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"The Story of Temple Drake" is an infamous Pre-Code film that was withdrawn from circulation for two decades because the content of the movie was considered inappropriate after the new Production Code was put into effect in mid-1934. The tale about rape and murder was simply impossible to show based on the dictates of the new system. However, the film was later rediscovered and is considered by some one of the most daring films of the era.

When the film begins, Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) is in love with Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) and has asked her to marry him. But while she cares about him, she's also a flirtatious lady and doesn't want to yet settle down. Unfortunately her lifestyle gets her into trouble one night when she and one of her many boyfriends have an accident and they are stranded in the middle of no where. They come upon a house run by a bunch of very stereotypical white trash and eventually one of them, a thug named Trigger (Jack La Rue) rapes her and then hold her hostage as a love slave for some time thereafter. Eventually, Temple is able to break free of this monster...and walks into the middle of a court case being defended by Benbow...and if she talks about her trials, she could help get Benbow's client acquitted. But this also means talking about her ordeal in front of folks....during an era where no one would dare talk about this.

Fortunately, while the content is rather racy, the rape was NEVER shown and was handled tastefully. And, surprisingly, the topic of rape was treated rather fairly considering this was an era when women were often blamed for the assault. An important and groundbreaking film that actually stands up pretty well today...and features some powerful acting by Hopkins and Gargan.

Temple Drake is a well brought up Southern woman who has a strong wild and crazy streak. She refuses marriage proposals from Steven Benbow, a dedicated and ethical young lawyer, because she knows she isn't ready to settle down. She is, in fact, a notorious sexual tease. Soon she's being held by a group of bootleggers and is raped by a hood named Trigger. Temple's wild streak takes over and she decides to stay with Trigger, perhaps working as a prostitute. Pretty heady stuff for the 1930's!

I particularly liked the character of Benbow who willingly takes all of the pro bono criminal cases assigned to him by the judge (Temple's haughty father) and handles even the hopeless ones with great dedication. In the courtroom scene that ends this film, Benbow's skill and ethics are put to the test.

There is an extensive discussion and analysis of "Temple Drake" in Thomas Doherty, "Pre-Code Hollywood" (1999) at 114-17. The story of the film's struggle with the censors (both in Hollywood and in the states) is told in Thomas Vieira, "Sin in Soft Focus" (1999) 149-50; stills from the film appear at 158-59.

Southern belle Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) is attacked and raped by a violent bootlegger. He decides to keep her for himself and she sees no way out...until her boyfriend finds out.

I saw this many years ago (the 1990s) at a film festival and have never forgotten it. Even though they toned down the source material (William Faulkner's "Sanctuary") considerably, this is strong stuff for 1933. The acting is good, it's well-directed and has an ending that censors of the 30s hated (I won't give it away, but you can see why). Seeing it again all these years later on Blu-Ray it still holds up and looks great. It's now pretty tame and dated but good.

It's odd that this pre-Code morality tale was withdrawn by Paramount shortly after release, considering that despite its salacious content it pointed out that the girl at the center was capable of noble redemption. However that may be, "The Story of Temple Drake" works well on its own terms as a story about a flirtatious Southern belle (Miriam Hopkins in one of her best performances) whose behavioral excesses get her into a mighty mess with a band of bootleggers, including a character named Trigger (Jack LaRue in a role George Raft refused) and an embittered harridan interestingly played by Florence Eldridge (real life wife of Fredric March). Both actors benefit from Karl Struss's evocative photography.

Director Stephen Roberts and screenwriter Oliver H.P. Garrett do their early 30's best to cinematize a complicated novel (by William Faulkner) by crunching long passages of text into visually suggestive nuggets. The trouble with the gang of ne'er-do-wells is that none of them have even a twinge of a southern twang except James Eagles as the dimwitted Tommy. Besides him, the only key actor with even a slight southern accent in the whole film is Hopkins. William Gargan contrasts perfectly with the criminals as the clean-cut lawyer who loves and defends Hopkins despite her dark side. The drama builds to a breathless, memorable conclusion, concisely shot and directed for maximum effect.

Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) is an idealistic defense lawyer who is in love with Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins). She is a southern belle wild child and a tease. Her granddad Judge wants her to go with Stephen but she can't seem to marry the straight laced Stephen. She leaves a party with the drunken Toddy who crashes the car. They're taken by bootleggers. Soon she's in fear of the lowlife criminals and the drunken Toddy is useless. She is raped by the well dressed killer Trigger (Jack La Rue). He kidnaps her as his kept woman. Stephen investigates Trigger for a murder and finds Temple. She pretends to be Trigger's woman to send Stephen off.

The controversial salacious content is pre-code. There is some violence and a lot of suggested sexuality. It's actually effective as a noir style movie. The surprising thing is that it's still very watchable. The acting isn't always the best. William Gargan is a bit stiff. Miriam Hopkins is playing it very melodramatically as is usually the case of this era. It works in this melodrama. Jack La Rue is great as the quietly threatening villain.

Just caught this gem last night at the Film Forum during their incredible Pre-Code Women festival!

Top acting honors to Miriam Hopkins, Jack La Rue et al. It is truly amazing how some of the pre-code dramas and comedies (sadly most of them missing from video, much less dvd!) hold up so incredibly well.

While I admire the ingenuity and class that some of the later 30's and 40's movies had in dealing with the Code restrictions, early dramas like The Story of Temple Drake demonstrate the same artistry in handling a sexually frank storyline.

Little Faulkner is left in this, but the mood and atmosphere of this film is superb!

Provocative and racy this hard to find film is loaded with infamy. If you started watching not knowing it was a pre-code it would only take a few minutes to realized it. Full of a wantonness and sense of depravity that wouldn't be seen in movies for decades after, this sin-fest features rape, murder and many other shocking events with a frank candor. Even the advertising for the film was lurid, just look at the poster to get an idea of how the film was sold. Many of the cast are rather ham handed in their portrayals, William Gargan in particular, but Miriam Hopkins lights up the screen with a vibrant sensuality and a compelling presence. A truly talented actress it's a shame that behind the scenes she was such a difficult and brazen up-stager that it irrevocably damaged her career and shortened her star period.

This is probably the most daring precode picture made. Miriam Hopkins starred and I can't think of anyone else who would have been just as good. Even Harlow wouldn't have worked. She never played such an amoral C.T. as Temple. Jack LaRue was absolutely perfect as Trigger. Such a face. Extraordinarily good looking and yet resolutely menacing. I'll never understand why he never was used as a romantic lead in any of his movies that I know. Read the other reviews for plot details. They are precise. I purchased my copy privately on DVD. I've always wanted to see it. It was worth it. The settings and lighting were extremely good for the story and time in cinema history. Hooray for the director and all of the technicians,

Even for a pre-Code movie, this is pretty tough stuff. Granted, it doesn't get into the most sordid aspects of Faulkner's novel - a pot-boiler that he wrote when his serious works failed to earn him any money - but it's still very somber: a Southern society girl out on a binge with a drunken playboy gets raped by a gangster, set up in a Memphis brothel, and then finally kills the gangster. (In the novel, the gangster, originally named Popeye, is impotent, and so likes to watch others do what he cannot do.) You can certainly understand why the League of Decency went after this. And, frankly, I'm not sure I see what the point of making this movie was. I don't know who would enjoy it.

Which is not to say that it's a poorly made movie. Quite to the contrary.

Miriam Hopkins, whom I know from a string of fluffy mildly suggestive Ernst Lubitsch-type comedies - The Smiling Lieutenant, Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living - gives a very impressive performance here as a Zelda Fitzgerald type who ends up being terrified out of her wits when she encounters a world of people very different from her native high-society circles. I have a lot more respect for her as an actress after seeing this.

The direction here, by Stephen Roberts, is also quite good at times, with very effective cinematography in the scenes set at the gangsters' hideout.

I can imagine that this movie would be very unpleasant viewing for a lot of women. It tells a gruesome story, and does nothing to keep it light. It's certainly worth seeing for Hopkins' performance, but it won't put you in a good mood.

Temple Drake is a flamboyant flirt who likes to lead men on, and then say " NO " ! She is the grand-daughter of a prominent judge, so this kind of behavior is scandalous, for the times. An attorney in her grandfather's court is in love with her, and she says she's been in love with him since childhood, but she loves the life of a Party Girl more.

