Rain

Passengers stranded by a quarantine wait in a hotel on a Pacific island. Among them are a missionary couple and a woman called Sadie Thompson. She plays the gramophone, drinks with the soldiers and does not discuss her past. The missionary learns what she is and decides to save her. The rain does not stop. The subject is not morality but the desire underneath the wish to save. As the missionary works to change her, his own hypocrisy surfaces, and the film makes it fully visible at the end. The source is Somerset Maugham's story and the matter comes from there. The form is squeezed onto a hotel veranda and into rain. The sound is built on continuous rainfall throughout, a striking choice for a production so soon out of the silent era. The story behind it is harsher than the film. Joan Crawford was among her studio's brightest names at the time; her makeup and bearing were hardened noticeably for the role. It was not liked on release and failed commercially. Years later Crawford described the performance as her own mistake and said she had not understood the part. Today that same performance is the film's most argued-over element and it has defenders. Walter Huston plays the missionary. Lewis Milestone directs. Who it is for: viewers who like classical-era adaptations and Crawford. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace; the narrative stays in one place and moves slowly.