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.

When Joan Crawford did Rain and in my opinion not badly in 1932, she contended with the memory of Jeanne Eagels who did the original Broadway production. As we know Jeanne died way too young and we never got to see her do this on film. She was supposed to be nothing less than brilliant. Crawford suffered by comparison no matter what she did.

Rita Hayworth may have suffered in comparison as well to Eagels as well as Crawford because Joan's version was done before the Code was put in place. A part which Hayworth should have scored a huge triumph laid a big old ostrich egg because of all the restrictions firmly in place courtesy of the Code.

W. Somerset Maugham's story which was about some really brutal facts of life including sexual desire and sexual oppression was a sensation in the Twenties. This version water downed the guts right out of Maugham's work. Jose Ferrer who also should have been brilliant as Davidson does what he can with the part, but is ultimately defeated. In fact Davidson is supposed to be a clergyman as was Walter Huston in the Joan Crawford version. Here he's some kind of overseer of a religious/medical mission. The Code forbade any bad depiction of religious figures.

Lester Lee and Allan Roberts wrote the score for Miss Sadie Thompson and the film given its subject matter reached incredibly ironic heights when Rita with Jo Ann Greer's singing voice does a number with kids like you would find in a Bing Crosby film. Ironically the rest of the musical part of the film is the best thing about it with Blue Pacific Blues winning an Oscar nomination for Best Song. But this film also includes a number forever associated with Rita Hayworth with The Heat Is On. Now that WAS in keeping with the subject matter.

They should have waited to do a remake of Rain once the Code had been lifted. A G rated version is ludicrous on its face. But then we would not have had Rita Hayworth at the height of her star power.

In the post-World War II, while heading to work in New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the liberal and joyful Miss Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) is stranded in a rainy island in the Pacific when one crewmember gets typhus and the vessel Orduna is put in quarantine. Sadie befriends a group of marines from an American outpost and is courted by Sergeant Phil O'Hara (Aldo Ray) that proposes her to move together with him to Sidney, Australia. However, the moralist and powerful Reverend Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer) recognizes her from the infamous Emerald Club in Honolulu and forces her to return to San Francisco where she has a past that haunts her. Nevertheless nobody can run away from himself.

I have just watched "Miss Sadie Thompson" following the recommendation of a friend of mine. Rita Hayworth is impressively wasted for a thirty-five year-old woman, but perfectly cast in the role of a woman with a disreputable past. In a certain moment after the conversion of Sadie Thompson I hated this movie and I found it awfully moralist. However the unexpected plot point is great and saves this tale of corruption of the human soul. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher de Satã" ("The Satan's Woman")