Miss Sadie Thompson and Rita

Post Reply
User avatar
mrsl
Posts: 4200
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 5:20 pm
Location: Chicago SW suburbs

Miss Sadie Thompson and Rita

Post by mrsl »

How sad that a part like this didn't come along to Rita earlier in her career. It may have changed the way people (men in general) looked at her. The lady had substance as an actress, but most of her roles never allowed her to show that.

I've always avoided this movie because as I've stated, I've never been a big fan of Rita, and Aldo Ray was fine as a supporting actor, but never struck me as a lead, or romantic. From the first scene with Jose Ferrer, I knew he would harm Sadie in some way as I'm sure most everybody else did when watching the movie.

Back to Rita though. She pulled out all the stops in this one. When called upon she was flighty, serious, remorseful, and attractive as the story played out, often within a scene going from one emotion to another. She WAS Sadie and after seeing her, I doubt anyone else could have done the part justice. As the soon to be aging glamour girl, she was fantastic with a great make-up man who really knew his stuff. When she first made her appearance she delivered her lines so normally and fluidly, I barely knew she was acting, and later in her self-examination scenes with Jose, she was subdued to almost comatose.

In Pal Joey
and Separate Tables she continued her awakened acting ability, but I think Miss Sadie Thompson was her very best role - much better than Gilda, Lady from Shanghai or any other part she played.

Previous to Sadie, she was nothing but a sex symbol, sliding through the movies, but with Sadie, she became an actress.

Anne
[/b]
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Post by MissGoddess »

I've always sung the praises of this performance and I'm so glad you thought highly of it, too, Anne. Rita is giving the performance of life as "Sadie", and though I thought Joan Crawford was excellent I still prefer this version. Jose Ferrer's "Mr. Davidson" was a thousand times more believable than Huston's, which was way too cartoonish. Whether that was the fault of the director or the actor, I don't know, but this later version in general is more realistic. I also like Aldo Ray in the part because he is what he is, no hero, just an average soldier with average qualities, but makes himself attractive by his loyalty to Sadie.

Everything you say about Rita's transformations is spot on. Amazingly, this movie gets short shrift even from her admirers. Not much was commented upon it in TCM's documentary on her. Perhaps because they didn't have rights to show clips at the time.

I'm thrilled to pieces I finally got this on tape, along with Fire Down Below. It's just too bad The Story on Page One couldn't have been included in this month long tribute.
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Post by MissGoddess »

And Anne, I wanted to add what Robert Osbourne pointed out about Rita's performance being W. Somerset Maugham's (author of Rain) own favorite of all the ladies who portrayed her on stage and screen.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Yes, MissG, I agree about "The Story On Page One," which is a very good low-budget film (written and directed by Clifford Odets). Rita is really very good as the downtrodden housewife on trial for killing her husband.

I've seen this movie only once, but it made a great impression on me.
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Post by MissGoddess »

jdb1 wrote:Yes, MissG, I agree about "The Story On Page One," which is a very good low-budget film (written and directed by Clifford Odets). Rita is really very good as the downtrodden housewife on trial for killing her husband.

I've seen this movie only once, but it made a great impression on me.
Same here, I saw it once and unfortunatley didn't record it. I beleive I even saw it on old AMC, that's how long ago it was, and that's how strong an impression it made on moi.
User avatar
mongoII
Posts: 12340
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 7:37 pm
Location: Florida

Post by mongoII »

I'm crazy about the scene in which Rita Hayworth belts out 'The Heat Is On" in a smoky place surrounded by soldiers. Very steamy stuff.
This was one of her best roles along with "Separate Tables".

I believe that "The Sory on Page One" is a 20th Century-Fox film which could be why it didn't make it in the Hayworth tribute on TCM.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

That's too bad about Story on Page One.

Actually I remember seeing it years ago on Channel 7 in NYC (ABC), late at night. But since the broadcast channels rarely show films in that manner any more, we'll have to wait for Fox to run it.
User avatar
MissGoddess
Posts: 5072
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 10:01 am
Contact:

Post by MissGoddess »

mongoII wrote:I'm crazy about the scene in which Rita Hayworth belts out 'The Heat Is On" in a smoky place surrounded by soldiers. Very steamy stuff.
This was one of her best roles along with "Separate Tables".

I believe that "The Sory on Page One" is a 20th Century-Fox film which could be why it didn't make it in the Hayworth tribute on TCM.
Steamy indeed! I actually felt nervous for "Sadie" in that scene---as if any minute all those guys were going to lose control and pounce on her!!

I think the first scene is hilarious---in the officer's/radio "shack" the men have a picture of a zaftig native woman hanging on the wall, and as Aldo Ray squints at it his C.O. tells him that as soon as she starts looking good to him, he'll know he's been there too long. Ha haaa!! Can you imagine then, what must have been going through their feverish brains when they saw Sadie dancing like that. I had to admit the "reverend" Mr. Davidson had a point when he warned her not to go.
Post Reply