DKosty123 Rita Hayworth is a red head here. She is Sadie Thompson - a woman running from her past until she gets religion from a Preacher who then does not practice what he preaches. She is on her way to freedom until then.This one was done as a silent film in 1928, Directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Lionel Barrymore. That might just be the best version. In 1932, Joan Crawford did the first sound version. Here in 1953, Hayworth is Sadie number 3. Actually, her look here and the technicolor from MGM look pretty good.Hayworth's acting is fair, as is Jose Ferrer as the holier than thou preacher who does everything he can to stop Sadie but then becomes the very evil man he preaches against. Sadie is just too much for any one man. The plot for all three versions work out the same, and as for how it concludes, let's just say it is self-destructive. This one is worth looking at Rita, whose really the vamp here, but finds religion in the end. Or does she?

Mark Turner My guess is that many will not recall this film as part of that initial 3-D wave that took place during the fifties. I was surprised to find that it was released that way. I was even more surprised to learn that it did well at the box office. For me it wasn't that great a movie, but it was interesting to view and consider how racy it was considered at the time. In a world where prostitutes are recurring characters on TV shows and porn is available at the press of a button this movie seems quaint in its moral dilemma.Rita Hayworth stars as the title character, a brassy woman on her way to another island in the South Pacific just after the war whose ship strands her on a military base when it has problems. Thompson garners the attention of every military man on the island, all wishing they were the one to romance her but who lose out to Sgt. Phil O'Hara (Aldo Ray) who falls hard for her.Unfortunately for Sadie another visitor to the island is on hand as well, Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer), the son of missionaries who is there to carry on his father's work. This is the sort of character who finds fault in most everyone else but himself, in particular the way the island natives behave and in Sadie who he recognizes. When he follows up on his hunch he discovers that Sadie is a woman wanted for solicitation in Honolulu and he blackmails her into returning to the states to serve her time. The conflict between the fun loving independent woman and the staunch religious fanatic should be the center piece of the film. And yet it never quite feels that way.Therein lies the biggest problem with this movie. Based on the short story by W. Somerset Maugham the heart of the story (as well as several other movies based on the tale) revolves around these two as well as the temptation that Davidson feels for Sadie. But that temptation is rarely on display here until very near the end of the film when suddenly he is drawn to her, shattering her changed outlook on life. This should have been a smoldering item that grew as the film moved forward and instead here it feels like a random explosion.The pacing of the film seems leaden but the acting is great. Hayworth turns in a fantastic performance with what she is provided and does a wonderful bit of singing and dancing for the military personnel at a local club. But Ray's character feels forced, ready to marry Sadie at the drop of a hat. The horn dog nature of the soldiers and sailors in the film is at best like a caricature and so over the top you wonder how they survive with little to no women to look at.If made today (and I'm surprised it hasn't been) Hollywood would have a heyday with this story, pitting a staunch conservative religious fanatic against an easy going free spirit who simply wants to have fun. But that shows the difference in time periods when you consider that at the time this film was considered racy and morally questionable. For me the entire movie honestly felt kind of boring. I found myself dozing on more than one occasion.But for those who love the film and Rita Hayworth you can't find a better presentation of this movie. Twilight Time (whose praises I constantly sing) has done the film right with as clear and clean a presentation on blu-ray as you will find. Included with the movie are extras like an isolated music & effects track, audio commentary track with film historians David Del Valle and Steven Peros, an introduction by actress Patricia Clarkson and the original film trailer. I may have to watch this one start to finish with the commentary track on to see what I was missing. For most it will be a movie to bypass but for fans of classic movies and Hayworth you'll add this one to your collection.

Lucas3820 Having read some of the comments about this film I must disagree with much of the criticism made against this film. I have seen the 1932 Joan Crawford film "Rain", and while I agree that it is more successful in creating the mood and tone which is required for the story I consider this film version to have its own virtues. Rita Hayworth is good as Sadie (although unlike Joan Crawford she presents herself most of the time a a happy go lucky sort whereas with Crawford it is always apparent that she has a "bad" past)and Jose Ferrer is solid as Mr. Davidson. The location and Photography also add a great deal to the telling of this simple yet powerful story.

Harlequin_1998 I was so excited to find this movie...two of my favorite actors together! But the movie just doesn't work. It can't get the spirit of its author (and what a sour spirit) because of censorship, nor does it try to get into the minds of fundamentalist Christians (I don't think the filmmakers could). It's very sad because you see glimpses of greatness. Ferrer and Hayworth seem to be struggling without a director to deliver, but the soundstagey mess of a film overtakes them. The supporting actors aren't very good. If this film had been made with some grittiness, maybe it would have succeeded. But as it is, it's a messy hodgepodge.(the story is definitely not obsolete. we can see versions of it with Jessica Hahn and Jim Bakker, etc.)