One night she leaves a party with a drunk guy who drives too fast and crashes the car. They are found by Trigger, a lowlife bootlegger, which is the least of his crimes...he is also a rapist and murderer, as Temple will soon find out. She and the drunk driver are invited into a house, with a motley group of Trigger's cohorts. The Drunk Driver is happy to accept the invitation, as he wants another drink...but Temple insists she'll wait outside, as she senses trouble. Eventually, she is forced inside, as it starts to thunderstorm, as it does in all those creepy old Boris Karloff movies.

Temple is witness to repulsive deeds by this Trigger, including the murder of a young boy who was trying to help Temple. He arranges for an innocent man to go on trial for the murder, and the trial attorney is the one in love with Temple.

Temple is afraid to take the witness stand, because the scandal of her being involved with these criminals would be too hard on her Grandfather.....can the attorney who loves her convince her to take the stand, free an innocent man and get the true heinous criminal off the streets ?? Will she do it ? ! Buy the DVD and see !

I have not read "Sanctuary" but "The Story of Temple Drake" is a nasty story populated by some nasty people bracketed by some good people. Somewhere in the middle is Temple Drake, a southern tease who is asking for trouble, and finds it. This must be Miriam Hopkins' best performance as she goes from debutante to fallen woman before regaining her equilibrium and self-respect. Her final few scenes are outstanding and might have earned her an Oscar nomination in a later time period and in a less controversial film.

Mention must be made of Jack LaRue, who plays Trigger, the villain of the piece. A repugnant figure, Trigger is the thoroughly rotten personification of evil and LaRue is terrific in the part. Like Miss Hopkins, this must be the high point of his long career which began in silents.

"The Story of Temple Drake" was shocking for its time and still packs a wallop today. Unlike today's fare, it leaves much off the screen to the imagination, which can be substantial depending on your frame of mind. It was one of the pictures chiefly responsible for the introduction of the Hays Code the following year.

A fabulously engrossing film with a brilliant performance from Miriam Hopkins imbuing incredible sensitivity and depth to the complex titular hero which is exceptional for the early thirties.

Like The Wizard of Oz, this is about a young woman's discovery that everything she thought she knew and wanted was wrong. Whether by her own fault or not, she is expelled from her comfortable and familiar world into a world she could never have imagined could possibly exist. You can feel her genuine terror as she finds herself in the living nightmare of that horrible alien place, an invisible but parallel world which exists unseen by her own privileged class. This is not the world of fun, bumbling gangsters and wise-cracking dames as portrayed in the movies, this is the scary real world of hopelessness and despair. She is in a world which she can see no way of escaping from so resigns herself that she is and maybe has always been part of.

Because this was made just as the Production Code was starting to become enforced, the story was heavily censored (but not as much as it would have been had it been made just a few months later.) In this instance however the restrictions of censorship add a further layer of nuance which actually enhance the experience. This is one of those films where by saying and showing less says more than saying and showing more ever could. It engages your imagination to fill in the gaps giving the story and the characters a real life beyond the confines of the screen.

Apart from a few old-school hammy actors, most of the acting is first rate and the writing and production, as you'd expect from Paramount is faultless. Although it does feel like 'an old film,' because it is set in the Deep South it gives it a timeless feel, it's not stuck in say 1930s New York, it's in a strange amorphous dream world which might even exist now?

A spoiled and coquettish high society Southern belle goes on a crazy joyride with one of her suitors at night when the car goes out of control and they take a plunge into darkness and fate. One of the racy pre-code flicks that tackled taboo subjects this is an interesting and watchable relic that's more a reflection of its time than any great artistic merit. Miriam Hopkins isn't much of a looker to be the goddess that men go nuts over but she turns out a fine performance as the torn victim of fate. With his mean none too comely features Jack La Rue is the embodiment of the Depression-era gangster as he snarls his way into an early grave. Of course, with films of this vintage the history in display always adds to the appeal as the noirish black and white coats in an elegant sheen the fashion and mores of a bygone age. A viewable time capsule from the distant past.

