Watch Sadie Thompson For Free

Touches You

How sad is this?

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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.

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.

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+

Gloria Swanson (as Sadie Thompson) is a prostitute bound for Pago Pago, "in the sultry South Seas, where there is no need for bed clothes" as "the rain comes down in sheets." Ms. Swanson is contemplating a change in lifestyle, but has her thinking derailed by hypocritical preacher Lionel Barrymore (as Alfred Davidson). The two are among those quarantined together, due to an outbreak of small-pox. Watch for Swanson's exclamation after being told she's quarantined! It isn't, "Oh, sugar!" AND, that's only the beginning. Gloria Swanson is Sadie Thompson. This is one of her best performances, and it certainly surpasses the Sadies essayed by Joan Crawford and Rita Hayworth. Swanson creates a marvelous Sadie - clear, precise, and believable. Her eye-to-eye contact with Blanche Friderici (as Mrs. Davidson) is the first sign you have that a truly riveting characterization is in the works. Swanson uses her eyes magnificently throughout, but is also skillful chewing gum, wiping her hands, and striking a pose… she inhabits the character.Director Raoul Walsh does double duty by playing Swanson's "Handsome" love interest Tim O'Hara. The photography and sets are superior, though the film is damaged in some places. The symbolism is just right - watch how Swanson gets into a TIGHT black negligee and gets caught in a web. Subtle. Yet, the heavy-handed, rain drenched symbolism is easier to take in a "silent" rather than a "talking" picture. The characters to watch are Swanson and Barrymore, as the film progresses; they have a psychological war, which offers some dramatic surprises. Barrymore is, perhaps, less captivating than Walter Huston in the Crawford re-make, which was re-titled "Rain" (1932); it would have been nice to see a version with Swanson and Huston.Sadly, the very end of "Sadie Thompson" is lost. There is a relatively well-done "reconstruction". Most of the missing footage is successfully imagined with stills; this might have been an interesting way to end the film, anyway. However, there is one lost scene, essential to the story, sorely missed; but, you will have no trouble figuring out what has happened. ********* Sadie Thompson (1/7/28) Raoul Walsh ~ Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, Raoul Walsh, Blanche Friderici