Sadie Thompson **** (1928, Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, Blanche Friderici) – Classic Movie Review 5341

Director Raoul Walsh’s 1928 silent stars Gloria Swanson, who gives her all as William Somerset Maugham’s provocative character Sadie Thompson, the shady lady who comes to Pago Pago and falls for and weds marine sergeant Tim O’Hara (played by the film’s director Raoul Walsh). But Sadie the fallen lady is seduced by Alfred Davidson, a fanatical religious ‘reformer’ (a corrupt and lustful preacher in the original short story), played by Lionel Barrymore.

Walsh’s silent movie classic is beautifully photographed (by Oliver T Marsh, George Barnes, Charles Rosher and Robert Kurrle) and handsomely produced (set designs by William Cameron Menzies), with strong, luminous and properly extravagant performances from the two stars Swanson and Barrymore plus Blanche Friderici as the reformer’s wife.

Swanson and George Barnes were Oscar nominated for Best Actress and Best Cinematography at the first Academy Awards. Swanson refused to go to the Oscars, and said it was like ‘comparing apples to oranges’. A week into shooting, producer Sam Goldwyn called cameraman George Barnes away, Mary Pickford offered the services of Charles Rosher, and finally MGM loaned Oliver T Marsh, who completed the film.

The screenplay by Gloria Swanson and Raoul Walsh is based on W Somerset Maugham’s short story Miss Thompson, later retitled Rain, and the 1922 play based on the book by John Colton and Clemence Randolph. The changes to Maugham’s risqué story were made to satisfy the strict movie censorship of the day but the film was still controversial because of its subject matter, no doubt helping it to be a financial and critical success.

Also in the cast are Charles Lane, Florence Midgley, James A Marcus, Sophia Artega and Will Stanton.

Swanson produced it independently and it was one of her last financially successful films, taking $1 million in the United States and $7 million internationally but, fearing failure, Swanson pre-sold her distribution rights to producer Joseph Schenck.

Long thought lost, one surviving print was discovered after Swanson’s death in 1983 having been stored in Mary Pickford’s archive, but the final reel was damaged. Kino International hired Dennis Doros to reconstruct the final reel, using the original title sequences, still photos and footage from the 1932 remake Rain (also shot by Oliver T Marsh). Joseph Turrin composed anew score.

Maugham’s short story Miss Thompson, later retitled Rain, was filmed again as a talkie in 1932 Rain, with Joan Crawford, and in 1953 in Technicolor as Miss Sadie Thompson, with Rita Hayworth.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5340

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Gloria Swanson in court in 1934.