Rain *** (1932, Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, William Gargan) – Classic Movie Review 5339

The two richly enjoyable. extravagant star performances of Joan Crawford and Walter Huston are the main recommendation for Lewis Milestone’s 1932 quick remake for the Somerset Maugham short story Miss Thompson (later retitled Rain), a silent hit for Gloria Swanson in 1928 as Sadie Thompson.

The plot of this version is based on the 1922 play spinoff Rain by John Colton and Clemence Randolph.

The young Crawford shows her mettle as Sadie Thompson, the infamous lady of easy virtue of the South Seas, OK she is a prostitute, in a nimble performance that is as entertainingly theatrical and overdone as the movie.

It is Crawford’s movie, but Huston is enjoyably hammy as Alfred Davidson, the married fire-and-brimstone missionary reverend who wants to reform Sadie but finds himself lusting after her while sailing on the same ship in the South Seas. Stopping at Pago Pago, the ship’s passengers are stuck in the middle of a cholera epidemic.

Director Milestone uses all he knows to make a real movie out of the stagy material.

Also in the  cast are William Gargan as Sergeant O’Hara, Guy Kibbee, Walter Catlett, Beulah Bondi, Matt Moore, Kendall Lee, Ben Hendricks Jr, Frederic Howard and Mary Shaw.

It was remade with Rita Hayworth in 1953 as Miss Sadie Thompson.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5339

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