As film mirrors life, rain is inevitable in the movies. In countless features, wet weather has helped drive plot and establish a range of moods. Obvious example: the thriller that uses a rainstorm to build a sense of isolation and dread.
But to welcome spring, we’ll stay away from that darker territory, and consider the lighter, cleansing side of rain that summons up life transitions and new beginnings, often romantic ones.
The following hand-picked titles all include a pivotal scene where rain somehow advances the story in a hopeful way, consistent with the buoyant nature of the season.
In the gossamer Astaire/Rogers musical romance “Top Hat”(1935), it’s love at first dance for performer Jerry Travers (Astaire) and the stunning Dale Tremont (Rogers) , until Dale gets the wrong idea that Jerry is already married. This case of mistaken identity leads to a series of comic shenanigans, which run on the hilarity of the ensemble players, in particular Eric Blore as persnickety butler Bates, and Erik Rhodes as Beddini, rival to Dale’s affections. Beyond the ineffable Astaire-Rogers chemistry, the real stars are a buttery Irving Berlin score and meticulously choreographed dance numbers that define grace in motion. In one charming sequence featuring the song “Isn’t This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught In The Rain)”, a sudden shower serves to bring Fred and Ginger together after a rocky start to a very tentative romance. As always, Fred’s prospects improve on the dance floor.
Just seventy minutes in length, the animated classic “Bambi” (1942) marks one of Walt Disney’s crowning achievements. The title character is a young deer born in the forest, forced to face life's sadder realities when he experiences loss at the hands of human hunters. With the passage of time and changing of the seasons, Bambi recovers and eventually grows into a fine young buck, ready to prove his own mettle. An early highlight shows a young Bambi discovering the wonders of the natural world with the advent of spring, to the delicate strains of “Little April Shower”. It’s movie magic.
In the tuneful, exuberant “Easter Parade” (1948), hoofer Don Hewes (Astaire) gets dumped on Easter by longstanding dance partner Nadine (Ann Miller), and rashly wagers he can still draw crowds, even teamed with the greenest of chorus girls. Arbitrarily, he picks one Hannah Brown (Judy Garland), and begins grooming her for stardom. Astaire’s moves, Garland’s pipes, and yet another phenomenal Berlin score combine for peerless entertainment. Standouts include the title song, the vaudevillian duet “We’re a Couple of Swells” and Astaire’s excellent solo to “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”. But let’s not forget the handsome, reedy-voiced Peter Lawford crooning “A Fella With An Umbrella” during a studio-generated downpour, with some welcome accompaniment from Judy.
Obvious as it is, how can I omit “Singin’ In The Rain”, which boasts the most famous rain sequence in film. A tribute to (and satire of) the late 20's, when Hollywood transitioned from silent films to “talkies”, Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a star with a future who meets talented unknown Kathy Selden (Reynolds), and besotted, schemes to advance her prospects. First, he must derail the career of cloying co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), a shrill femme fatale from hell-or is it Canarsie?. The sprightly Donald O'Connor plays Cosmo, Kelly's eternally loyal, energetic pal. Both the catchy period music and athletic dancing routines are sensational. With an inspired Comden & Green script, this is also the funniest musical ever made- just witness Hagen’s side-splitting performance as Lina. (Trivia note: the film’s producer, MGM’s Arthur Freed, had also written the lyrics to the score- twenty-five years earlier.)
In the iconic “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” (1961) adapted from Truman Capote’s novella, director Blake Edwards is in signature form, but his fleet-footed romantic comedy would not be a cultural touchstone without the bewitching, effervescent presence of Audrey Hepburn as central character Holly Golightly. Her Holly is a mass of contradictions: a small-town Texas girl with her feet planted firmly in the glitz of New York’s party scene; a vision of chic, elflike beauty in Givenchy and pearls, but also a frail creature harboring secrets. Hepburn plays both sides exquisitely. George Peppard is solid and likable as writer Paul, Holly’s admirer and confidante, while Patricia Neal chews on her steely role as Paul’s wealthy older mistress. With Holly’s persistent kookiness and Paul’s romantic entanglements, will the two New York transplants ever be a couple? At the unlikely moment late in the film when Holly’s cat gets caught in the rain, we get our answer, to the crescendo finish of Henry Mancini’s Oscar-winning heart-tugger, “Moon River”.
From this unforgettable ending, we move to an indelible beginning. Jacques Demy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”(1964) opens with an ingenious overhead shot of rain falling on multi-hued umbrellas , to a simple, soft rendition of Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You”. In a debut that made her an international star, nineteen year old Catherine Deneuve plays Genevieve, a stunning young woman who operates a small umbrella shop in Paris with her mother. Genevieve loves Guy ( Nino Castelnuovo), but the couple is forced to separate when Guy gets drafted for military service in Algeria. Though they vow to stay true to each other, the toll of separation and other complications gradually undermine their future. Rain and the elements punctuate how time and circumstance alter the course of life, leaving early promises not kept. Demy’s visually sumptuous masterpiece is unique in that it’s all-sung, with no spoken dialogue. Thanks to a magical score by Legrand, this bold conceit works. Lead billing also goes to the director’s vibrant color palette, a tribute to the ‘50s Hollywood musicals he adored.
At the close of the sixties, Paul Newman and up-and-comer Robert Redford would star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the first of two hugely popular collaborations with director George Roy Hill. (The other was “The Sting.”) No standard western, “Butch” romanticizes the story of the infamous “Hole in the Wall” gang with a disarmingly literate, light-hearted screenplay by William Goldman, who won an Oscar. Loosely based on true events, this cheeky, freewheeling buddy picture tracks likeable outlaw pals Butch (Newman) and Sundance (Redford) in their final months together. After twice robbing the same train, the pair heads for the hills with Sundance’s girl, Etta (Ross), eventually crossing borders to Bolivia to escape the indefatigable posse tailing them. Yet with all that transpires, the image that sticks with me most is Butch and Etta’s first ride on a bicycle (Butch to Etta: “Meet the future!”), to the strains of Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”. Though the hit song mentions rain, there’s none in sight during the scene: it’s just a sunny, dew-soaked early morning in spring. Rainy or not, this whimsical sequence crystallizes a moment of pure joy and unbridled playfulness, and provides a final bright interlude before the clouds gather in earnest for anti-heroes Butch and Sundance.
Finally, in Herbert Ross’s “The Goodbye Girl” (1977), written by Neil Simon, newly jilted Manhattan divorcee Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) is busy recovering her equilibrium, while raising precocious daughter Lucy (played by Quinn Cummings, who’s terrific). One rainy night Paula discovers the hard way that her recently departed actor-boyfriend has leased their apartment right out from under her. Worse still, the new tenant is another actor, one Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss). After some predictable conflict on Elliot’s surprise, rain-soaked arrival, she and the new thespian in her life form an uneasy truce and start sharing the apartment. Cupid takes care of the rest, but we always remember: it’s the presence of rain on that first, fateful night that makes Paula open her door to a most unexpected phenomenon: true love.
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