2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

DKosty123 Miriam Hopkins is terrific in this film as Temple. Jack La Rue is solid as Trigger, the bad guy who rapes her. This movie holds up in many places. Even though the Hayes Code was not in place on this, the rape scenes on the cut TCM showed were mostly realistic screams by Hopkins.I think the reason Hopkins is so effective is she is playing a wealthy judge Drakes daughter is because in real life she was born into wealth. Temple appears to be playing all the men in her life with no idea who was the one she wanted. While this is not as dark as Faulkner's book it is based on, it has plenty of darkness with the car accident and the moon shiners wrecked house. The version on TCM was short at 69 minutes, but it has a lot of action and is a credit to director Stephen Roberts who does not let the action bog down much. The court room scenes are good too. Roberts would die at age 40 which is a shame since he had a lot of experience directing films.As the code folks, and the Catholics banned this film for film content even when it was toned down for release, it would be very interesting if an uncut version did exist. After all, a rape scene besides the screams in this era would certainly be an interesting scene of early Hollywood.

richard-1787 Even for a pre-Code movie, this is pretty tough stuff. Granted, it doesn't get into the most sordid aspects of Faulkner's novel - a pot-boiler that he wrote when his serious works failed to earn him any money - but it's still very somber: a Southern society girl out on a binge with a drunken playboy gets raped by a gangster, set up in a Memphis brothel, and then finally kills the gangster. (In the novel, the gangster, originally named Popeye, is impotent, and so likes to watch others do what he cannot do.) You can certainly understand why the League of Decency went after this. And, frankly, I'm not sure I see what the point of making this movie was. I don't know who would enjoy it.Which is not to say that it's a poorly made movie. Quite to the contrary.Miriam Hopkins, whom I know from a string of fluffy mildly suggestive Ernst Lubitsch-type comedies - The Smiling Lieutenant, Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living - gives a very impressive performance here as a Zelda Fitzgerald type who ends up being terrified out of her wits when she encounters a world of people very different from her native high-society circles. I have a lot more respect for her as an actress after seeing this.The direction here, by Stephen Roberts, is also quite good at times, with very effective cinematography in the scenes set at the gangsters' hideout.I can imagine that this movie would be very unpleasant viewing for a lot of women. It tells a gruesome story, and does nothing to keep it light. It's certainly worth seeing for Hopkins' performance, but it won't put you in a good mood.

Uriah43 "Temple Drake" (Miriam Hopkins) is a young southern lady who pretty much has it all. She is attractive and comes from a rich and distinguished family with a fine reputation. She is also a little wild and enjoys teasing the young men and then leaving them empty-handed and wanting more. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, she decides to go riding in a car one night with a young man named "Toddy Gowan" (William Collier Jr.) who just happens to be quite intoxicated. Naturally, because he is so impaired he crashes the car in the process. Fortunately, neither he nor Temple are badly hurt and it's at this point that some bootleggers find them and take them back to their house. Things then go from bad to worse when the young man proceeds to get even more intoxicated while a couple of the bootleggers try to make time with Temple—despite the fact that Temple wants nothing to do with any of them. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it I will just say that even though this film was made over 70 years ago it still manages to impress audiences even today. Based on the rather explicit book, "Sanctuary" by William Faulkner, this movie gained some notoriety for what was implied rather than actually shown on the screen. Likewise, I should also mention that this film was produced a year before the "Hays Code" was introduced which greatly limited content of a controversial nature. In any case, I thought Miriam Hopkins was sensational in the lead role and I definitely recommend this film to those who might enjoy a movie from this particular era. I have rated it accordingly.

jjnxn-1 Provocative and racy this hard to find film is loaded with infamy. If you started watching not knowing it was a pre-code it would only take a few minutes to realized it. Full of a wantonness and sense of depravity that wouldn't be seen in movies for decades after, this sin-fest features rape, murder and many other shocking events with a frank candor. Even the advertising for the film was lurid, just look at the poster to get an idea of how the film was sold. Many of the cast are rather ham handed in their portrayals, William Gargan in particular, but Miriam Hopkins lights up the screen with a vibrant sensuality and a compelling presence. A truly talented actress it's a shame that behind the scenes she was such a difficult and brazen up-stager that it irrevocably damaged her career and shortened her star period.