79 reviews
RAIN (United Artists, 1932), directed by Lewis Milestone, from the short story about sex, sin and salvation by W. Somerset Maugham, stars Miss Joan Crawford (courtesy of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company), in one of her most prestigious movie roles that stands in a class by itself. Originating as a 1922 stage play starring Broadway's legendary Jeanne Eagles, it first appeared on screen during the silent era as SADIE THOMPSON (United Artists, 1928), starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore. Regardless of its then controversial subject matter, it did well at the box office, earning Swanson an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, it was remade as RAIN. Considering what might have been logical choice in having Swanson and Barrymore reprising their original roles with spoken dialog in place of title cards, Crawford and Walter Huston, forceful screen personalities, were fine substitutes. Unfortunately, lightning or heavy rains didn't strike twice, for that Crawford's sound adaptation reportedly became a box-office flop. The fault might have been for its bad timing, remaking a film so close to its original, and Jeanne Eagles still being in the memory of those who have witnessed her performance on stage, yet had RAIN been distributed a few years later, it might have met with problems with the censors and production code, thus, not having that spark of solid dialog that this version has, and yet, probably would not have had that "filmed stage play" appearance either. The camera does take time out for some location viewing of the Cataline Islands, where portions of the film were reportedly lensed.
For the benefit of those who are totally unfamiliar with the Maugham story and/or the movie itself, the plot is set in Pago Pago, the Samoan island where a group of steamer passengers are forced to remain because of a minor epidemic on board. And due to the heavy rains, they find they must stay a little longer than anticipated. Among the passengers entering the island's general store/hotel run by Joe Horn (Guy Kibbee) and his native wife (Mary Shaw) are Doctor Robert MacPhail (Matt Moore), a philosopher, and wife, Nina (Kendall Lee); Alfred and Martha Davidson (Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi), a missionary couple, among others. Entertaining the Marines in her state room is Miss Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford), a prostitute, who enjoys the company of men, playing loud jazzy music and cigarette smoking. She quickly catches the eye of Sergeant Tim O'Hara (William Gargan) but the disapproval of Davidson, who objects to her immoral ways such as drinking and smoking on the Sabbath. At first Davidson forces himself upon her to reform. All he finds is that his religious persistence annoys her and that Sadie can be equally demanding and powerful as he. Sadie tries to meet him half way when she learns that she must return to San Francisco and serve a three year prison sentence, and becomes bitter when Davidson won't give in to her pleas. Eventually Davidson does succeed in saving Sadie's immortal soul by cleansing her from her sins, but in turn, Davidson soon finds himself being lead into temptation and unable to be delivered from evil.
For many years, RAIN has earned the reputation as being one of Crawford's mistakes. On the contrary, it's Crawford's performance that keeps the story together. For the first hour, she appears with cat eyes, heavy makeup, curly hair, cigarette, birth mark under the left side of her chin and wearing a tight checkered dress. Her transformation scene occurring later having Crawford's Sadie cleansed from her sins and appearing pure at heart, is surprisingly effective. Walter Huston almost upstages Crawford every which way he can. He, too, gives a solid performance as the Reverend Davidson. The famous scene where Davidson recites the Lord's prayer with the swearing Sadie suddenly reciting the prayer with him, is one of the film's true memorable moments. This scene itself became a clip used for the mid 1970s TV show, "Don Adams Screen Test," for young hopefuls to re-enact this particular scene and win a trip to Hollywood and a part in an upcoming TV show or motion picture. Up to then, RAIN was winning a new audience.
Director Milestone was given a difficult task in keeping the pace moving by circling the camera around, moving it at all different angles so not to focus on the central characters for any length of time. His directing technique might not meet with much appreciation today, but his overlooked method as to how to develop the story and characters on a set stage are evident here. Along with forceful dialog, Milestone full takes advantage of this new medium of sound with the use of repeated rain heard falling on the ground and rooftops. The Alfred Newman underscoring benefits the film as well.
I first came across RAIN when it made a special television presentation on WNEW, Channel 5, in New York City, June 10, 1973. Preceding the movie was a surprise presentation by Joan Crawford herself giving her profile about working in RAIN. Initially released at 93 minutes, a 77 minute print was presented during its 90 minute time slot with commercial interruptions. By the 1980s, however, RAIN became one of many public domain titles distributed to home video, mostly in full length. Cable television presentations shortly afterwards, ranging from Arts and Entertainment and the Learning Channel (1980s), American Movie Classics (1991-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere March 8, 2007).
