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Baby, the Rain Must Fall’ is an odd film in just about every conceivable way, but one thing about that is rock solid is the title. The first oddity you’ll find (once you watch it) is that the synopsis on the back of the DVD bares only the faintest resemblance to what happens in the film. ***

Steve McQueen plays Henry Thomas, a man recently out on parole who is unsure of his future. He has a history as a rockabilly crooner, and can easily get gigs as same. He also has a wife (Lee Remick) and daughter who come to his hometown to meet up with him after his release. What he mainly has, however, is a Miss Kate. Miss Kate is a very old woman of undisclosed, but obvious, importance, who raised Henry when he turned up orphaned many years ago. We’re never given much information about Miss Kate directly, we only know that everyone gets an odd look when her name is mentioned. It would appear that she all but owned the town at one time, or at least had it in her pocket, and she’s also quite on the crazy side. ***

Henry obviously had a truly bizarre childhood, and one effect of that was his incarceration for stabbing a man during a drunken brawl. The exact details of that encounter are, of course, unknown to us. Now Henry finds himself in his hometown again, but apparently Miss Kate had much to do with his getting parole in the first place, so she has him under her thumb again. She doesn’t like him singing, and she’s going to do her best to make sure he doesn’t start up again. Throw Henry’s wife and daughter into the mix, and Henry has no idea what to do. He has to support his family, but he doesn’t know any other way to make much of a living, and he has dreams of trying to make it in Nashville or Hollywood. ***

As the movie progresses, we see Henry struggle with the various aspects of his life, and the conflict of choosing to continue his singing career. His wife couldn’t be more supportive, but he isn’t sure what to do with such support. It’s a uniquely interesting sort of character study, but one that ultimately doesn’t know what to do with itself. An early foray into the realm of psychological drama, the movie seems to realize that it treads dangerous ground for its time, and is ultimately as unsure what to do with itself as is its hero. ***

We have to ultimately blame Horton Foote for the film’s shortcomings, and its inability to engage, and that’s a little surprising. Foote, who wrote the screenplay from his own play, has delivered solid screenplays of other work (‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Of Mice and Men’), and has produced solid original work screenplays as well (‘Tender Mercies’, ‘Alone’). Here, while there are many interesting elements, and intriguing characters, nothing ever comes together, and this seems a result of trying to do too much by way of hints and subtlety. Miss Kate is an entire world of mystery, and though we can surely put together her pieces, the story doesn’t lead us to any conclusion about anything, whether it be her, Henry, or simply why we should bother. ***

From every other standpoint of the film we seem to be on solid ground. Robert Mulligan (yes, the brother of actor Richard Mulligan of ‘Soap’ and ‘Empty Nest’ fame) seems to be doing his usual fine directing. You may recall some of Mulligan’s better work: ‘The Great Impostor’, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the trend-starting ‘Up the Down Staircase’, ‘Same Time, Next Year’. He presents us with a very similar feel, and that’s a good thing in this case. The acting is certainly not overly flawed either. McQueen does his best with what he has to work with, and Remick is wonderful and portraying just the sort of woman intended here, but neither of them can get much past the writing here. –

The picture on the DVD is excellent, almost beyond compare given a film of this age shot in black-and-white. The detail is amazing, better than it was upon initial release I imagine. There were only two moments that I noticed any sort of problem, and those were both in extremely dark scenes when shadow edge became all but completely lost. However, that’s hardly a problem worth noting all thing considered. The contrast is surprisingly realistic, and all around this is simply a wonderful treatment. ***

The sound leaves a bit to be desired, but I imagine there wasn’t all that much to work with. The dialogue is very clear, and the sound for the most part is just fine, but there are some glitches with hiss becoming apparent here and there, and a few noticeable level drops. In some ways, the sound is too good actually, because McQueen doesn’t do his own singing. On the one hand, I wonder if the less brilliant sound of the original didn’t make this at least somewhat harder to detect. On the other hand, the sound is so clear now that it is very obvious (if you’re really listening) when the voice-over track comes on, as it takes over the other sound to a great degree.