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Post by snsurone on Jan 18, 2020 22:52:06 GMT
This is the pre-Code movie starring Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson.
Most critics and film historians believe that Crawford was miscast--that she had not developed enough as an actress to portray Sadie's complexities.
I freely admit that I'm not a good judge of acting, but I couldn't find any real fault in Crawford's performance.
Granted, she was rather weak as the "converted" Sadie, but that part was brief, and maybe not meant to be convincing.
Personally, I found nothing wrong with her hard-boiled Sadie; maybe there should have been more info on her background in the screenplay.
And William Gargan was useless as her true love interest.
This was the second film of the 1922 stage play which made a star of Jeanne Eagels.
The first was a silent movie starring Gloria Swanson, and in the '50's there was MISS SADIE THOMPSON, starring Rita Hayworth.
I don't know of any other films.
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Post by teleadm on Jan 18, 2020 23:21:08 GMT
Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. 1946, uses the same story line, but you are right after the Rita Hayworth version ,also made in 3-D, from 1953, is the latest version of this W. Somerset Maugham story.
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2020 0:00:30 GMT
Rain (1932), produced and directed by Lewis Milestone. A remake of Sadie Thompson (1928) made just four years after the silent original. Joan Crawford, age 27, is the prostitute fleeing her past on a South Seas island, encountering a stiff-necked missionary who won't allow it. This is not as lively as the original and Walter Huston is too stiff as the villain. Its interesting features: - This is the only version with the constant torrential tropical rain, both oppressive and beautiful.
- As with Milestone's The Front Page (1931) we have interesting moments of early moving camera work. Composition ranges from plain to rather good. The cinematographer is one of three listed for the silent Sadie Thompson (1928).
- This pre-Code script abuses religion more than would be allowed later. Dragged from the room, Sadie yells "Psalm-singing sons o' bitches!". The missionary browbeats her into submission with the Lord's Prayer and when she's been "saved" others describe her as a sacrificial victim to a bloody idol.
The film is in the public domain and is available online for free. My thumbnails are from the Roan Group DVD. Quality is often quite poor, but a few reels are surprisingly good. I don't know if a restoration is possible on this one. 
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2020 0:45:06 GMT
I was thinking stiff compared to Lionel Barrymore in: Sadie Thompson (1928), directed by Raoul Walsh. First of three versions of the W. Somerset Maugham story of a prostitute fleeing her past, arriving on a south seas island and falling for a nice marine, but running afoul of an intolerant missionary who wants to send her back to the States and prison. Remade as Rain (1932) (with sound!) and Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) (in color, with 3D!) Of the three I think this silent version is the most fun. Gloria Swanson, age 29, is just superb; her expressions and movements power the whole story. Also with Raoul Walsh (still with both eyes), both directing and performing as the romantic lead. Lionel Barrymore is deliciously quirky as the smugly pious hypocrite. Toward the end of the silent era the photography was getting really good. It seems to me that when sound came in cinematography declined for a few years. I'm not sure why. I know directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang missed the craftsmanship of the silent years. An example of that craft: I've never seen the thoughts of a character so clearly expressed as when Swanson and Walsh are sitting in a hammock, rolling cigarettes and talking quietly, she wondering if her life could still be different: Available on DVD from Kino. The last reel is lost so they provide stills with inter-titles to complete the final minutes, as well as the end of Rain (1932) as an alternative. There is significant film damage in spots. The new soundtrack is pleasant and lively.  |
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2020 1:04:01 GMT
Oh, and just a comment about the initial deleterious affect of the new sound era on cinema: it was because in large part directors felt trapped by sound - keeping the actors close to the mikes, and minimizing camera movements to make that easier. That's why when you see an early talkie that has the kinetic energy of many of the silent films (Wellman's WINGS or Murna's SUNRISE, for example), it's something to sing about.
Yes, that wasn't the brightest observation in my review. I've seen Singin' in the Rain after all. When researching Morocco (1930) I found this in the wikipedia:
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Post by petrolino on Jan 19, 2020 1:36:14 GMT
I like Joan Crawford's performance in this movie. There's some beat up prints around though.
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Post by snsurone on Jan 19, 2020 10:40:57 GMT
Haven't seen the 1928 version, but it sounds quite interesting, especially with Walsh acting as well as directing. Oh, man, there are just too many films to see and way too little time! (Said by someone who's already seen an enormous number in a pretty long lifetime!)
Oh, and just a comment about the initial deleterious affect of the new sound era on cinema: it was because in large part directors felt trapped by sound - keeping the actors close to the mikes, and minimizing camera movements to make that easier. That's why when you see an early talkie that has the kinetic energy of many of the silent films (Milestone's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT or Murna's SUNRISE, for example), it's something to sing about.
Um, Spidey--ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT was a sound movie. And, sorry to say, it was a bit stilted, at least in dialogue scenes, although the action scenes were perfect. A better example of a great early talkie is Reuben Mamoulian's APPLAUSE, a 1929 film of astonishing fluidity in the camera work of that time. Not to mention the great performance of Helen Morgan as Kitty--a tragic actress playing a tragic character.
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Post by claudius on Jan 19, 2020 12:01:38 GMT
I've seen both, and I have a question about Sadie: Does she genuinely want to be redeemed with the Missionary fouling everything up by getting 'weak' OR is Sadie pulling a BASIC INSTINCT fast one on the Missionary? |
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2020 12:41:44 GMT
I've seen both, and I have a question about Sadie: I think: She was sincere. The story hurts more that way.