Columbia updated the Maugham story to post World War I as MISS SADIE THOMPSON (1953) starring Rita Hayworth and Jose Ferrer, with the addition of Technicolor and songs. Of the three screen incarnations of Sadie Thompson vs. The Reverend Davidson (The Prostitute and the Reformer), RAIN (1932) is the best known and revived, especially on rainy day. Although the film itself has aged, the story itself hasn't. (**1/2)
For the benefit of those who are totally unfamiliar with the Maugham story and/or the movie itself, the plot is set in Pago Pago, the Samoan island where a group of steamer passengers are forced to remain because of a minor epidemic on board. And due to the heavy rains, they find they must stay a little longer than anticipated. Among the passengers entering the island's general store/hotel run by Joe Horn (Guy Kibbee) and his native wife (Mary Shaw) are Doctor Robert MacPhail (Matt Moore), a philosopher, and wife, Nina (Kendall Lee); Alfred and Martha Davidson (Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi), a missionary couple, among others. Entertaining the Marines in her state room is Miss Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford), a prostitute, who enjoys the company of men, playing loud jazzy music and cigarette smoking. She quickly catches the eye of Sergeant Tim O'Hara (William Gargan) but the disapproval of Davidson, who objects to her immoral ways such as drinking and smoking on the Sabbath. At first Davidson forces himself upon her to reform. All he finds is that his religious persistence annoys her and that Sadie can be equally demanding and powerful as he. Sadie tries to meet him half way when she learns that she must return to San Francisco and serve a three year prison sentence, and becomes bitter when Davidson won't give in to her pleas. Eventually Davidson does succeed in saving Sadie's immortal soul by cleansing her from her sins, but in turn, Davidson soon finds himself being lead into temptation and unable to be delivered from evil.
For many years, RAIN has earned the reputation as being one of Crawford's mistakes. On the contrary, it's Crawford's performance that keeps the story together. For the first hour, she appears with cat eyes, heavy makeup, curly hair, cigarette, birth mark under the left side of her chin and wearing a tight checkered dress. Her transformation scene occurring later having Crawford's Sadie cleansed from her sins and appearing pure at heart, is surprisingly effective. Walter Huston almost upstages Crawford every which way he can. He, too, gives a solid performance as the Reverend Davidson. The famous scene where Davidson recites the Lord's prayer with the swearing Sadie suddenly reciting the prayer with him, is one of the film's true memorable moments. This scene itself became a clip used for the mid 1970s TV show, "Don Adams Screen Test," for young hopefuls to re-enact this particular scene and win a trip to Hollywood and a part in an upcoming TV show or motion picture. Up to then, RAIN was winning a new audience.
Director Milestone was given a difficult task in keeping the pace moving by circling the camera around, moving it at all different angles so not to focus on the central characters for any length of time. His directing technique might not meet with much appreciation today, but his overlooked method as to how to develop the story and characters on a set stage are evident here. Along with forceful dialog, Milestone full takes advantage of this new medium of sound with the use of repeated rain heard falling on the ground and rooftops. The Alfred Newman underscoring benefits the film as well.
I first came across RAIN when it made a special television presentation on WNEW, Channel 5, in New York City, June 10, 1973. Preceding the movie was a surprise presentation by Joan Crawford herself giving her profile about working in RAIN. Initially released at 93 minutes, a 77 minute print was presented during its 90 minute time slot with commercial interruptions. By the 1980s, however, RAIN became one of many public domain titles distributed to home video, mostly in full length. Cable television presentations shortly afterwards, ranging from Arts and Entertainment and the Learning Channel (1980s), American Movie Classics (1991-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere March 8, 2007).
Columbia updated the Maugham story to post World War I as MISS SADIE THOMPSON (1953) starring Rita Hayworth and Jose Ferrer, with the addition of Technicolor and songs. Of the three screen incarnations of Sadie Thompson vs. The Reverend Davidson (The Prostitute and the Reformer), RAIN (1932) is the best known and revived, especially on rainy day. Although the film itself has aged, the story itself hasn't. (**1/2)
Try to see this on as big a viewing screen as you can, as the film is often quite dark, and Crawford is so beautiful in it you'll want a good look. I loved it!
In this second screen version of W. Somerset Maugham's morality tale, "Rain", Joan Crawford gives a performance that knocks the rest of the cast off the screen.
First made as a silent with Gloria Swanson, the stageplay "Miss Sadie Thompson" had been a controversial broadway hit, and young Joan Crawford fought hard to get the coveted role of Sadie. She shed her drawing room manners and designer gowns, researching the part by visiting the red-light district of San Diego to see what the street-walkers of the day looked and sounded like. Her appearance in the film was considered offensive for it's realism, and the film stiffed at the box office. Sadly, it's financial failure relegated Crawford to years of popular but light-weight "respectable" roles, before her Oscar-calibre performances of the 1940's and 50's.
