An avid collector of this type of film - there are only a couple of score of this type in the history of cinema ( Waterloo Bridge, Random Harvest, Portrait of Jennie, The clock et alia ), I recently felt very frustrated having missed out on this one for so many years. I saw it by chance on a DVD during a shopping trip here in Paris, read the plot, and promptly ordered it from the USA ( unavailable anywhere else in the world ). I was not disappointed by its initial viewing - indeed I seem to remember seeing in my childhood a terribly sad film along these lines, God knows what it was called, where there was a story of a broken love through the death of one of the partners but some solid object, a key, I thought was found in the hand of one of the lovers when the other had died. As my memories of the film are so sketchy, I wonder indeed whether it was in fact, Miracle in the Rain, the "key" having being replaced by a Roman coin. However, I do seem to remember a clock or clock tower playing having some importance ( nothing to do with "The Clock" - Robert Walker / Judy Garland ) but this doesn't seem to have any importance in this film. The music of Miracle in the Rain is wonderful, but I have been unable to locate any of the songs or themes on a CD, even those featuring themes from movies by Franz Waxman. I wonder whether any vocalist actually recorded the song 'I'll always believe in You" ? I have always been very fond of Jane Wyman as an actress notably through the films of Douglas Sirk, such as Magnificent obsession ( her best ) or All that heaven allows. I had not heard of Van Johnson before but thoroughly enjoyed his performance - indeed one of the interesting points of the film is the character difference between the two and how it enables them to be mutually attracted to each other. I was also very fond of the character of Wyman's friend Gracie - an honest, sincere, thoughtful and loving person. Basically the films seems to contain "real" human beings, so far removed from the majority of the pretentious characters in many of today's films. The church atmosphere is used to good effect, like in Random Harvest or Le Diable au Corps or Hitchcock's I confess. I hasten to add that I was in continuous tears from the middle of the film right up till the end and experienced the same kind of grief as watching the final scenes from "Love is a Many Splendoured thing" when Jennifer Jones wanders up the hill behind the Hong Kong hospital and "sees" her late love under that solitary tree. So I would advise all would-be spectators to ensure a plentiful supply of Kleenex before sitting down to watch this one. Thank God it has been issued on DVD - my only qualm is that the DVD only has English language and subtitles - OK for me but what about all those non English speakers who would love to (re)discover this film !
Review of Miracle in the Rain
