A film that's all personality, with only the slimmest of plots, this early Capra talkie is a delightful showpiece for the forgotten Joe Cook, one of Broadway's most endearing clowns, whose stage hit Rain or Shine is the basis of the film. Leonard Maltin, writing for the film's 1976 revival at The Museum of Modern Art notes, “Joe Cook...works with two memorable stooges: dour, bespectacled Tom Howard, best remembered as the radio and television host of ‘It Pays to Be Ignorant,' and Brillo-haired clown Dave Chasen.... In this film Cook runs the gamut...from inspired double-talk dialogue to wondrous feats of juggling.... Rain or Shine should never be dismissed as an early-talkie stage transplant. Capra and his ace cameraman Joseph Walker devised some very impressive tracking shots which incorporate live sound recording; knowing and effective camera angles highlight other key scenes in the film. Rain or Shine was a great success.... Unfortunately it was Joe Cook's only starring feature...(and he) is barely known to film buffs, just a glowing memory for theatergoers of the 1920s and '30s.”