La Belle du Pacifique

Imagine Pat Robertson pointing his boney crazy fingers out of the screen at you and you've got the picture.

Just saw this at the World 3-D Film Expo and it was quite enjoyable. The movie has great depth and wasn't filmed in a really gimmicky 3-D style. The transitions between location and sound stage work was fairly seamless and there were scenes I really wasn't certain if they were shot in Hollywood or the South Pacific.

It's always interesting to stumble on old movies like these that resonate more than 50 years later. How much and how little has changed when it comes to religious zealots...hhmmm?

After reading other reviews- wow. It's not that bad. Yes, the story has been done, but Hayworth makes it well worth watching.

And the theme underlying the story is still relevant. Sadie Thompson is a woman of questionable repute, living on a South Sea island trying to re-make her life.The Jose Ferrer character is effectively odious. A man hung up on projecting his moral issues on the nearest target. This happens to be Miss Sadie.

I recall seeing this film on an TV afternoon movie festival, when I was very young. I enjoyed it. Maybe if we were less jaded we would find the story more enjoyable. This was made in 1953, and the morality issues then are still present today.

The sets are beautiful. This was filmed on the sparsely populated Hawaiian island, Kuaui. Overall even if you are not a major Hayworth fan, the story has redeeming aspects. I will have to watch "Rain" again with Joan Crawford to compare, but it is so dated, this film is worth a look.8/10

Having read some of the comments about this film I must disagree with much of the criticism made against this film. I have seen the 1932 Joan Crawford film "Rain", and while I agree that it is more successful in creating the mood and tone which is required for the story I consider this film version to have its own virtues. Rita Hayworth is good as Sadie (although unlike Joan Crawford she presents herself most of the time a a happy go lucky sort whereas with Crawford it is always apparent that she has a "bad" past)and Jose Ferrer is solid as Mr. Davidson. The location and Photography also add a great deal to the telling of this simple yet powerful story.

In the post-World War II, while heading to work in New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the liberal and joyful Miss Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) is stranded in a rainy island in the Pacific when one crewmember gets typhus and the vessel Orduna is put in quarantine. Sadie befriends a group of marines from an American outpost and is courted by Sergeant Phil O'Hara (Aldo Ray) that proposes her to move together with him to Sidney, Australia. However, the moralist and powerful Reverend Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer) recognizes her from the infamous Emerald Club in Honolulu and forces her to return to San Francisco where she has a past that haunts her. Nevertheless nobody can run away from himself.

I have just watched "Miss Sadie Thompson" following the recommendation of a friend of mine. Rita Hayworth is impressively wasted for a thirty-five year-old woman, but perfectly cast in the role of a woman with a disreputable past. In a certain moment after the conversion of Sadie Thompson I hated this movie and I found it awfully moralist. However the unexpected plot point is great and saves this tale of corruption of the human soul. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher de Satã" ("The Satan's Woman")

This is the 1950's "Disney-ized" version of W. Somerset Maugham's wonderful story "Rain," which was filmed much more successfully and faithfully with Joan Crawford as Sadie back in 1932.

Rita Hayworth is always a pleasure to watch--a true beauty with significant talent, though her performance here isn't much to shout about. Probably due to the wretched script and mediocre direction.

This Technicolor, 3-D (in the original theatrical release), musical version demonstrates clearly that technology does not equal quality.

The worst element of this version is perhaps Jose Ferrer as the unbending moralizer who tries to convert Sadie. Certainly he's supposed to be stiff, but not to the point where his face shows absolutely no nuance of emotion ever.

Look for a studly young Charles Bronson in a minor role, listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky (this must have been before he discovered that Hollywood didn't like ethnic--especially in the 50's).

No, your best bet is just to read the story. Maugham deserves the attention; he's a much under-rated writer.