The Rainmaker (1926 film)

1926 film

May 10, 1926 (1926-05-10)

Running time

50 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Rainmaker is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Clarence G. Badger and written by Gerald Beaumont, Louis D. Lighton, and Hope Loring. The film stars William Collier Jr., Georgia Hale, Ernest Torrence, Brandon Hurst, Joseph J. Dowling, and Tom Wilson. The film was released on May 10, 1926, by Paramount Pictures.^[1]^[2]

Plot

As described in a film magazine review,^[3] due to an injury received during the war, a jockey is told he will never ride again. However, the injury also allows him to know through prayer whether it will rain, the knowledge useful in his betting on horse races. His nurse Nell Wendell falls in love with him, but she is later discharged from the hospital. She becomes a dancer in a saloon owned a lifetime friend, who has refused to sell his property to a rival who believies that there is oil on the land. A plague breaks out and the rival prevents aid from coming in. The jockey prays for rain with the aid of the parish priest and it comes. Nells’s friend in his will leaves his property to the couple.

Cast

William Collier Jr. as Bobby Robertson
Georgia Hale as Nell Wendell
Ernest Torrence as Mike
Brandon Hurst as Doyle
Joseph J. Dowling as Father Murphy
Tom Wilson as Chocolate
Martha Mattox as Head Nurse
Charles K. French as Hospital Doctor
Jack Richardson as Western Doctor
Melbourne MacDowell as Bennson

Preservation

With no prints of The Rainmaker located in any film archives,^[4] it is a lost film.^[5]

References

^ Hal Erickson (2015). "The-Rainmaker - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
^ "The Rainmaker". afi.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
^ "New Pictures: The Rainmaker". Exhibitors Herald. 25 (2). Chicago: Exhibitors Herald Co.: 62 March 27, 1926. Retrieved April 18, 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ The Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Rainmaker
^ The Rainmaker at Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files: Lost Paramount films - 1926