The Rains Came (1939)

Set in the Indian city of Ranchipur, a jaded playgirl (Myrna Loy) married to a titled British aristocrat (Nigel Bruce) has her eyes set on the local native physician (Tyrone Power, weak but looking impossibly handsome). A dissolute painter (George Brent) finds himself the object of affection from a missionary's daughter (Brenda Joyce). When a horrendous earthquake and flood  followed by a plague epidemic threatens to destroy the city, duty must be put forward before personal lives. Based on the novel by Louis Bromfield and directed by Clarence Brown (THE YEARLING). 20th Century Fox spared no expense in this lavish adaptation of Bromfield's novel. They imported Loy and director Brown from MGM as well as Brent from Warner Brothers. Loy is particularly good playing against type rather than the usual perfect wives she played at MGM. The special effects were top notch for its day and good enough to win the best special effects Oscar over THE WIZARD OF OZ. A first rate melodrama. Remade in 1955 under the title THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR in CinemaScope. Also in the cast: Maria Ouspenskaya, Joseph Schildkraut, Jane Darwell, Marjorie Rambeau, Henry Travers and H.B. Warner.