Miracle In The Rain DVD Review

In the busy city of wartime New York in 1942 a soldier and a simple secretary meet in Miracle in the Rain. The rest, as they say, is history. Arthur (Van Johnson) is a soldier on leave exploring New York with nothing to do and nobody to spend his time with until he meets Ruth (Jane Wyman), a quiet secretary caring for her mother. Arthur basically invites himself to dinner at Ruth’s home with her mother after they are stuck in the rain together. She doesn’t say much, but certainly doesn’t say no.

Arthur brings life back into Ruth’s home by using her father’s old things, including an out of tune piano which he plays for her after they have dinner in her home with Ruth’s mother. Ruth immediately takes to the energetic young man after having lived such a heavy and responsible life taking care of her mother. Ruth’s mother suffers terribly ever since her husband and Ruth’s father walked out on them. Arthur comes in a brilliant amount of energy and suddenly Ruth doesn’t see her apartment, or New York the same any more. They fall in love over the time he is given day passes to come into the city, until there is rumor he might be shipped out soon. Inevitably Arthur must leave, and Ruth is faced with the difficult task of praying for his safe arrival after the war.

Miracle in the Rain is a dreadfully somber film, despite many attempts at humor during the first half of the film. Even with Johnson’s energetic Arthur, Wyman has a face which just naturally looks very sad, and her character isn’t much of a cheerful or energetic person like Arthur. She is a quiet little secretary who just happens to stumble into the arms of a lonely soldier. Many scenes in the film seem set up for a little bit of weeping, breaking out all of the big guns for this wartime melodrama.

The DVD includes two vintage segments from a television series, Warner Bros. Presents. There is also a theatrical trailer.