But for audiences of today, the film is worth reconsidering. The other performers are wooden and stilted but Crawford's performance, embarrassingly natural in 1932, leaps off the screen. The topic matter that was so controversial, even offensive, in the early 1930's is not a hard sell to modern audiences: that bible-thumpers aren't always the good guys, and "sinners" aren't always so bad.
Further, the feminist aspect of the film is clearer today. As Sadie makes her way around the Pacific, a fun-loving free-spirit often one step ahead of the law, it's the fact that she's a female that draws the ire of the puritanical fire-and-brimstone missionaries: a young man would have gotten away with it.
And for us post-Woodstock viewers this touching story strikes a familiar chord: of the harmless, light-hearted kid who hurts no-one but whose very existence is offensive to the powers that be.
And it must fairly be said that when she was a young (I think she's about 25 when she made this) she is a strikingly beautiful babe, heavy make-up or not.
If you've ever written Crawford off as "man-ish" or "bitchy" because of roles she did later in her life, check out this movie and take a look at the sexy, vivacious girl who was once described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as "the personification of the American flapper"!
I found the film fascinating (that's why I went on to look up all the above information).
In this second screen version of W. Somerset Maugham's morality tale, "Rain", Joan Crawford gives a performance that knocks the rest of the cast off the screen.
First made as a silent with Gloria Swanson, the stageplay "Miss Sadie Thompson" had been a controversial broadway hit, and young Joan Crawford fought hard to get the coveted role of Sadie. She shed her drawing room manners and designer gowns, researching the part by visiting the red-light district of San Diego to see what the street-walkers of the day looked and sounded like. Her appearance in the film was considered offensive for it's realism, and the film stiffed at the box office. Sadly, it's financial failure relegated Crawford to years of popular but light-weight "respectable" roles, before her Oscar-calibre performances of the 1940's and 50's.
But for audiences of today, the film is worth reconsidering. The other performers are wooden and stilted but Crawford's performance, embarrassingly natural in 1932, leaps off the screen. The topic matter that was so controversial, even offensive, in the early 1930's is not a hard sell to modern audiences: that bible-thumpers aren't always the good guys, and "sinners" aren't always so bad.
Further, the feminist aspect of the film is clearer today. As Sadie makes her way around the Pacific, a fun-loving free-spirit often one step ahead of the law, it's the fact that she's a female that draws the ire of the puritanical fire-and-brimstone missionaries: a young man would have gotten away with it.
And for us post-Woodstock viewers this touching story strikes a familiar chord: of the harmless, light-hearted kid who hurts no-one but whose very existence is offensive to the powers that be.
And it must fairly be said that when she was a young (I think she's about 25 when she made this) she is a strikingly beautiful babe, heavy make-up or not.
If you've ever written Crawford off as "man-ish" or "bitchy" because of roles she did later in her life, check out this movie and take a look at the sexy, vivacious girl who was once described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as "the personification of the American flapper"!
I found the film fascinating (that's why I went on to look up all the above information).
Joan Crawford was reportedly not happy with her performance in Rain although for the life of me, I can't figure out what she had to be ashamed about. In a few years Rain could not possibly have been made due to the imposition of The Code where no man of the cloth could be anything less than decent.
Perhaps Crawford was unfortunately compared to Jeanne Eagels on stage and Gloria Swanson in a silent film adaptation which starred Lionel Barrymore as the sex crazed Reverend Davidson. Still Crawford's Sadie Thompson need not take a backseat to anyone else's.
Somerset Maugham wrote the original novel and John Colton adapted it into a play performed on both the London and Broadway stages. Rain is a deceptive work, at first glance it appears quite dated, but in reality its quite relevant for today.
My favorite character in this is Guy Kibbee's Horne who runs the hotel/ trading post on that tropical South Sea Island where all the characters are stranded temporarily. Joan Crawford is there and in the same hotel are the Reverend and Mrs. Davidson played by Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi. Kibbee says he left the USA because he saw that 'reformers' like the Davidsons were beginning to dominate the body politic in America and he wanted out.
Two things made Rain such a big hit at the time both as a book and play. One was Sigmund Freud who was gaining great popularity talking about repressed sexual desires. Freud would have had a field day analyzing both the Davidsons. It's important to remember that Bondi is just as repressed and uptight as Huston. Freud's writings were not just confined to his profession, they were popularly read by the masses.
