The Story of Temple Drake

Temple Drake is a well brought up Southern woman who has a strong wild and crazy streak. She refuses marriage proposals from Steven Benbow, a dedicated and ethical young lawyer, because she knows she isn't ready to settle down. She is, in fact, a notorious sexual tease. Soon she's being held by a group of bootleggers and is raped by a hood named Trigger. Temple's wild streak takes over and she decides to stay with Trigger, perhaps working as a prostitute. Pretty heady stuff for the 1930's!

I particularly liked the character of Benbow who willingly takes all of the pro bono criminal cases assigned to him by the judge (Temple's haughty father) and handles even the hopeless ones with great dedication. In the courtroom scene that ends this film, Benbow's skill and ethics are put to the test.

There is an extensive discussion and analysis of "Temple Drake" in Thomas Doherty, "Pre-Code Hollywood" (1999) at 114-17. The story of the film's struggle with the censors (both in Hollywood and in the states) is told in Thomas Vieira, "Sin in Soft Focus" (1999) 149-50; stills from the film appear at 158-59.

It's odd that this pre-Code morality tale was withdrawn by Paramount shortly after release, considering that despite its salacious content it pointed out that the girl at the center was capable of noble redemption. However that may be, "The Story of Temple Drake" works well on its own terms as a story about a flirtatious Southern belle (Miriam Hopkins in one of her best performances) whose behavioral excesses get her into a mighty mess with a band of bootleggers, including a character named Trigger (Jack LaRue in a role George Raft refused) and an embittered harridan interestingly played by Florence Eldridge (real life wife of Fredric March). Both actors benefit from Karl Struss's evocative photography.

Director Stephen Roberts and screenwriter Oliver H.P. Garrett do their early 30's best to cinematize a complicated novel (by William Faulkner) by crunching long passages of text into visually suggestive nuggets. The trouble with the gang of ne'er-do-wells is that none of them have even a twinge of a southern twang except James Eagles as the dimwitted Tommy. Besides him, the only key actor with even a slight southern accent in the whole film is Hopkins. William Gargan contrasts perfectly with the criminals as the clean-cut lawyer who loves and defends Hopkins despite her dark side. The drama builds to a breathless, memorable conclusion, concisely shot and directed for maximum effect.

Just caught this gem last night at the Film Forum during their incredible Pre-Code Women festival!

Top acting honors to Miriam Hopkins, Jack La Rue et al. It is truly amazing how some of the pre-code dramas and comedies (sadly most of them missing from video, much less dvd!) hold up so incredibly well.

While I admire the ingenuity and class that some of the later 30's and 40's movies had in dealing with the Code restrictions, early dramas like The Story of Temple Drake demonstrate the same artistry in handling a sexually frank storyline.

Little Faulkner is left in this, but the mood and atmosphere of this film is superb!

This is probably the most daring precode picture made. Miriam Hopkins starred and I can't think of anyone else who would have been just as good. Even Harlow wouldn't have worked. She never played such an amoral C.T. as Temple. Jack LaRue was absolutely perfect as Trigger. Such a face. Extraordinarily good looking and yet resolutely menacing. I'll never understand why he never was used as a romantic lead in any of his movies that I know. Read the other reviews for plot details. They are precise. I purchased my copy privately on DVD. I've always wanted to see it. It was worth it. The settings and lighting were extremely good for the story and time in cinema history. Hooray for the director and all of the technicians,

The notorious and rarely-seen (it's not even listed in Maltin's book)1933 adaption of William Faulkner's "Sanctuary" was unveiled to NY audiences last week at the Film Forum. The film is beautifully shot, and has an amazing performance by Miriam Hopkins as the southern belle who gets kidnapped and raped by a gangster, but stays with him by choice. At the conclusion, there was a richly-deserved round of applause. The rights are owned by Universal Home Video now--start writing them to get this lost masterpiece onto the video shelves.