Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Micitype Pretty Good

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Antonius Block Religious hypocrisy is the main theme of 'Sadie Thompson', based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Sharing the same hotel in Pago Pago, a religious reformer (Lionel Barrymore) takes a dim view of a 'loose' woman (Gloria Swanson), and after failing to get her to change her ways, lobbies the local governor to get her shipped back to San Francisco. I liked this version a bit better than the 1932 version with Walter Huston and Joan Crawford because Barrymore is so brilliant, so harshly upright but at the same time, hinting at a demonic side as he glowers away. Despite the movie being silent, director Raoul Walsh (who also plays Swanson's love interest) delivers a couple of compelling scenes with Barrymore trying to exert his will, Swanson resisting, and the rain coming down, unrelenting. Swanson also lets loose with her anger, and in one funny moment it's obvious she's cursed a blue streak, as the ladies around her cover their ears and scamper off. 1928 was the first year for the Oscars and Swanson would be nominated for her performance. I admire her for it, but admire her more for producing the movie despite pressure because of its content, and considered a slightly higher rating.The film itself is not in that great a shape, and while the last couple of minutes are mostly gone forever, we're fortunate that Dennis Doros restored it as best possible mostly with carefully selected stills. Watching this one has you clearly thinking you're getting a window into the past, but at the same time, aren't these themes of religious overreach still so prevalent today? Thank you Gloria Swanson.

fredrock-08169 I had only seen Gloria Swanson in her more mature role in Sunset Boulevard and not in her heyday. She is gorgeous downright hot and very convincing as Sadie Thompson. The version of the W. Somerset Maugham story is superior to the better know Joan Crawford version Rain. Lionel Barrymore does a fantastic job as the self serving preacher. Raoul Walsh the well know director appears here as the serviceman who is in love with Sadie.

wolfmagena this was my first silent movie and i have to say i liked it. the music didn't change as drastically as i thought it would. i loved the character Sadie Thompson she was funny and was loving life and this new adventure she was about to have starting her life over. then stupid Mr. Davidson had to go and brain wash her thinking having fun was a sin and that she needed to repent if she wanted to be saved. and thinks that anyone who is different then him is evil. when in fact we find in the end he was evil and weak. but it got a little confusing because the end of the film was a little confusing due to the fact that it was lost and they remade it with stills. but in the end i guess he tried to sleep with her and she saw that he's wasn't as holy as he said. so she turns into her self again and falls in love with her handsome friend and Mr Davidson gives in to his dark thoughts and commits suicide.

evanston_dad Gloria Swanson takes hold of the screen and does not for one minute let it go in this adaptation of a W. Somerset Maugham novella about a free-wheeling firecracker (read: prostitute) who comes under the tyranny of a self-appointed reformer (a frightening Lionel Barrymore) in a battle of wills over her salvation. Swanson received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her work in the very first year of Oscar's existence. She lost to Janet Gaynor, who was nominated for a trio of performances that first year, but I'm not so sure she shouldn't have won. Raoul Walsh, tough-guy director of later films like James Cagney's "White Heat" (1949), directed "Sadie Thompson" and stars in the film as Sadie's love interest. The whole thing unfolds in a tropical location during a downpour, and it captures the over-heated exotic atmosphere perfectly.The film's impact is somewhat blunted because of its missing last moments. The version I saw reconstructed the final 10 minutes or so using still shots and title cards; one can only imagine what the actual footage was like. The film has a rather startling conclusion, not because I don't agree with it but rather because a mere ten years later (after enforcement of the Production Code) and for decades after, it wouldn't have been allowed to end the way it does, with Sadie exposing religion as a hypocritical sham and not changing her own racy tendencies one bit.Grade: B+