The second thing was Prohibition. When Kibbee talks about the reformers triumphing (and you have to get the sneer in his voice when he says reformers)he's talking about their greatest triumph, the 18th amendment. The Evangelical Moral Majority types of the day were the ones that brought Prohibition about and America went on its biggest hypocrisy binge because of it. Folks just like the Davidsons inflicted Prohibition and all that went with it on America.
Sadie Thompson represents everything the Davidsons say they despise, but what Reverend Davidson wants. It all leads to tragedy.
What Maugham is saying and being a gay man himself, knew what it was like to be repressed and show a different face publicly, is just live and let live. Such a simple concept, but one some today have a hard time wrapping their minds around.
As for Joan Crawford, she wouldn't have said what she supposedly said about her performance in Rain knowing in the next generation there would be a musical version with a dubbed Rita Hayworth singing with the island kids. Now that one was one for the books.
Perhaps Crawford was unfortunately compared to Jeanne Eagels on stage and Gloria Swanson in a silent film adaptation which starred Lionel Barrymore as the sex crazed Reverend Davidson. Still Crawford's Sadie Thompson need not take a backseat to anyone else's.
Somerset Maugham wrote the original novel and John Colton adapted it into a play performed on both the London and Broadway stages. Rain is a deceptive work, at first glance it appears quite dated, but in reality its quite relevant for today.
My favorite character in this is Guy Kibbee's Horne who runs the hotel/ trading post on that tropical South Sea Island where all the characters are stranded temporarily. Joan Crawford is there and in the same hotel are the Reverend and Mrs. Davidson played by Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi. Kibbee says he left the USA because he saw that 'reformers' like the Davidsons were beginning to dominate the body politic in America and he wanted out.
Two things made Rain such a big hit at the time both as a book and play. One was Sigmund Freud who was gaining great popularity talking about repressed sexual desires. Freud would have had a field day analyzing both the Davidsons. It's important to remember that Bondi is just as repressed and uptight as Huston. Freud's writings were not just confined to his profession, they were popularly read by the masses.
The second thing was Prohibition. When Kibbee talks about the reformers triumphing (and you have to get the sneer in his voice when he says reformers)he's talking about their greatest triumph, the 18th amendment. The Evangelical Moral Majority types of the day were the ones that brought Prohibition about and America went on its biggest hypocrisy binge because of it. Folks just like the Davidsons inflicted Prohibition and all that went with it on America.
Sadie Thompson represents everything the Davidsons say they despise, but what Reverend Davidson wants. It all leads to tragedy.
What Maugham is saying and being a gay man himself, knew what it was like to be repressed and show a different face publicly, is just live and let live. Such a simple concept, but one some today have a hard time wrapping their minds around.
As for Joan Crawford, she wouldn't have said what she supposedly said about her performance in Rain knowing in the next generation there would be a musical version with a dubbed Rita Hayworth singing with the island kids. Now that one was one for the books.
- bkoganbing
- Mar 7, 2007
- Permalink
One of several versions of the often-retold story of Sadie Thompson, "Rain" is a tense drama that focuses effectively on the tension between two very different persons, portrayed by Joan Crawford and Walter Huston. While not always convincing, it holds the viewer's attention to the end, and often gives us plenty to think about.
Crawford plays Sadie, a young woman with an immoral past, and Huston is Reverend Davidson, a fire-and-brimstone preacher who is stuck with Sadie and several other travelers for a time on a tropical island. A series of confrontations between the two follows, initiated by the reverend, who is outraged by Sadie's character and behavior. The other characters observe, comment, and occasionally try to intervene. Meanwhile, the island is engulfed in an endless, torrential rain, providing an eerily effective backdrop to the story.
As the story proceeds, the two characters begin to affect each other in significant ways. Sometimes these changes seem too sudden and not entirely believable, and at other times they are very believable but discomforting in what they reveal about the characters and about human nature. The cast helps get past some awkward moments with some good acting, and this keeps the viewer interested in how it all will turn out.
"Rain" will not be to everyone's liking, but it is a thought-provoking story that should be of interest to anyone who enjoys psychological drama.
Crawford plays Sadie, a young woman with an immoral past, and Huston is Reverend Davidson, a fire-and-brimstone preacher who is stuck with Sadie and several other travelers for a time on a tropical island. A series of confrontations between the two follows, initiated by the reverend, who is outraged by Sadie's character and behavior. The other characters observe, comment, and occasionally try to intervene. Meanwhile, the island is engulfed in an endless, torrential rain, providing an eerily effective backdrop to the story.
As the story proceeds, the two characters begin to affect each other in significant ways. Sometimes these changes seem too sudden and not entirely believable, and at other times they are very believable but discomforting in what they reveal about the characters and about human nature. The cast helps get past some awkward moments with some good acting, and this keeps the viewer interested in how it all will turn out.
