Joan Crawford’s Rain is a sweaty, frantic fever dream

Is it worth your time?

If you want to see Joan Crawford absolutely chewing the scenery until there’s nothing left but sawdust, yes. You should watch this. If you’re looking for a quiet, nuanced study of religion or character growth, you are going to hate every single second of this.

It’s loud. It’s humid. Everyone is sweating through their clothes, and the sound of the rain never stops. It’s like being trapped in a closet with a group of people who all desperately need a vacation and a glass of cold water. 🌧️

The Crawford Factor

Joan Crawford shows up in this movie like a hurricane in a cheap hat. Her performance is so big it makes the screen feel small. There’s a scene where she’s just pacing around her room, and you can practically hear her internal monologue screaming, “Get me off this island!”

She isn’t subtle. She’s playing a woman who is tired of being told how to live, and she wears that exhaustion like a neon sign. It’s a million miles away from something like Stage Fright where the tension feels much colder and calculated. Here, the tension is hot and smells like wet wool.

The Missionary Problem

Walter Huston as the missionary is a different kind of scary. He starts off stiff and ends up looking like he’s losing his grip on reality entirely. It’s fascinating to watch his moral high ground turn into a crumbling cliffside.

Honestly, the way they stare at each other? It’s uncomfortable. It’s not romantic. It’s like watching two animals circling each other in a cage that’s way too small.

• The rain sound effect is looped so much it eventually starts sounding like white noise.
• The lighting makes everyone look like they haven’t slept in a week.
• I’m pretty sure someone forgot to tell the extras they weren't in a stage play.

Some of the dialogue feels like it was written to be shouted over a gale-force wind. It’s clunky. Sometimes it’s just plain weird. But it works because nobody in this movie is acting like a normal human being anyway.

It’s not perfect. It’s not even close to being 'polished.' It has that frantic energy you find in movies like Woman to Woman, where the stakes feel personal even if the plot is leaning into melodrama. I kept waiting for someone to just stop talking and go to sleep, but that’s not what happens here.

It’s messy, a little bit sweaty, and completely unhinged. Watch it if you want to see what happens when you put two people who refuse to back down in the middle of a monsoon. ⛈️