MIRACLE IN THE RAIN: look past the leads to find the real star

There's not much to recommend this 1956 World War Two-based weepie from Warner Bros.
Certainly not the sappy performances by its stars Jane Wyman and Van Johnson, and definitely not the tedious story or lifeless black and white photography.

The only reason to suffer through this dragged out tale of love, loss and longing is to marvel at the wonders actress Eileen Heckart achieves with the typically thankless role of the heroine's best friend.
According to the ABC of Hollywood romance/drama/rom-com storytelling the sole responsibility of the heroine's best friend is to make the heroine look good. Sure, she can provide a shoulder to cry on when the romance goes wrong and she might even be the purveyor of nuggets of wisdom which get that romance back on track, but she can only land a fella for herself once the heroine's fixed up, and she must never NEVER be more attractive than the female lead.
It's not kind of role many actresses aspire to. Not just because it doesn't say much about your looks but also because there's also not a whole lot of scope to stretch one's acting chops. The best friend is there to loyally back-up the star and ensure her on-screen life builds to a bed of roses, while hers - more often than not - remains a bed of rose thorns.
Heckart grabbed my attention because she transcends these cliches and expectations to create in Grace Ullman a three dimensional living and breathing character that I actually cared about and empathised with. 
Yes, Grace is there to encourage and support friend and work colleague Ruth Wood (Wyman) in her budding romance with soldier on leave Art Hugenon (Johnson), but we're also given a real sense that she also has a life and dreams of her own. Grace lives alone and would like to be in a relationship but she isn't living her life vicariously through Ruth and Art.
When Ruth brings her along for moral support on her first date with Art, there's no sense of Grace being the intrusive, unwanted third wheel. Socially she's considerably more adept than Wyman's awkward over-age spinster and contributes enormously to the success of that first night.One senses that without Grace's participation Art would have scared off the timid Ruth with his overbearing good nature and relentless chatter.

But the moment that absolutely confirmed to me that I was watching a great actress at work (and in her film debut no less!) occurs an hour and 13 minutes in, when Grace finds a despondent Ruth moping in Central Park over her lost love. Wyman is the one weeping, emoting and wringing her hands, but Heckart was the one I couldn't keep my eyes off of as she offers just the right amount of consolation and reassurance, while only hinting at the pain she's experienced in her own life. It's understated, real and deeply moving, and on checking out her bio on imdb afterwards I wasn't surprised to learn that she went on to pick up numerous acting nominations and awards later in her career including - in 1972 - the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
The saccharine storyline may play havoc with your blood sugar level, but if you want to watch a great character actress at work, it's worth the discomfort. What Heckart achieves is the real miracle of MIRACLE IN THE RAIN.