Rain (1932)

Rain
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Written by Maxwell Anderson from a play by John Colton and Clemence Randolph and a story by W. Somerset Maugham
1932/US
Feature Productions
IMDb Link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime Rental

Sadie Thompson: No hurry. Lots of time. There’s so much time lying loose around this island, somebody ought to bottle it up and send it back to were they need some.

Somerset Maugham story about redemption and temptation on a steamy South Sea island has its merit.

A varied group of passengers is stranded at Joe Horn’s (Guy Kibbee) South Sea island general store, inn and saloon when the ship has an outbreak of cholera. Prostitute Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) is quick with a wisecrack and very handy at breaking up the monotony produced by the incessant tropical rain. She is very popular with the sailors stationed on the island and one in particular (William Gargan) is sweet on her.

Davidson, a reformist preacher (Walter Huston), his straight-laced wife (Beulah Bondi), and an idealistic young couple complete the party.  Sadie refuses to tone down her behavior for anybody. Davidson takes it upon himself to save or cast Sadie out, possibly both.  He has found out that Sadie is a fugitive from justice having fled a three-year term at San Quintin.  She must be saved or be shipped off on the next boat to San Francisco.  In the end, Davidson is demanding both she must be saved and prove she is redeemed by doing penence in the pokey.  I won’t say more.

This is based on a stage play and it shows though the director does a heroic job in maintaining visual interest. The performances are also impressive. Huston in particular made me want to smack him hard. His character is such a hypocrite. This is also one of Crawford’s better performances in my book.