Hollywood showers

FOR me, the first rain scene was in The Keys of the Kingdom, which begins with heavy rains and floods and the hero’s dad dies in it. Still remember those swirling waters, a traumatic sight for a six-year-old, visually dazzling but a tad frightening too. Based on A. J. Cronin’s novel, it was set in China and had Gregory Peck as the missionary priest who made an indelible mark on one’s mind. That he went on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is now history but he also displayed his immense versatility.

Rain, however, is not such a phenomenon in the United States as it is in India. As for the United Kingdom, it rains almost perennially and, in fact, it is a hindrance rather than a celebration.

But the musical Singin’ in the Rain is a clear celebration with the exuberant Gene Kelly doing his act, now copied by so many movies, foreign and Indian. It was directed by Stanley Donen known for his musicals and had Donald O’Conner, another great dancer in it. Actually Kelly and Fred Astaire, the tap dancer par excellence, formed an unbeatable pair. It was sheer poetry to see them at it, as for Astaire, it was only the lower half of his body that moved.

Shot in 1952, it was the glorious age of the Hollywood musical that flourished in the Studio system with Vincent Minnelli (Liza’s dad) being one of the leading lights. Liza’s mother was Judy Garland, also one of Hollywood’s greats. Little wonder that Liza had music in her veins.

There was also a more or less innocuous film called The Rain People (1969) that dealt with the adventures of a depressed housewife (Shirley Knight), who drives the lone road where she runs into a retarded stranger (James Caan), who tries to protect her. It was rather meandering and had a rain dance in it but it was directed by a comparatively unknown named Francis Ford Coppola. It was also the period when Hollywood films dealt with human problems, thanks to moon-landing, flower power and the decreasing hold of religion. They came close to European cinema in handling realism. And, of course, Coppola had already shown his spark of greatness.

And, of course, one just cannot forget George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, an off-beat western with two unlikely bank robbers Paul Newman and Robert Redford and the moll in tow is Katherine Ross, the runaway bride of The Graduate. In fact, it is a delightful sequence of Paul Newman and Katerine Ross (on the handle bar) singing "Raindrops are falling on my head." It was like the birds and other of nature’s creatures rejoicing at the advent of the rain. And what a tuneful hit it was. So was the film.

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