Rain dvd movie.|
Rain dvd videos, dvd movies reviews |
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List Price: $19.99 Features • Black & White • NTSC In Theaters : 12 October, 1932 DVD Release : 27 February, 2001 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | No Mildred, but certainly no Trog, either... |
| 'Rain' appeared at a point in Crawford's career where she'd have done anything, played anyone - even Wally Beerey's grandmother, or so the saying goes - for a good part. And along comes Sadie Thompson, Prostitute of the South Seas, the Original Good Time Had By All, and off Joan went, to revel in a meaty role made famous by contemporary theatrical actress Tallulah Bankhead.
Panned by an unimaginative set of critics, and reviled by a public used to seeing La Carwford as the Ingenue shopgirl in such fluff as 'Our Dancing Daughters' and 'West Point', it's really a testament to the fickleness of the moviegoing public that this, a movie of really sterling performances and interesting, almost experimental direction, could have been so overlooked. Joan plays Sadie, a hooker on the run, who is forced into an island-wide quarantine after her connecting boat ride is infected with cholera. Among the other passengers so stuck is Rev. Davidson (Walter Huston), who, upon discovering Sadie's sluttish past, becomes hell-bent on 'saving' her soul. Joan gives an honest and raw performance here, and does not try to glamorise or romanticise the heroine. Hers is a bitter and hard-edged Sadie, full of bile towards men and the establishment, yet tender and vulnerable when the role demands. Her range as an actress is showcased here in the excellent exchanges with Rev. Devine, and Walter Huston responds in kind with a terrific rendition of the sanctimonious, dictatorial Man of the Cloth. Direction by Lewis Milestone is highly remarkable for the period, the stacatto rainfall and panoramic camera sweeps contrast beautifully with the enclosed, claustrophobic interiors of the General Store, and the poverty and primitive status of the isalnd community shines through, lending a feeling of wilderness to the piece. All in all, this is an excellent picture, and one of Crawford's finest performances. It's no Mildred Pierce, but where that movie falls down in terms of unbelievable glamour, this one excels - the realism is relatively palpable. Thoroughly recommended. |
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