Rain (1932)

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

If the beaded drapes she appears in back of don't give an indication of her cheapness, the thick lipstick and clumped eye shadow will. She's Sadie Thompson, a dame whose reputation shadows her like a moral barricade. She drinks whiskey out of the bottle, sports an ankle bracelet and jangles when she walks. Playing this hard boiled broad is superstar Joan Crawford, desperately trying to be an actress, not a personality, and at the time failed miserably.As 85 years have gone by, how does this second of three screen versions of Somerset Maugham's dramatic expose, "Sadie Thompson", which is a tale of attempted reformation and betrayal which threatens to destroy her soul even more. When confronted by doctor of theology Walter Huston over her immoral lifestyle, the awkwardness in her performance appears, trying too hard to look ashamed in her soul but rebellious. The photography on her eyes is often harsh, and certain closeups make her look cross-eyed.There's no quibbling over the strong and determined performance by Walter Huston, one of the greatest screen actors ever. He is commanding, even when demanding towards Crawford. He's obviously intent on showing the humanity and godliness behind his blunt hypocrisies, and that makes his complex characterization so watchable. In her second film, Beulah Bondi adds another nasty character to her resume, having played the nasty gossip Mrs. Jones the year before in the film version of "Street Scene". Squawking like an agitated hen, she's even more judgmental than her husband. But there's a twist, and with husband Huston's destruction comes hers.An early example of the art house film, this is a role that Joan was perfect for, but psychologically not ready for. Less strong, perhaps because their characters are secondary, are William Gargan as the marine sergeant who steps up to defend her, and funny man Guy Kibbee as the owner of the Pago Pago resort she's stuck in. It's an interesting failure, perhaps too depressing and sordid, and one of those films that you want to praise the leading lady in, but are held back. Joan delivers the lines with gusto, but the soul she needs to unleash seems somehow locked. Not at all creaky, it flows nicely with strong direction by Lewis Milestone, and is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Like "Of Human Bondage" just two years later for Bette Davis, this is too deep and emotionally overwrought to love, but can't be missed as it shows the ambitions of an art needy Hollywood that didn't fully click.

The rain falls incessantly in this movie, bringing to mind Matthew 5:45, "he sendeth rain on the just and the unjust alike". In this case, it seems clear that the 'unjust' are actually the devout Christians (Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi), as they sanctimoniously judge Joan Crawford's character and cruelly use their influence to get orders for her immediate deportation from Pago Pago, where this film is set. She is likely a prostitute, but the reason for his action stems from her (gasp) moral crime of listening to music and dancing with some soldiers on the Sabbath. As a more tolerant man observes, "we've all crossed thresholds we don't brag about", but Huston is relentless in cross-examining her about her past, and demanding that she get on the right side of the Lord, even though they've just met.It's interesting to see Crawford stand up to him in what are the best scenes of the film. "You keep yellin' at me to go back and be punished, to suffer – how do you know what I've suffered? You don't know, you don't care, and you don't even ask – and you call yourself a Christian!", she yells, and "Your God and me will never be shipmates, and the next time you talk to him you can tell him this for me – that Sadie Thompson is on her way to hell!" However, she is eventually cowed and resigned to be repentant, which is the first unbelievable part of an unbelievable ending, which I won't spoil.The movie is a little hard to watch because the main characters are so unlikeable. Huston and Bondi are righteous prigs. Crawford is heavily made up and often over-acts her part. There are a few good scenes, however, and it may be of interest to see this adaptation of the short story by W. Somerset Maugham, which spurred several other movies and plays.

It's very delightful to watch such honest presentation of the times without the hypocrisy of the production code... Sadie is the most realistic wh**e of the 30s, more than Stanwyck's Baby Face or Jean Harlow's.Joan Crawford delivered one of her best performances as the fun loving girl, the one religious hypocrites love to hate just because they want to feel they are better than her. And actually they aren't... (SPOILER:) the missionary who was supposed to lead sinners to the right way he commits one of the worst crimes, rape (and adultery of course) END OF SPOILER What surprised me the most was Crawford's performance, it was a completely natural and actually she lived the part. In the famous scene when Walter Huston asked her why she left Frisco when she lies her eyes blinked a lot but not when she tells the truth. According to body luggage studies when someone lies he blinks a lot but not when he doesn't... There are another 2 adaptations of the play. One silent with Gloria Swanson (1928) and another one with Rita Hayworth but this one is the best. Maybe because of the time it was made (pre-codes) And I'm still wondering why this doesen't better rating...

Joan Crawford is mesmerizing in this extremely dated film on a time-honored theme -- men of stellar reputation and the women they lust after (think "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Measure for Measure").Unlike other reviewers, I don't think we need assume she's a whore here. (Crawford's character dresses sexily in a stereotypically tropical locale, and she's comfortable and casual with men, but to me that needn't equal prostitute.) Walter Huston should have been directed better. I got a little tired of his one-note, stentorian harangues. What's more, he might have shown more inner struggle before the penultimate scene in which he steals away into Crawford's chamber. Was I alone in finding his lustful act a bit of a non sequitur? Perhaps the best thing about this film, along with Crawford's insouciance, is its dusky mood. An expert depiction of atmosphere as a major character in a drama!