"Rain" will not be to everyone's liking, but it is a thought-provoking story that should be of interest to anyone who enjoys psychological drama.
- Snow Leopard
- May 30, 2001
- Permalink
- RJBurke1942
- Sep 7, 2006
- Permalink
Interesting well-directed adaptation of Somerset Maugham story about a prostitute and a missionary out to reform her. I was surprised to discover this was a box office flop when it was released as I enjoyed it very much. Joan Crawford and Walter Huston are great as the two leads. Beulah Bondi and Guy Kibbee offer solid support. But the real star is Lewis Milestone's wonderful direction. He takes what would otherwise have been a very stagey film, especially for 1932, and keeps the camera moving and lively. Milestone not only directed but produced Rain as well. He was one of the best directors of the 1930s and I don't feel like he gets anywhere near enough credit. Try to catch this if you can but beware of bad prints.
- theowinthrop
- Oct 8, 2006
- Permalink
For reasons that likely have much to do with her self-perceptions, insecurities, and desires for her screen image, Joan Crawford never liked her performance in this fine film. I do not know why; she was never better. The first talkie of the classic Jeanne Eagels' play "Rain", it was effective in every way even though it uses many old-time editing cuts and inserts. They actually worked, and I liked the direction very much, too. Huston was fine as the sanctimonious but sincere preacher trying to convert the "loose woman" Sadie Thompson - but in the end loses the battle, something I wish was shown, but then it wasn't in the play or book so I shouldn't expect it. A fine film, and the antique-type music adds to the effect. See the IMDb review of the serviceble Rita Hayworth version, "Sadie Thompson", and the horrid movie on the life of the actress, "Jeanne Eagels" which contains scenes with Kim Novak trying to recreate the stage play.
- michaelRokeefe
- Aug 26, 2006
- Permalink
Joan Crawford is appropriately torrid and trashy as Sadie Thompson, party girl stuck on an island in the South Seas with a preacher who is dead-set on reforming her. Handsomely-produced Somerset Maugham melodrama was a box-office disappointment in its day, but is certainly interesting and enjoyable, and better than its reputation implies. Maugham's serious story is irrevocably turned into high camp by Hollywood, which probably didn't please the writer, but Joan's over-the-top performance gives the proceedings an electric charge (especially in the picture's second-half). One cannot help but admire the star for her all-out try, and fans should love it. Others may find much of the film heavy-going, with a great deal of talk, and the rest of the cast (including Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi) barely stands up to Crawford's eminence. ** from ****
- moonspinner55
- Sep 19, 2008
- Permalink
This story, by Somerset Maugham, has been filmed many times in the last seventy-odd years, but this is the first. I cannot say that it is the best of all possible adaptations; a tacked-on sub-plot (involving a romance with an amorous quartermaster) helps the exposition but dilutes the icy cynicism of the basic story, the missionary and his wife are clumsy caricatures of hellfire and brimstone puritanism, while Joan Crawford's "low-class" accent is more irritating than it is believable -- one is relieved when she forgets to use it. Yet it shines.
The story is told only partially through the script, which seems less wordy than most early talkies: many important points are made purely visually, from the overflowing rainbarrel in the opening sequence to the high-heeled shoe that signals Sadie's return to her prior way of life. The camera *moves*: around tables, in and around groups of people, in and out of doors with incredible smoothness. Crawford's face is also a focus: from her initial "good-time gal" flirting with the sailors to the incredible sequence where she (apparently) converts, she leers, pouts, weeps, and more importantly, knows when to stop, in the three scenes she appears (seemingly) without makeup.
When Rev. Davidson soothes her in her extremis by telling her in a hypnotic voice (backed by native drums) that she is now "radiant, beautiful, one of the daughters of the King" (a moment of sheer unearthly poetry that verges on psychosis), we believe him -- and her. We also believe Huston's face a moment later, as he prays alone, grimaces unreadably, and suddenly resolves into a look of predatory lust just before slipping into her room, the drums implacably beating in the background.
Small excellences abound: the natives are portrayed sympathetically, and for the time, fairly accurately-- I especially liked the use of Polynesian music, which, along with the Sadie's hot jazz records, emphasises the sensual nature of life in the tropics. The subject of her profession is handled tastefully, but frankly and with humor: in referring to a friend's marriage to a sister fille de joie, the quartermaster remarks that they initally met "illegally" and goes on to say that since they met seeing each other at their worst, they can appreciate seeing each other at their best. A running counterpoint is provided by Dr. McPhail, a more-or-less neutral bystander, and Mr. Horne, the genial (and generally supinely drunk) innkeeper, who fusses, chortles, philosophizes, and gets most of the movie's best lines.