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2020 12:44:27 GMT
As long as we're here: Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Another edition of a W. Somerset Maugham story, previously filmed as Sadie Thompson (1928) with Gloria Swanson and Rain (1932) with Joan Crawford. A prostitute on a south-sea island is persecuted by a self-righteous missionary who ought to remove the plank from his own eye. It's mostly a Rita Hayworth vehicle and she is perfectly fine, but overall it is not an exciting production. Too much sun and some musical numbers take us out of the drama. They add a happy ending. Filmed in 3D (for no particular reason?) at the end of that craze in the 1950s. It was in 3D theaters for two weeks, then recalled and released in a traditional flat format. Twilight Time Blu-ray with 3D. Heavy grain in the image and the colors seem faded. The informative soundtrack is mostly about Rita Hayworth and the history of the short story, play and other film productions. They also want to stress that, contrary to common wisdom, the plot is not sanitized for Code compliance. Sadie is a part-time prostitute running from the law and the film doesn't disguise that.  |
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Post by snsurone on Jan 19, 2020 12:46:00 GMT
Oh, it definitely was the latter, as Sadie was threatened with deportation and imprisonment otherwise.
And it showed what a hypocrite the "minister" was really.
Beulah Bondi played Huston's wife in this film.
And while Huston's character was shown to be a phony, IMO, she was sincere in her rigid beliefs.
I felt sorry for her at the end when her house-of-cards came tumbling down after her husband's suicide following his rape of Sadie.
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Post by claudius on Jan 19, 2020 14:14:21 GMT
Actually, in some theaters, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT was played as a silent. Kevin Brownlow and David Gill used this anamoly to include the film in their HOLLYWOOD episode of "Goes to War."
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Post by snsurone on Jan 19, 2020 15:09:45 GMT
WINGS is one of my favorite movies, silent or sound.
Yes, the aerial battle scenes were superbly filmed, but what really gets to me is the "bromance" between Richard Arlen and Charles "Buddy" Rogers.
This is best exemplified by Arlen's death scene, cradled lovingly in the arms of Rogers, who had actually shot him down as he was piloting a stolen German plane.
My only complaint about this movie is the miscasting of Clara Bow as the leading lady.
Sure, she was Paramount's biggest star at the time, but IMO, she was all wrong for the role of Mary Preston, especially with that horrible hairdo and gobs of makeup.
Better casting would have been Betty Bronson or Esther Ralston.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Jan 19, 2020 15:19:37 GMT
I got used to seeing Joan Crawford - The Movie Star - in movies, so going back to this era and seeing her just acting, and not in your usual Joan Crawford role, was quite interesting.   |
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Post by snsurone on Jan 19, 2020 20:25:29 GMT
RAIN is unusual for a film of that time in that all info was not squeezed on to the title frame.
And Joan Crawford had star billing, which is puzzling since she was on loan to Columbia for this movie.
Makes one wonder what Harry Cohn was thinking.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 19, 2020 23:36:11 GMT
RAIN is unusual for a film of that time in that all info was not squeezed on to the title frame. And Joan Crawford had star billing, which is puzzling since she was on loan to Columbia for this movie. Makes one wonder what Harry Cohn was thinking. I'm thinking Cohn would have been thinking, "I've got one of MGM's biggest female stars, so I'm giving her top billing." Except for one thing: neither Cohn nor Columbia had anything to do with Rain. It was produced independently by Milestone and Joe Schenck under their Feature Productions banner for United Artists release. I mention in passing the happenstance that Crawford's then-husband was Doug Fairbanks Jr, son of one of the original four "united artists," and that Schenck himself was running the company at the time.
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Post by snsurone on Jan 20, 2020 12:13:38 GMT
That's odd.
There is a series of books titled "The (movie studio) Story".
My copy of "The Columbia Story" lists RAIN as one of its own.
Maybe UA made some kind of deal with Columbia regarding distribution.
BTW, when tis movie was released, Crawford's marriage to Fairbanks, Jr. was falling apart, mostly due to her hot-and-heavy affair with Clark Gable!
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 20, 2020 14:30:24 GMT
That's odd. There is a series of books titled "The (movie studio) Story". My copy of "The Columbia Story" lists RAIN as one of its own. Maybe UA made some kind of deal with Columbia regarding distribution. BTW, when tis movie was released, Crawford's marriage to Fairbanks, Jr. was falling apart, mostly due to her hot-and-heavy affair with Clark Gable! Odd indeed. I've got that Columbia book around here somewhere. Anyway, one of the title cards on the film says "A United Artists Picture" and "Copyright MCMXXXII By Feature Productions, Inc." It certainly is possible that Columbia got distribution rights somewhere along the line. Another thought occurs: the 1953 remake, Miss Sadie Thompson, was produced by Columbia, and it's possible Cohn did what MGM sometimes did with pictures like Roberta and Showboat when they remade them: buy them outright. I think I've read that's what he did with 1931's The Front Page, another UA film, when he made His Girl Friday in '40. If that's what happened, Rain may simply have been listed as one of Columbia's inventory titles when the book was compiled in the '80s.
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Post by llanwydd on Jan 20, 2020 18:56:40 GMT
I have always considered this an underrated classic. The acting is good and the story is captivating but the best thing about this film is the exquisite photography. All the actors look great and the background scenery is stunning.
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