Review of Baby the Rain Must Fall

Based on a short-lived Horton Foote play "The Traveling Lady", this character study focuses on faithful wife Remick, who is reuniting with her husband McQueen who has just been released from prison after several years following a stabbing. Arriving in his hometown, she is surprised to find that he has actually been released for close to a month and is working for room and board at a local couple's home while pursuing a career as a honky-tonk singer at night. Overseeing his behavior with great dismay is his decrepit foster mother Simmons, who prefers him to attend night school in order to make a living. As McQueen struggles to readjust to life on the outside, now with a family to support, he longs for Simmons' approval of his dream to sing for a living. Meanwhile, as Remick begins to break under the weight of McQueen's issues, local Deputy Sheriff Murray provides support, even as he is grappling with the loss of his own spouse. Remick, an actress who usually exuded brains and sophistication, tries hard here to present a simple and plain character and generally succeeds. McQueen takes on a role that is almost autobiographical in terms of the character's past. He is quite authentic and believable except when it comes to the singing. Here he is notably poor at lip-synching and effectively rendering the musical numbers in the film. It's a shame because, otherwise, this is among his best work as a legitimate actor. Murray is amiable and sensitive. Block gives a very unaffected and naturalistic performance as McQueen and Remick's little girl. (This is her only screen credit.) A number of talented character actors dot the cast, though most of them could do a lot more than for what they are called upon. It is perhaps not the most arresting movie since very little actually happens over the course of it, but it does contain some committed acting work from its cast, sports some nice black and white photography, has a vivid, weary, small-town atmosphere and begins with Saul Bass-inspired credits. Also, the title tune (a hit single for Glen Yarbrough) and another one or two numbers are heard. Impatient viewers may bail out long before the end, though fans of the stars should see it and will likely enjoy it.