Perhaps the best of these occurs sometime after Sadie's conversion: lolling indolently, he reads from a small book something that sounds incredibly like Ecclesiates-- for a moment, we nearly believe that Davidson has converted him, too. Then, finishing the passage, he intones, "Thus spoke Zarathustra.... Good old Nietzche!"
Sixty-five years later, watching the film on a postage-stamp-sized screen of Real Video, I nearly fell out of my chair.
The story is told only partially through the script, which seems less wordy than most early talkies: many important points are made purely visually, from the overflowing rainbarrel in the opening sequence to the high-heeled shoe that signals Sadie's return to her prior way of life. The camera *moves*: around tables, in and around groups of people, in and out of doors with incredible smoothness. Crawford's face is also a focus: from her initial "good-time gal" flirting with the sailors to the incredible sequence where she (apparently) converts, she leers, pouts, weeps, and more importantly, knows when to stop, in the three scenes she appears (seemingly) without makeup.
When Rev. Davidson soothes her in her extremis by telling her in a hypnotic voice (backed by native drums) that she is now "radiant, beautiful, one of the daughters of the King" (a moment of sheer unearthly poetry that verges on psychosis), we believe him -- and her. We also believe Huston's face a moment later, as he prays alone, grimaces unreadably, and suddenly resolves into a look of predatory lust just before slipping into her room, the drums implacably beating in the background.
Small excellences abound: the natives are portrayed sympathetically, and for the time, fairly accurately-- I especially liked the use of Polynesian music, which, along with the Sadie's hot jazz records, emphasises the sensual nature of life in the tropics. The subject of her profession is handled tastefully, but frankly and with humor: in referring to a friend's marriage to a sister fille de joie, the quartermaster remarks that they initally met "illegally" and goes on to say that since they met seeing each other at their worst, they can appreciate seeing each other at their best. A running counterpoint is provided by Dr. McPhail, a more-or-less neutral bystander, and Mr. Horne, the genial (and generally supinely drunk) innkeeper, who fusses, chortles, philosophizes, and gets most of the movie's best lines.
Perhaps the best of these occurs sometime after Sadie's conversion: lolling indolently, he reads from a small book something that sounds incredibly like Ecclesiates-- for a moment, we nearly believe that Davidson has converted him, too. Then, finishing the passage, he intones, "Thus spoke Zarathustra.... Good old Nietzche!"
Sixty-five years later, watching the film on a postage-stamp-sized screen of Real Video, I nearly fell out of my chair.
- imogensara_smith
- Aug 22, 2006
- Permalink
- vincentlynch-moonoi
- Nov 4, 2013
- Permalink
Despite it's age and accompanying stagey direction this is still a very powerful film. The story works on various levels and having now seen this adaption I want to read the book for any nuances not transferred to the film.
Yet, however good the story, it is Joan Crawford's performance that makes the screen version so watchable. She attracts and enthrals from the beginning (the snappy dialogue assists with this). She plays Sadie Thompson as flirty, sexy, sassy but also weak and vulnerable and does so in all the right places, at the right time, and in the right proportions.
Walter Huston is also a large presence in the film and although these two main performances cast a large shadow which the lesser players struggle to find any light in which to illuminate their own character depictions it is still a very good film and outstanding for it's time.
Yet, however good the story, it is Joan Crawford's performance that makes the screen version so watchable. She attracts and enthrals from the beginning (the snappy dialogue assists with this). She plays Sadie Thompson as flirty, sexy, sassy but also weak and vulnerable and does so in all the right places, at the right time, and in the right proportions.
Walter Huston is also a large presence in the film and although these two main performances cast a large shadow which the lesser players struggle to find any light in which to illuminate their own character depictions it is still a very good film and outstanding for it's time.
- IanIndependent
- Sep 14, 2017
- Permalink
Despite some hammy acting, especially by a fledgling Joan Crawford, I easily give this movie a 9/10 rating.
"The Code" refers (in case you don't know) to the morality code put into place in mid-1934 which clamped down very hard on what could be portrayed in the movies. After the code, women that were off-color in any way, shape, or form had to be punished, redeemed through atonement/repentance, or killed off.
However, in "Rain", Joan Crawford plays Sadie Thompson, a prostitute working on a South Pacific (?) island whom all the service-men seem to adore. They treat her like a friend, a comrade, not a lowly piece of scum or mere sexual object. This, in and of itself, was refreshing to see. And it was from 1932 no less!
