Rain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Rain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 22, 2022

Miss Sadie Thompson was a fitful attempt to offer the obvious assets of one Rita Hayworth in three dimensions, but kind of surprisingly and even ironically, that 1953 opus may come off as considerably more "flat" than the 1932 film currently under discussion, which is culled from the same W. Somerset Maugham source tale. I give some background on Maugham and his original story and its cinematic adaptations in my Miss Sadie Thompson 3D Blu-ray review, but the kind of peculiar fact is this so-called "pre Code" drama has at least a bit more sizzle and maybe titillating punch than the fifties version, and it offers a relatively early career defining role for Joan Crawford, who certainly comes off as more of a vamp, if a hard bitten one, than Rita Hayworth does in Miss Sadie Thompson. Perhaps curiously, then, Crawford wasn't an especial fan of either this film or her work in it, and in a way it's easy to see why, as she could be accused of working too hard to make Sadie Thompson "realistic", while she is still firmly ensconced in the fairly theatrical performing style of the early thirties.

Rain is, in essence, a modern morality play, with a supposedly "fallen" woman (that would be Sadie, of course) interacting with a martinet missionary named Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston). These two are among a gaggle of characters either stationed or temporarily sidelined on Pago Pago*, with Sadie, Davidson and his wife (Beulah Bondi) there due to their ship pulling into port unexpectedly after an outbreak of disease. Already on the island are a bunch of Marines, including a sergeant named Tim O'Hara (William Gargan). O'Hara seems considerably less concerned about Sadie's supposed moral turpitude than Davidson, and romantic sparks begin to fly between O'Hara and Sadie, all the while with Davidson fuming disapprovingly in the background.

This is a fascinating deconstruction of what most "upright" people circa 1932 probably would have thought was the "normal order" of things, namely a virtuous, Bible brandishing preacher being "right", with a "working girl" no doubt being "wrong". But despite the kind of snarky edge that Sadie has (especially with Crawford's interpretation of the role), it's not difficult to see where audience sympathies would have resided, and that probably resulted in some cognitive dissonance back in the day, which may in fact have played into how poorly received Rain was at the time of its original release.

The film still plays as a pretty tawdry melodrama, and it's incredibly talky a lot of the time, but this new transfer highlights one of the film's chief assets, the lustrous cinematography of Oliver T. Marsh. A claustrophobic atmosphere is definitely achieved, so that several characters' desires to escape are completely understandable.

*Note: I have it on good authority that a film with that island name in its actual title, the 1940 potboiler South of Pago Pago starring Jon Hall, Frances Farmer and Victor McLaglen (and an absolutely incredible supporting cast), will be coming to Blu-ray soon. One of the supporting cast in that film is Gene Lockhart, who plays a character very like the character of Joe Horn (Guy Kibbee) in this film.

Rain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rain is presented on Blu-ray by a consortium of parties including VCI Entertainment, The Mary Pickford Company and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The back cover of this release has some very "fine print" offering the following information:

VCI and the Mary Pickford Company are pleased to present Rain , celebrating its 90th Anniversary, in a stunning new 4K restoration, produced from the original release, the uncut 94 minute version from film elements made available by the Mary Pickford Foundation from the Mary Pickford Collection at the Library of Congress.

That blurb is further augmented by a passing mention by commentator Richard Barrios that this was culled from the original camera negative, though the lack of any such mention of a negative source in any verbiage I was sent in tandem with this release should probably also be stated. One way or the other this is a massive improvement from the often shoddy versions of this film which have propagated in the wake of it entering the public domain. Detail levels are noticeably better in this transfer than in any version I've ever personally seen, and contrast is also markedly more consistent. There is still some fairly evident damage on display, some of which (like long lasting scratches running the length of the frame, especially on the right side) seem like they could have been at least ameliorated, if not outright eliminated. Other passing anomalies include some slightly warped frames and a bit of image instability. Grain resolves naturally and the presentation has a healthy organic appearance throughout.

Rain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

If VCI's video transfers have been improving lately, the label still tends to opt for only lossy audio, and that arguable disappointment is perhaps further exacerbated here by the really odd decision to rejigger the film's (obviously) mono soundtrack for an ostensible Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, though that 5.1 part needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The film's omnipresent rain effects and the typical overly reverberant sound that often occurs with surround "updates" of older tracks gives this a quasi-phased sound at times, with a kind of unstopping white noise aspect courtesy of the weather effects, and really with an overall sound that suggests a lack of discrete channelization and what might be termed "pretend 5.1 Mono", as in fact I'm not hearing any real feed to the side or rear channels. While dialogue is discernable, it often sounds phased itself and at times at least like it's emanating out of a very deep well. There is age related wear and tear, including noticeable hiss (adding to the white noise effect) and occasional cracks and pops. VCI would do better in my estimation to keep to the original track, delivered in a lossless format. In that regard, for those who deign to read the really really "fine print" on the back cover of this release, it might be noted that a "PCM Mono" track is advertised, which the disc does not appear to offer. Optional English subtitles are available.

Rain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary Track by Mick LaSalle is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Commentary Track by Richard Barrios is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:13)


• Alternate "Cut Version" of the 1938 Atlantic Reissue (HD; 1:16:48)


• Poster and Photo Gallery (HD; 5:42)


• Betty Boop in Poor Cinderella (HD; 10:34)

Additionally, a nicely appointed insert booklet is included. The back cover mentions a "period appropriate" newsreel, but I couldn't find one.

Rain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd frankly love to know what's been happening with the good folks at VCI Entertainment, because first they started offering Mary Pickford films in what looked exactly like Flicker Alley editions, and then they released a rather well done Blu-ray of the rare Bunuel film The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, and now they're back with another release which is branded to look considerably like Flicker Alley outings and which again bears the imprimatur of the Mary Pickford Company. All of this is to say technical merits have been improving for the label, and that's a good thing, but it sure would be nice if they could up the ante with at least one lossless audio option on their Blu-ray discs. That one perhaps niggling (or not) qualm aside, Rain looks great for the most part, and the supplemental commentaries and redacted version of the film are interesting. With caveats noted, Recommended.