Review: Rain (1932)
There's more to Rain than meets the eye. Joan Crawford takes center stage, buried under so much makeup that she's barely recognizable. She plays Sadie Thompson, a prostitute who has come to the South Pacific island of Pago Pago in an attempt to turn over a new leaf, find herself, and outrun her past. While there, she receives every reaction imaginable from the people that she's boarding with: the younger men want her, the women despise her, and the older men remember younger, wilder days with a drunken twinkle in their eye. But it's the local missionary, played by Walter Huston, who will impact her most. His cold piety is at odds with his human weakness. The setting is a kettle coming to a boil and it's just about to blow. Despite its lush Polynesian setting, Rain is a claustrophobic movie. The title comes from the torrential downpour that starts right after the opening title screen and persists until the very end of the movie. This is alleviated somew...