A group of missionaries are waylaid on Sadie's island due to a torrential rain storm. The head missionary takes an instant dislike to Sadie's character (I believe he is threatened by her free-loving and live-loving spirit), and has the governor of the island extradite her back to the United States, to be prosecuted for some crime that the film does not clearly delineate.
There is also a soldier who loves Sadie and who wants to marry her. He knows she's a prostitute. He's had her and so have most if not all of his buddies, but he loves the person she is and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. He is taken to the brig for a week for some petty offense, and during this week the head missionary convinces (brainwashes) Sadie into believing she is a filthy, sinful creature who must pay for her sins. The soldier cannot believe the transformation in Sadie when he gets out of the brig. The interesting thing to me is that as the "reformed" Sadie, Joan Crawford is MUCH more beautiful (less makeup, more subdued clothing, softer-focus lighting) than as the lurid Sadie, yet the soldier sees she is much LESS than she was before. He sees the INSIDE of Sadie, and sees she is a mere shell of her former self. He tries to persuade her to go away with him, rather than return to the U.S. to "pay for her sins" as the missionary has convinced her she must.
I want to avoid spoilers, so I'll just say that events then take place that make Sadie realize she is just fine as she is, and that the missionary was a hypocrite of a human being.
It blows me away that the message of this 72-year-old film is more daring than most messages we get from modern-day films. We are still stuck in a post-code madonna/whore view of women that was clearly not in place in the early 30s.
Despite the not-best acting in the world, this movie is a must-see for its amazing story and portrayal of a real woman!
"The Code" refers (in case you don't know) to the morality code put into place in mid-1934 which clamped down very hard on what could be portrayed in the movies. After the code, women that were off-color in any way, shape, or form had to be punished, redeemed through atonement/repentance, or killed off.
However, in "Rain", Joan Crawford plays Sadie Thompson, a prostitute working on a South Pacific (?) island whom all the service-men seem to adore. They treat her like a friend, a comrade, not a lowly piece of scum or mere sexual object. This, in and of itself, was refreshing to see. And it was from 1932 no less!
A group of missionaries are waylaid on Sadie's island due to a torrential rain storm. The head missionary takes an instant dislike to Sadie's character (I believe he is threatened by her free-loving and live-loving spirit), and has the governor of the island extradite her back to the United States, to be prosecuted for some crime that the film does not clearly delineate.
There is also a soldier who loves Sadie and who wants to marry her. He knows she's a prostitute. He's had her and so have most if not all of his buddies, but he loves the person she is and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. He is taken to the brig for a week for some petty offense, and during this week the head missionary convinces (brainwashes) Sadie into believing she is a filthy, sinful creature who must pay for her sins. The soldier cannot believe the transformation in Sadie when he gets out of the brig. The interesting thing to me is that as the "reformed" Sadie, Joan Crawford is MUCH more beautiful (less makeup, more subdued clothing, softer-focus lighting) than as the lurid Sadie, yet the soldier sees she is much LESS than she was before. He sees the INSIDE of Sadie, and sees she is a mere shell of her former self. He tries to persuade her to go away with him, rather than return to the U.S. to "pay for her sins" as the missionary has convinced her she must.
I want to avoid spoilers, so I'll just say that events then take place that make Sadie realize she is just fine as she is, and that the missionary was a hypocrite of a human being.
It blows me away that the message of this 72-year-old film is more daring than most messages we get from modern-day films. We are still stuck in a post-code madonna/whore view of women that was clearly not in place in the early 30s.
Despite the not-best acting in the world, this movie is a must-see for its amazing story and portrayal of a real woman!
- Ursula_Two_Point_Seven_T
- Sep 30, 2004
- Permalink
Before she was Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford played the role of Sadie Thompson based on Somerset Maugham's story entitled Rain. She is a prostitute or too loose with the men especially the sailors. When she and others are stranded on Pago Pago in the Samoa, they have to stay there before they can go anywhere else. Walter Huston plays a devout religious hypocritical merciless minister who tries to steer Sadie in the right direction. Anybody else could have made Sadie either laughable or one-dimensional, Crawford shows her talent in keeping us to like and dislike her character. Crawford's first and final appearance is simply impressive. You can't take your eyes off her. She wants to be the star of the film and she is because she has the talent in order to succeed and she does to legendary status. Crawford's knack for being comical, cruel, vulnerable all at once in this role. Beulah Bondi has a supporting role. For one of the first films in the early thirties, it's an entertaining film.
