B. Lorenzo Buckinchere
Sep 28, 2025
It is the end of the month and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of September is none other than Miss Sadie Thompson. But first, here’s a disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
The following review contains spoilers, so I strongly recommend watching any film that features the character of Sadie Thompson before reading this or any review relating to this muse. Now without further ado, let’s begin.
Introduction:
Sadie Thompson is a fictional character appearing in several films, plays and prose between the 1920s and the 1950s. Her first appearance was in a 1921 short story titled, “Rain,” by W. Somerset Maugham, part of his collection titled, “The Tremling of a Leaf.”
In film, her most notable portrayals were by Gloria Swanson as the titular Sadie Thompson in a 1928 silent picture directed by Raoul Walsh. And by Joan Crawford in “Rain,” a 1932 talking picture directed by Lewis Milestone, and the one that I will be reviewing today.
Plot:
Sadie Thompson is a young woman who is stranded on the Pacific island of Pago Pago. Outgoing by nature, Sadie enjoys drinking, smoking and partying with some of the young sailors she meets during her stay at an inn on the island. Much to the dismay of Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston), a brooding old missionary and religious zealot who complains that she is disturbing him and his wife.
Her sassy demeanor soon catches the eye of one of the sailors at the inn, one Sergeant O’Hara (William Gargan). As Sadie starts falling for O’Hara, Davidson starts digging into Sadie’s past and learns that she is a prostitute. He also discovers that she is wanted by the police in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Sadie’s new boyfriend, O’Hara, whom she affectionately calls “handsome” throughout the picture, tells her about a friend of his who fell in love with a prostitute. They are now happily married and living in Australia. O’Hara wants to take Sadie away with him to Australia so she doesn’t have to answer for her previous crimes in San Francisco.
But just as he is making plans for them to join his friend, Davidson starts working on Sadie’s psyche. First he threatens to use his influence with the governor on that island to make certain that Sadie is sent back to San Francisco. Then he uses guilt and shame to convince her to seek repentance for her promiscuous ways.
As Davidson’s manipulation takes root and he continues to break down Sadie’s will, he finds it easier to convince her that the only way to truly repent is to willfully go back to San Francisco and face the punishment for her past crimes. She agrees and O’Hara notices that she is not being herself and tries to snap her out of it, but she pushes him away and insists that she needs to be “saved.”
Brainwashed and isolated from her friends, Davidson has free reign over Sadie’s mind and dictates her every action right down to the way that she dresses. With a newfound obsession with purity, Sadie soon begins to dress more modestly and without make-up.
Eventually she agrees to return to San Francisco and Davidson admires her as a “beautiful creature of god.” However, in the next split second, he loses control and breaks into her room where he rapes her.
The natives find Davidson’s body washed ashore the following morning. Suicide or murder? Who knows. Any scenario is possible. Devastated, Sadie reverts back to her old self again and leaves for Australia along with O’Hara to begin their lives anew.
Key Takeaway:
Davidson tried to brainwash Sadie into becoming someone she is not. While all along, he was secretly lusting after her despite being a married man, and lost control in the end. It is ironic that his losing control made Sadie revert back to her true self.
O’Hara loved and accepted Sadie as she was. She didn’t have to change her character, perhaps only her profession after they had gotten married. It just goes to show you that anybody who is trying to make you change does not love you, they only want to control you.
Another red flag that let’s me know Davidson was working her nerves was when he said that god wouldn’t forgive her unless she went back and faced the penalty for her past mistakes. Assuming god was benevolent, it wouldn’t want you to suffer for your past mistakes.
The point would’ve been to correct you and not to humiliate you, especially if it was a “victimless crime” that you committed out of lack and fear. There are those who are intentionally wicked who actually get rewarded in this world while those trying to do the right thing must suffer for the ego of the wicked. Religious hypocrisy at its finest.
And who is Davidson to lead anybody to salvation when he cannot even control himself? But the first red flag of all was when he led with threats in the first place. The heat check is the oldest trick in the book.
If they heat check you and you let it slide, that’s how they know they’ve got you. I give this cautionary tale on overzealous religious sadism and the malignant mentor a four out of five jazz listening tramps, and I’ll see you on the next one.
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