Rain is a 1932 South Seas drama film directed by Lewis Milestone with portions filmed at Santa Catalina Island, California. The film stars Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson and Walter Huston as a conflicted missionary who wants to reform Sadie, but whose own morals start decaying. Crawford was loaned out by MGM to United Artists for this film.

The plot of the film is based on the 1923 play Rain by John Colton and Clemence Randolph, which in turn was based on the short story "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham. Actress Jeanne Eagels had played the role on stage. Other movie versions of the story include: a 1928 silent film titled Sadie Thompson starring Gloria Swanson, and the heavily sanitized Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), which starred Rita Hayworth.

In 1960, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.^[1]

Synopsis[link]

A boat, which was en route to Apia, is temporarily stranded on the South Pacific island village of Pago Pago due to a possible cholera outbreak on-board. Among the passengers are Alfred Davidson, a self-righteous missionary, his wife, and Sadie Thompson, a prostitute. Thompson passes the time partying and drinking with the American Marines stationed on the island. Sergeant Tim O'Hara, nicknamed by Sadie as "Handsome", falls in love with her.

Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson

Her wild behavior soon becomes more than the Davidsons can stand and Mr. Davidson confronts Sadie, resolving to save her soul. When she dismisses his offer, Davidson has the Governor order her deported to San Francisco, California, where she is wanted for an unspecified crime (for which she says she was framed). She begs Davidson to allow her to remain on the island a few more days; her plan is to flee to Sydney, Australia. During a heated argument with Davidson, she apparently experiences a sudden religious conversion and agrees to return to San Francisco and the jail sentence that is waiting for her there.

The evening before she is to leave, Sergeant O'Hara asks Sadie to marry him and offers to hide her until the Sydney boat sails, but she refuses. Later, while native drums beat, the repressed Davidson succumbs to Sadie's allure and accosts her. The next morning, he is found dead on the ocean shore — a suicide. Thompson switches back to her old self and goes off to Sydney with O'Hara to start a new life.

Cast (in credits order)[link]

• Fred Howard as Hodgson
• Ben Hendricks Jr. as Griggs
• William Gargan as Sergeant Tim O'Hara
• Mary Shaw as Ameena
• Guy Kibbee as Joe Horn
• Kendall Lee as Mrs Robert MacPhail
• Beulah Bondi as Mrs Alfred Davidson
• Matt Moore as Dr Robert MacPhail
• Walter Huston as Alfred Davidson
• Walter Catlett as Quartermaster Bates
• Joan Crawford as Sadie Thompson

Reception[link]

Rain was not well-received -- either critically or financially -- upon initial release. The unglamorous role for Crawford, and bold story (religious hypocrisy being its main theme), caught Depression-era audiences off-guard.

Motion Picture Herald commented, "Because the producers have made such a strong attempt to establish the stern impressiveness of the story, it is rather slow. In its drive to become powerful, it appears to have lost the spark of spontaneity....Joan Crawford and Walter Huston are satisfactory."

Variety noted, "It turns out to be a mistake to have assigned the Sadie Thompson role to Miss Crawford. It shows her off unfavorably. The dramatic significance of it all is beyond her range.... [Director] Milestone tried to achieve action with the camera, but wears the witnesses down with words. Joan Crawford's get-up as the light lady is extremely bizarre. Pavement pounders don't quite trick themselves up as fantastically as all that. In commercial favor of Rain is the general repute of the theme and Miss Crawford's personal following, but the finished product will not help either."

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rain at the Internet Movie Database
• Rain is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]