Miracle in the Rain | |
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Costume designer Milo Anderson and Jane Wyman on the set of Miracle in the Rain - publicity still
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Directed by | Rudolph Maté |
Produced by | Frank P. Rosenberg |
Screenplay by | Ben Hecht |
Based on | original story by Ben Hecht |
Starring |
Jane Wyman Van Johnson |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Cinematography | Russell Metty |
Edited by | Thomas Reilly |
Production
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Miracle in the Rain is a United States home front during World War II-themed novella by veteran screenwriter Ben Hecht, published in the April 3, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post weekly magazine then, within six months, issued in booklet form and, thirteen years later, following four live television productions (in 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1953) which reduced the story to plot essentials, was adapted by him into a Warner Bros. feature film released on March 31, 1956.
Hecht's 1956 screenplay is directed by Rudolph Maté and stars Jane Wyman as a lonely New York City office worker and Van Johnson as the happy-go-lucky soldier whom she meets during a downpour. Character actress Eileen Heckart, who plays Jane Wyman's office friend, and Arte Johnson, who achieved TV fame twelve years later on Laugh-In, are seen here in their debut performances on the big screen. The music is by Franz Waxman and the black-and-white cinematography is by Russell Metty. A subplot about the heroine's estranged father, which was neither in the original story nor in any of the television adaptations, became one of the elements in the embellished screenplay.
The film was produced on location, with several sequences filmed in Central Park and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Ten months before its release, while appearing as the "Mystery Guest" on the May 22, 1955 episode of CBS' live primetime weekly game show, What's My Line?, Van Johnson mentioned that he was in New York shooting scenes for his new film, Miracle in the Rain.