science

The Rains Came

The Rains Came is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Rains Came rather than just read about it. In short: 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 Joyce, Nigel Bruce, and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Key takeaways

The Rains Came belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Rains Came to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Rains Came from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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 Joyce, Nigel Bruce, and Maria Ouspenskaya. A remake of the film was released in 1955 under the name The Rains of Ranchipur.

Plot

The story centers on the redemption of Lady Edwina Esketh. Tom Ransome is an artist who leads a rather dissolute and socially active life in the fictional princely state of Ranchipur, India. His routine is shattered with the arrival of Lady Edwina Esketh, his former lover, who has married the elderly Lord Esketh. Lady Edwina first tries to seduce but gradually falls in love with Major Rama Safti, who represents the "new India." Ranchipur is devastated by an earthquake, which causes a flood, which causes a cholera epidemic. Lord Esketh dies, and Lady Esketh renounces her hedonistic life in favor of helping the sick with Major Safti. She accidentally drinks from a glass that a patient has used, becomes infected, and dies, making it possible for Safti to become the ruler of a kingdom that he presumably will reform. Throughout the story, Fern Simon, a missionary's daughter, and Ransome also fall in love.

Cast Myrna Loy as Lady Edwina Esketh Tyrone Power as Major Rama Safti George Brent as Tom Ransome Brenda Joyce as Fern Simon Nigel Bruce as Lord Albert Esketh Maria Ouspenskaya as Maharani Joseph Schildkraut as Mr. Bannerjee Mary Nash as Miss MacDaid Jane Darwell as Aunt Phoebe – Mrs. Smiley Marjorie Rambeau as Mrs. Simon Henry Travers as Rev. Homer Smiley H. B. Warner as Maharajah Laura Hope Crews as Lily Hoggett-Egburry William Royle as Raschid Ali Khan C. Montague Shaw as General Keith Harry Hayden as Rev. Elmer Simon Herbert Evans as Bates

Casting The casting apparently was a lengthy process. Loy and Brown were lent 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 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. Nigel Bruce is cast against what had become his established type.

Production The budget was $2.5 million ($58 million in 2025). In later years, Loy recalled that her belief in director Clarence Brown made her willing to try his suggestion for her death scene: "'people don't die with their eyes closed...Why don't you try dying with your eyes open? You've just got to hold your breath.' I held my breath, staring at some fixed object until I began to see stars and everything started to blur and run together. I was turning a little blue when he finally called 'Cut!' When you trust a director, you'll do anything for him." Loy's stylish bad girl role harks back to the vamps, villainesses and dramatic leads she was known for until her success in The Thin Man established her comedic talent. After a series of romantic comedies, Loy wanted a good dramatic role. According to Loy, Louis Bromfield told her "I think you're giving the best performance of your career." After the Second World War and her appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives, her image changed yet again to that of the ideal mother. The special effects that produced the earthquakes and floods won the first Oscar issued in that category (see below). However, Variety praised the human drama: "The simple heroics following the quake are more effective than the earth-rending sequences themselves." TCM.com reports some of cinematographer Arthur Miller's recollections about The Rains Came, including his "obsession" with the rain. Original prints of the film were tinted sepia.

Accolades It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning in the category of Special Effects, for the earthquake and flood sequences. It became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, edging out other nominees, including The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. It was on a preliminary list of submissions from the studios for an Academy Award for Cinematography (Black-and-White) but was not nominated.

1955 adaptation

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 provides different fates for Lord and Lady Esketh.

References

Sources: Film commentary on the DVD The Rains Came

External links

The Rains Came: A Novel of Modern India. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1937, from Internet Archive Complete text of The Rains Came (public domain in Canada) The Rains Came at IMDb The Rains Came at the TCM Movie Database (archived) The Rains Came at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films Louis Bromfield papers, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Rains Came

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Rains Came claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Rains Came before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Rains Came ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Rains Came

In research: The Rains Came appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Rains Came in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Rains Came is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930s disaster films, 1939 American films, 1939 English-language films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Rains Came outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Rains Came in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Rains Came means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Rains Came out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Rains Came in simple terms?

Why does The Rains Came matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Rains Came?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Rains Came.