 1939 20th Century Fox film based on an American novel by Louis Bromfield (published in June 1937 by Harper & Brothers). The film was directed by Clarence Brown and stars Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda ...

'' (1939), also made by Fox, directed by

Clarence Brown Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Early life Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he ...

and starring

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...

and

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...

. However, the 1955 film changes the novel's ending.

Plot

In India to purchase some horses, British aristocrat Lord Esketh (

) and his wife Edwina (

) come to the town of Ranchipur at the invitation of the elderly Maharani (

). Their marriage is an unhappy one, and Lord Esketh announces his intention to return to England and begin divorce proceedings. The spoiled, insensitive and notoriously promiscuous Edwina (she took a lover on their honeymoon) scoffs at this. She renews in Ranchipur an acquaintance with an old friend and former lover, Tom Ransome ( Fred MacMurray), once a brilliant engineer, now a dissolute alcoholic. She also meets and attempts to seduce a distinguished Hindu physician, Dr. Rama Safti (

), a decent man who is the elderly Maharani's personal choice to succeed her someday. At the end of the reception welcoming Lord and Lady Esketh to Ranchipur, the Maharani, who prepared for Edwina’s arrival by reading newspaper clippings, sees that she has already begun to seduce Safti and confronts her. She is unworthy of her protégé, the Maharani says, telling Edwina about Safti’s life. He is a very wise man, but “not experienced in matters of the heart.” The Maharani warns Edwina that for Ranchipur, she will do what is necessary. Safti at first resists, but ultimately succumbs to Edwina's charms and falls hopelessly in love with her. Lord Esketh becomes aware of this, and when Safti saves him after he is mauled by a wounded tiger, he asks Safti about Edwina. Safti admits his love and Lord Esketh, now sympathetic toward this good man's plight, describes their marriage in blunt terms. Safti says he already knows about Edwina’s past; he forgives anything she has done. When Safti and Edwina talk about this, she finally confesses that her attraction to him has grown into something “so much more” that it frightens her. Safti believes that she can grow and change. Edwina says it isn’t possible. Everything about it is wrong. Meanwhile, Fern Simon (

) has returned home after graduating from the University of Iowa. The daughter of missionaries, she grew up in Ranchipur watching Ransome from afar. Her dreams of going back to teacher’s college for graduate study are fading because they cannot afford it. At the reception, she diffidently asks Ransome for a loan of $1,000. He points out that this would wreck her reputation in Ranchipur, and moved by her disappointment, he agrees to help her get back to school somehow. It has been raining off and on, but it begins in earnest, now, and continues through the film until the end. Fern runs away from home and turns up soaking wet in Ransome’s bungalow. She is thrilled with her plan—to ruin her reputation so her mother will have to let her go away to school, even though nothing will have happened because she will sleep on the sofa. He tells her she must go home immediately, bundles her into a raincoat—and kisses her. He apologizes and tells her the truth about himself: a disillusioned idealist who grew sick of the postwar world and hid in Ranchipur and the bottle. She meekly goes home. At a party, Ransome, drunk and angry, warns Edwina to stay away from Safti, a friend whom he admires. Off-camera, the Maharani has ordered Edwina to leave the palace and Ranchipur. Safti says he will go with her. Suddenly, Ranchipur is ravaged by a two-fold natural disaster: a series of earthquakes that shatter the dam and many buildings, and the ensuing flood, exacerbated by pouring rain, which wipes out buildings and bridges. After the first tremors, Safti runs for the hospital, leaving Edwina in a frenzy, partly caused by the fact that she is sick. Ransome takes her home to care for her. In the morning, Ranchipur is a lake, dotted with ruins, and it still rains. Debris blocks the narrows downriver, and plague spreads in the flooded areas. Ransome’s home is above the flood. A skiff pulls up to the porch. It is Fern, exhausted, cold and drenched. She has been out all night trying to get to him. Ransome settles her to rest and gently promises that he will not leave Ranchipur ever. He takes Edwina to the mission to Mrs. Smiley. In her delirium, and believing (correctly) that she may be dying, Edwina begs to have a message sent to Dr. Safti. It is delivered to Lord Esketh by mistake, and he begs Dr. Safti to go, admitting that he loves Edwina and always has. Dr. Safti is so busy saving lives that he cannot go. An explosion echoes through the town: The blockage has been exploded by dynamite, causing the flood waters to recede. At the mission, Dr. Safti figures out that it was Ransome who risked his life to save the people of Ranchipur. Shafti comes to Edwina at last. She is shaken by his statement that he would not have come to her, even if he had known she was dying, because of all the people depending on him for their lives. And when he talks of how much work there will be rebuilding Ranchipur, she realizes that his heart is there. Leaving at last, Edwina tries to explain to the Maharani that her love for Safti has become true, so much so that she will make the sacrifice of leaving him for his own good. The Maharani refuses to accept this and taunts Edwina. Edwina warns the Maharani that someday there will be a woman she can’t stop. Safti comes to say goodbye, and tells her that she has given him a great gift, the knowledge that a man cannot live without love. In return, he tells her of the qualities he cherishes in her. They kiss gently. She drives away from Ranchipur with her husband, wiping a tear from her cheek.

Cast

as Lady Esketh *

as Dr. Rama Safti * Fred MacMurray as Tom Ransome *

as Lord Esketh *

as Fern Simon *

as the Maharani * Gladys Hurlbut as Mrs. Simon *

Madge Kennedy Madge Kennedy (April 19, 1891 – June 9, 1987) was a stage, film and TV actress whose career began as a stage actress in 1912 and flourished in motion pictures during the silent film era. In 1921, journalist Heywood Broun described her as "the ...

as Mrs. Smiley *

Carlo Rizzo Carlo Rizzo (April 30, 1907 – July 26, 1979) was an Italian stage and film actor.Chiti & Poppi p.333 He was the brother of the actor Alfredo Rizzo. A regular in post-war Italian cinema he also featured in several American films produced in I ...

as Mr. Adoani *

Argentina Brunetti Argentina Brunetti (born Argentina Ferraù; August 31, 1907 – December 20, 2005) was an Argentinian stage and film actress and writer. Biography Brunetti was born Argentina Ferraù in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Italian parents; her moth ...

as Mrs. Adoani

Production

The film was a remake of ''

'' (1939), which had been co-written by Philip Dunne. Dunne later wrote about the remake:

All I ever contributed to the remake was the title: ''The Rains of Ranchipur''. The writer and producer, both friends of mine, tactlessly, unkindly and repeatedly informed me that their script was infinitely superior to the one
Julien Josephson Julien Josephson (October 24, 1881 – April 14, 1959) was an American motion picture screenwriter. His career spanned between 1914 and 1943. He was a native of Roseburg, Oregon. Career Josephson was well known for his early silent movie ...
and I had written, which they dismissed as too old fashioned and corny for our purposes. They decided not to use any of it, and in fact didn't. Unfortunately for them, in the process they eliminated the most important event of all, the naughty lady's death, thereby violating the very essence of author Bromfield's original design. They turned a noble tragedy, corny or not, into a mere romantic interlude and thus achieved what they deserved: a resounding flop.

Criticism

Film scholar Richard Dyer has argued that ''The Rains of Ranchipur'', like a number of other contemporary (post-WWII; and post-Colonial) films, are orientalist, besides "ultra-colonialist" and "white supremacist", and that the function of those movies is to "attempt to recapture the supposed scrutiny of an inequitable past".

References

External links