One of the interesting things about watching older movies is the way they describe things that were, at the time, verboten. This was on account of the Hays Code, which defined what was unacceptable in movies from March 1930 on. The full text is at numerous places on the internet, including http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html, but banned materials included representations of, of course, sex, but also such things as narcotics and crimes against the police, and even such strange leaps as "The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown." According to a bit I saw on Silver Screen Classics yesterday, the first film to challenge the code was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. I'm no authority on older movies, but even my occasional viewing revealed more than a few instances of alcohol use that were neither required by the plot nor for proper characterization. Presumably, the Code was enforced selectively as long as you didn't try to cram everything in there at once.
This all came to mind last night while watching the excellent post-Code film Rain (1932), starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston. Crawford's character, Sadie, is either a prostitute or at least a lady whose favours are dispensed without much discretion. The linguistic lengths to which the characters are forced to go to communicate this piece of information are significant, given the limited variations allowable by the Code. Of course, this was probably unnecessary, since our first sight of Sadie is a series of quick shots of one jewellery-covered hand, then the other, then a fishnet-stockinged leg fitted into a high heel, then a head shot of her cigarette-holding mouth. I wasn't even around in 1932, but anyone could tell you that the cigarette was code for "slut".
Anyway, Sadie and four others, including Huston's Davidson, are stuck in Pago Pago during the rainy season while they wait for the next leg in their journey to begin once the ship's crew is clear of cholera. Davidson is a missionary, and after a run-in with Sadie resolves to "save" her from her evil ways. He ultimately is successful, but he suffers a fall, either by having sex with her or attempting to. Of course, we only learn this after Davidson has killed himself and Sadie is reintroduced with the exact same shots with which she was initially shown. When she learns Davidson is dead, she says she can forgive him. The question left unanswered is whether Sadie was genuinely saved then fell again, or whether she staged being a servant of God in order to effect Davidson's fall. I am inclined towards the latter.
While the story itself is good, what raises the film is the sense of claustrophobia caused by people with vastly different approaches to life being trapped in the same living quarters on a remote island during torrential rains. Sadie is trapped physically by the delayed boat and the rain, and emotionally and spiritually by Davidson, first by his machinations to get her sent back to America, then by his control once she finds God. She is only truly free at the beginning of the film, before Davidson gets her in his sights, and at the end, after his death. Crawford overacts with all the flare of the era, but Huston's performance is more subtle, despite his bombastic character, and superior. Unfortunately, his fall comes almost completely out of the blue, since there is no sign that he is attracted to Sadie as more than an acolyte. Even when he makes his move on her, this happens so completely off screen that the only reason we know it happened is because Sadie (more or less) tells us so. The handling is smooth after the fact, but the lack of lead-in blunts the effect.
I am surprised that this story hasn't been remade in the more than 70 years that have passed since Rain was first released. There are strands that would have to be jettisoned, but this is a story that calls out for a contemporary interpretation. The Code may be gone, but there are no fewer close-minded people who would wish it back to life. Sadie should get a chance to be a real 'ho and show a little flesh before the opportunity passes.
This all came to mind last night while watching the excellent post-Code film Rain (1932), starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston. Crawford's character, Sadie, is either a prostitute or at least a lady whose favours are dispensed without much discretion. The linguistic lengths to which the characters are forced to go to communicate this piece of information are significant, given the limited variations allowable by the Code. Of course, this was probably unnecessary, since our first sight of Sadie is a series of quick shots of one jewellery-covered hand, then the other, then a fishnet-stockinged leg fitted into a high heel, then a head shot of her cigarette-holding mouth. I wasn't even around in 1932, but anyone could tell you that the cigarette was code for "slut".
Anyway, Sadie and four others, including Huston's Davidson, are stuck in Pago Pago during the rainy season while they wait for the next leg in their journey to begin once the ship's crew is clear of cholera. Davidson is a missionary, and after a run-in with Sadie resolves to "save" her from her evil ways. He ultimately is successful, but he suffers a fall, either by having sex with her or attempting to. Of course, we only learn this after Davidson has killed himself and Sadie is reintroduced with the exact same shots with which she was initially shown. When she learns Davidson is dead, she says she can forgive him. The question left unanswered is whether Sadie was genuinely saved then fell again, or whether she staged being a servant of God in order to effect Davidson's fall. I am inclined towards the latter.
While the story itself is good, what raises the film is the sense of claustrophobia caused by people with vastly different approaches to life being trapped in the same living quarters on a remote island during torrential rains. Sadie is trapped physically by the delayed boat and the rain, and emotionally and spiritually by Davidson, first by his machinations to get her sent back to America, then by his control once she finds God. She is only truly free at the beginning of the film, before Davidson gets her in his sights, and at the end, after his death. Crawford overacts with all the flare of the era, but Huston's performance is more subtle, despite his bombastic character, and superior. Unfortunately, his fall comes almost completely out of the blue, since there is no sign that he is attracted to Sadie as more than an acolyte. Even when he makes his move on her, this happens so completely off screen that the only reason we know it happened is because Sadie (more or less) tells us so. The handling is smooth after the fact, but the lack of lead-in blunts the effect.
I am surprised that this story hasn't been remade in the more than 70 years that have passed since Rain was first released. There are strands that would have to be jettisoned, but this is a story that calls out for a contemporary interpretation. The Code may be gone, but there are no fewer close-minded people who would wish it back to life. Sadie should get a chance to be a real 'ho and show a little flesh before the opportunity passes.
posted by George @ 10:40 a.m.
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