Miss Sadie Thompson *** (1953, Rita Hayworth, José Ferrer, Aldo Ray) – Classic Movie Review 5342

Director Curtis Bernhardt’s 1953 musical emotional and romantic drama stars sultry Rita Hayworth as Miss Sadie Thompson, the free-spirited, loose-morals heroine of this adaptation of the W Somerset Maugham short story Miss Thompson, later retitled Rain. It is the second remake and third film of the story, following Sadie Thompson (1928) with Gloria Swanson and Rain (1932) with Joan Crawford.

[Spoiler alert] The former prostitute Sadie sings in a den of ill repute in Honolulu when she is chased out of town by the self-righteous missionary Alfred Davidson (José Ferrer), who later rapes her and then commits suicide, while the lovely Rita and the bull-necked US marine Sergeant Phil O’Hara (Aldo Ray) fall for each other in the Pacific heat.

Maugham’s steamy, passionate tale was in trouble with the film censors yet again, and had to be cooled down once more to comply with Hays Office guidelines, in the whitewashed screenplay by Harry Kleiner. Sadie was changed into a nightclub singer with a past, only accused of being a prostitute by Davidson, who was changed from being a sadistic minister to an non-specific religious zealot to avoid giving offence to any religious group.

This censorship also brought on the Columbia studio’s inclusion of Lester Lee/ Ned Washington songs (‘The Heat Is On’ and the Oscar-nominated ‘Blue Pacific Blues’), choreography by Bee Scoot, and cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr’s filming on Kaua’i, Hawaii, locations in bright Technicolor and in 3-D, though the latter was quickly dropped.

Jeanne Eagels (who created the role in the original stage version), Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford had all played the role before but Hayworth is good and can stand up to the comparisons. The locations and cinematography prove the other main assets.

Also in the cast are Russell Collins, Harry Bellaver, Charles Bronson (as Charles Buchinsky), Diosa Costello, Peggy Converse, Wilton Graff, Henry Slate, Rudy Bond, Frances Morris, Peter Chong, John Grossett, Charles Horvath, Eduardo Cansino, Johnny Duncan, Ben Harris and Harold Tommy Hart.

Jo Ann Greer sings while Hayworth mimes to her numbers.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5342

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