Rain, Joan Crawford - 1932 (Pre code public domain film)
Pleasures of the living flesh verses the rantings of fanatical religious preachings are aptly displayed in this screen
adaptation of
W. Somerset Maugham's story
Miss Sadie Thompson.
Sadie Thompson (
Joan Crawford) is a sassy prostitute who lands in
Pago Pago in the
South Pacific after an epidemic grounds the ship on which she's booked passage.
Sadie's good looks, free spirit, and quick wit soon attract the attention of a group of
American soldiers stationed on the island; while most are motivated by simple lust, the naive Sgt.
O'Hara (
William Gargan) falls in love with Sadie, thoroughly unaware of her checkered past and real profession.
Rev. Alfred Davidson (
Walter Huston father of actor director
John Huston), a fire-and-brimstone pompous preacher bent on bringing salvation to the soldiers, is quickly onto Sadie's occupation and ways, and is determined to convince her to change her ways. Sadie slowly but surely is softened by
Davidson's conviction, but the preacher soon finds himself all too human and is turned on himself by her sensual presence; O'Hara also learns the truth about Sadie, but hatches his own plan to "reform" her -- marriage. While not a box office hit in 1932,
Rain has gone on to become a favorite in years since on video, thanks to Joan Crawford's vivid performance as Sadie and director
Lewis Milestone's adventurous visual style. -
Cathy Falstaff,
Guest Reviewer for the
NZ Herald.
Notes:
• Filmed on
Catalina Island off the coast of
California.
• This was
Joan's first film made on loan-out to a studio other than
MGM.
• Other famous "Sadie Thompson"s:
Jeanne Eagels (
1922, stage);
Gloria Swanson (1928 silent film); 1935 (
Tallulah Bankhead, stage);
Rita Hayworth (
1953 film).
Carroll Baker appeared in a
1970 TV version.
•
Screenwriter Maxwell Anderson also wrote a radio play that Joan appeared in later in the
1930s: "
Mary of Scotland" for the
Lux Radio Theater.
• Joan's fellow cast members were cool to her during filming.
Walter Catlett went so far as to tell her, "
Listen, fishcake, when Jeanne Eagels died, Rain died with her." (
JCB)
• While filming on Catalina Island, Joan usually stayed in her cottage evenings, playing
Bing Crosby records over and over, to the annoyance of her fellow cast and crew. (JCB)
• Joan's marriage to first husband
Doug Fairbanks, Jr., was on the rocks during filming. She often refused to take his calls and was short with him when he sailed out for a visit, claiming he was ruining her concentration. She went into seclusion after the film wrapped in the summer of '32, and a belated honeymoon trip to
Europe proved fruitless. The couple were officially divorced 7 months after Rain's release.
• Joan discovered she was pregnant during filming and told Fairbanks that she had slipped on the deck of a ship while shooting, losing the baby.
Rain (1932) is a film that all reliable and government sources prove the
U.S.A. made and produced film is in the public domain as its copyright lapsed and was not renewed more than 50 years ago. As such being in the public domain, no government, organization, individual or company owns said film and as such Rain (1932), is now common property. please refer to
http://wiki.ask.com/List_of_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States?q
..., and http://www.archive.org/details/rain1932, for examples of definitive proofs regarding its
Public Domain status, thank you for your regards in this important matter.
This
Public Domain Film was legally uploaded.