The notorious and rarely-seen (it's not even listed in Maltin's book)1933 adaption of William Faulkner's "Sanctuary" was unveiled to NY audiences last week at the Film Forum. The film is beautifully shot, and has an amazing performance by Miriam Hopkins as the southern belle who gets kidnapped and raped by a gangster, but stays with him by choice. At the conclusion, there was a richly-deserved round of applause. The rights are owned by Universal Home Video now--start writing them to get this lost masterpiece onto the video shelves.

In the steamy South during Prohibition, sexy blonde Miriam Hopkins (as Temple Drake) likes to party but won't put out. The granddaughter of respected judge Guy Standing (as Sir Guy Standing), Ms. Hopkins declines marrying lawyer William Gargan (as Stephen "Steve" Benbow) because she wants to continue living the wild life. Admittedly, she has a wicked streak. Out with a drunken William Collier Jr. (as Toddy Gowan) one night, Hopkins is stranded with gangsters at an old plantation mansion being used as a speakeasy, after their car crashes. Mother of the house Florence Eldridge (as Ruby Lemarr) realizes one of the men will soon find his way into Hopkins and doesn't want it to be her man Irving Pichel (as Lee Goodwin). She arranges for Hopkins to be taken to the barn for safekeeping, guarded by slow-witted James Eagles (as Tommy)...

After her "lingerie scene" for theater viewers, Hopkins is raped by head bootlegger Jack La Rue (as "Trigger"). Mr. La Rue memorably plays almost his entire villainous part with a just-lighted cigarette in his mouth. This film's lighting and photography by Karl Struss is excellent, by the way. The story is based on the novel "Sanctuary" by William Faulkner. Therein, "Temple Drake" is known as an easy lay; but here, her bathroom wall advertisement is altered to "Temple Drake is just a fake. She wants to eat and have her cake." That she enjoyed her sexual encounters with her abductor is downplayed; in the book, those where accomplished with a corncob and other men, since the novel's character was physically unable to perform. Many viewers familiar with the book imagined those events simply took place off screen, and this film welcomed the thoughts.

******* The Story of Temple Drake (5/6/33) Stephen Roberts ~ Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, William Collier Jr.

Well when they say that they do not make films like they used to. That was because Hollywood introduced strict censorship laws in the early 1930s with the result that The Story of Temple Drake could not be shown for some years as it was made pre code.

Wealthy party girl Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) turns down a marriage proposal from promising young lawyer Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) as she prefers her flirty flighty lifestyle.

While on a wild car ride with a drunken young man, the car crashes in a stormy night and Temple finds herself in an isolated farmhouse run by some lowlife bootleggers.

A pretty woman like Temple attracts the attention of the men in the farmhouse who give her lusty looks. Even though a farmer's wife tries to protect her with a dim fitted farmer's hand Tommy standing as guard. Trigger (Jack La Rue) is determined to rape her which he does after killing Tommy and then keeps Temple as his woman in a brothel.

Meanwhile Benbow is defending a man wrongfully accused of murdering Tommy. He finally manages to track down Trigger and to his surprise discovers Temple with him.

The criminal trial turns on whether Temple gives evidence and admits in public what has happened to her.

At the time of the film's release some of the reviews were unfavourable due to the salacious subject matter.

Of course now as a drama it is dated and even clunky. I can appreciate that some of it is strong stuff for a film of its era. You can sense the kind of danger Temple is in even though the movie pulls its punches from the much darker novel that this has been adapted from.

I was surprised to see this listed in the schedule on TCM, and being somewhat of a Faulkner buff, thought I would give it a try. This film is based, a bit loosely, on the novel Sanctuary. I found Miriam Hopkins to be quite effective as the title character, although to our contemporary eyes she looks to be closer to 30 than the teenager she is in the book. Several of the names have been changed from the original source for whatever reason, hence Popeye in the book becomes "Trigger", well-played by a sinister-looking Jack LaRue. Temple's father in the book is a prominent judge, while here it's her grandfather. I thought the exterior set design of the dilapidated mansion (The Old Frenchman's Place) and surrounding woods were authentically done. Does anyone else think the ending was a bit abrupt?