- Sylviastel
- Nov 13, 2008
- Permalink
If you're interested in this, you may also have watched Safe In Hell - that made a year earlier but actually feeling a little more modern than this. As William Wellman made Safe In Hell more 'arty' than the typical populist feel-good or melodrama movies of the time, so did Lewis Milestone with Rain. Because we expect every second of running time to be stuffed with fast-talking action with no time to breathe from films of this era, this more arty approach, in both films, does make the plot drag a little, Rain however does feel more real.
Rain is very watchable and although the film stock UA used wasn't that sharp, it is beautifully filmed. Lewis Milestone brings his larger than life characters to life. Joan Crawford's outrageous yet authentic prostitute is imbued with vulnerability and fake bravado - she gives a very sensitive and layered performance. Walter Houston's maniacal evangelist is frighteningly believable, at one point he says his greatest achievement was installing the sense of sin in the natives who had previously thought their customs to be natural human. It's also nice to see Guy Kibbee getting a meaty role for a change as a kind of middle-aged proto-hippie. The acting style feels earlier than 1932 but is still good - except for the doctor's wife. Kendall Lee is truly awful - you will wonder how she ever got the role.....in her husband's film!
The film's biggest problem is censorship not just with this movie but with Maughan's original work. The hero is a prostitute and the villain is a man of God! To appease the censors a lot of the plot was heavily disguised. This results one of the most unclear endings in any film ever! Rather than writing or showing the climactic denouement which would have had to be horribly diluted, Maugham and indeed Milestone simply decided to omit it altogether and allow the audience to use their own imagination based on the perplexing final few frames to determine what had just happened. It's a clever and interesting technique but it left audiences in 1932 quite annoyed. We're used these days for ambiguity, for films not just to entertain but to question our own beliefs but this wasn't as established in the early 30s so does not quite work 100%.
Rain is very watchable and although the film stock UA used wasn't that sharp, it is beautifully filmed. Lewis Milestone brings his larger than life characters to life. Joan Crawford's outrageous yet authentic prostitute is imbued with vulnerability and fake bravado - she gives a very sensitive and layered performance. Walter Houston's maniacal evangelist is frighteningly believable, at one point he says his greatest achievement was installing the sense of sin in the natives who had previously thought their customs to be natural human. It's also nice to see Guy Kibbee getting a meaty role for a change as a kind of middle-aged proto-hippie. The acting style feels earlier than 1932 but is still good - except for the doctor's wife. Kendall Lee is truly awful - you will wonder how she ever got the role.....in her husband's film!
The film's biggest problem is censorship not just with this movie but with Maughan's original work. The hero is a prostitute and the villain is a man of God! To appease the censors a lot of the plot was heavily disguised. This results one of the most unclear endings in any film ever! Rather than writing or showing the climactic denouement which would have had to be horribly diluted, Maugham and indeed Milestone simply decided to omit it altogether and allow the audience to use their own imagination based on the perplexing final few frames to determine what had just happened. It's a clever and interesting technique but it left audiences in 1932 quite annoyed. We're used these days for ambiguity, for films not just to entertain but to question our own beliefs but this wasn't as established in the early 30s so does not quite work 100%.
- 1930s_Time_Machine
- Nov 25, 2022
- Permalink
- richard.fuller1
- Jun 3, 2001
- Permalink
I'm not much of a Joan Crawford fan, but she was great in this early talkie version of "Rain." Not as assured as Gloria Swanson in the 1928 version, but pretty close! She sells the character's swagger and crudeness while keeping her sympathetic and likable.
The direction is great. Joan's entrance is creatively staged and shot.
Walter Huston was a fantastic actor, though he does not manage to be as creepy as Lionel Barrymore had been in the silent version. Everyone else is mostly forgettable.
This is not the best version of Rain, but it is still worth a watch and it's miles ahead of that awful and garish Rita Hayworth version in the 1950s.
The direction is great. Joan's entrance is creatively staged and shot.
Walter Huston was a fantastic actor, though he does not manage to be as creepy as Lionel Barrymore had been in the silent version. Everyone else is mostly forgettable.
This is not the best version of Rain, but it is still worth a watch and it's miles ahead of that awful and garish Rita Hayworth version in the 1950s.
- MissSimonetta
- Aug 11, 2014
- Permalink
Although flawed in a few areas, such as continuity and character development, Joan Crawford carries this film on her broad shoulders (before the broad shoulder dresses of the 40s). She positively steals the film from everyone else, while putting Walter Huston in his place. Huston has a missionary position, but it is not a job as a missionary. The story is by the talented Somerset Maugham (one of my favorite writers) and directed and produced by Lewis Milestone, who does a wonderful job. Turnabout is fair play, and there is plenty of turnabout in this film.
- arthur_tafero
- Mar 17, 2022
- Permalink