{ "id": "epjf66q78r", "slug": "sadie-thompson", "title": "Sadie Thompson", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent", "label": "Early and silent cinema", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "label": "Released 1927 to 2012", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent", "label": "Early and silent cinema", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Sadie Thompson, 1928 silent drama directed by Raoul Walsh, produced by and starring Gloria Swanson from Maugham's 'Miss Thompson' and the play Rain; hit remake source, censored, partially restored 1987.", "snippet": "Sadie Thompson, 1928 silent drama directed by Raoul Walsh, produced by and starring Gloria Swanson from Maugham's 'Miss Thompson' and the play Rain; hit remake source, censored, partially restored 1987.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "markdown": "# Sadie Thompson\n\n**Sadie Thompson** is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by [Raoul Walsh](https://www.edgepedia.org/raoul-walsh), produced by and starring [Gloria Swanson](https://www.edgepedia.org/gloria-swanson), and based on [W. Somerset Maugham](https://www.edgepedia.org/w-somerset-maugham)'s short story \"Miss Thompson\" and the stage play *Rain* adapted from it. It was released by United Artists on 7 January 1928.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) The story of a woman with a past in San Francisco who crosses a self-righteous religious reformer on a South Pacific island, it was a major box-office success and one of the landmark films of the late silent era.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 7 January 1928, United Artists; nine reels, 8,600 feet, silent black-and-white[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) |\n| Source | Maugham's short story \"Miss Thompson\" (*The Smart Set*, April 1921) and the play *Rain* by John Colton and Clemence Randolph (New York, 7 November 1922)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) |\n| Cast | Gloria Swanson (Sadie), Lionel Barrymore (the reformer), Raoul Walsh (Sergeant Timothy O'Hara)[3](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html) |\n| Cost and earnings | Production cost $931,761.04; about $7,000,000 internationally and $1,000,000 in the United States[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) |\n| Awards | Certificates of honorable mention at the first Academy Awards for Swanson's performance and, in part, for George Barnes's cinematography[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) |\n| Survival | The final reel was lost to nitrate decomposition; a 1987 restoration by Dennis Doros of Kino International reconstructed the ending with stills and original titles[3](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html) |\n| Remakes | *Rain* (1932, Lewis Milestone, Joan Crawford) and *Miss Sadie Thompson* (1953, Curtis Bernhardt, Rita Hayworth)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and setting\n\nSadie Thompson arrives in Pago Pago from San Francisco, lodging at a general store on a rain-soaked tropical island. She meets Sergeant Timothy O'Hara, a marine who promises to marry her, while the reformer Davidson, obsessed with her \"immorality,\" works to have her deported to the police waiting in San Francisco. After she appears to reform, Davidson seduces her and then commits suicide; Sadie is reunited with O'Hara and the two leave for Australia.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) The New Yorker's 1928 review noted the changes made for the screen: the Reverend Davidson became \"just a plain reformer\" renamed Hamilton, and a happy ending was added in which Sadie departs for Sydney with the sergeant.[4](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1928/02/11/take-a-look-at-sadie-thompson-colleen-moore-helps-out-again)\n\nThe reformer's name varies across sources and prints. The Silent Era list gives [Lionel Barrymore](https://www.edgepedia.org/lionel-barrymore)'s character as Alfred Davidson and notes that the AFI catalog entry erroneously lists the Barrymore and Friderici characters with the last name Atkinson.[3](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html) Contemporary reviews and the Parallax View credits list him as Hamilton.[4](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1928/02/11/take-a-look-at-sadie-thompson-colleen-moore-helps-out-again) • [5](https://parallax-view.org/two-raucous-silents-what-price-glory-sadie-thompson/)\n\n## Censorship and production\n\nThe film was, in the words of one account, almost \"the film that didn't get made.\"[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) The Broadway play *Rain*, starring Jeanne Eagels, had been controversial for its subject matter, and the play was on the censorship taboo list; several prominent producers had agreed not to film it.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) • [6](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/) Swanson's route around this was to base the film technically on Maugham's original short story rather than the play, and to obtain the personal approval of Will H. Hays, the industry's chief censor, by promising to cut anything that would reflect badly on the clergy; Hays consented on the condition that the Reverend Davidson become a layman.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) • [6](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/) Producer Joseph Schenck then negotiated the purchase of the story for $100,000, the price Maugham had asked for the banned play, with the deal announced to Swanson in a coded telegram reading \"Very happy to advise you are now owner of the two molehills of Nebraska.\"[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928)\n\nWhen the production was announced, an indignant telegram signed by most of Hollywood's major moguls arrived; because many signers controlled theater chains, the dispute could have blocked the film's exhibition. Swanson appealed to each signer personally, and [Marcus Loew](https://www.edgepedia.org/marcus-loew)'s defense of her got the matter dropped.[7](https://hollywoodrevue.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/sadie-thompson-1928/) Even after shooting finished, Swanson and Walsh fought the Hays Office over the editing; censors scissored several scenes, and Swanson recalled that nearly every time the word \"rain\" appeared in an intertitle it had to go.[6](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/) The exact nature of Sadie's past in San Francisco was left open as a concession.[8](https://www.screeningthepast.com/issue-2-first-release/prostitution-and-film-censorship-in-the-usa/)\n\n**Production troubles.** Rather than travel to Pago Pago, the company shot its South Seas locations on Catalina Island, with William Cameron Menzies designing a convincing tropical village.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-12-ca-1589-story.html) [Cinematography](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinematography) was repeatedly disrupted: George Barnes, borrowed from [Samuel Goldwyn](https://www.edgepedia.org/samuel-goldwyn), was pulled off the picture mid-production; [Mary Pickford](https://www.edgepedia.org/mary-pickford)'s cameraman Charles Rosher was tried and his work did not blend; Robert Kurrle also did not last; and Oliver Marsh of MGM finished the film.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) All four are credited.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) Production ended in September 1927 with a final cost of $931,761.04, a sum that would have ruined Swanson had the film failed; she sold her house in Croton-on-Hudson rather than become beholden to Schenck.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) • [6](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film previewed in San Bernardino in early November 1927 and was released on 7 January 1928 to strong results: about $7,000,000 internationally and $1,000,000 in the United States, with Swanson earning the best reviews of her career.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928) It was voted one of the \"Top Best Features\" of 1928 by the 1929 *Film Daily* Year Book.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) At the first Academy Awards, Swanson received a certificate of honorable mention for her performance, and George Barnes received one for his cinematography on this film and two others.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) It was Swanson's last big hit until *Sunset Boulevard* in 1950.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928)\n\nA sound version with a synchronized score, sound effects, and a theme song, but no audible dialogue, was prepared in the latter half of 1928 as public interest shifted away from silents.[10](https://www.thefilmexaminer.com/films/sadie-thompson-1928) The story was filmed twice more: as *Rain* (1932) with [Joan Crawford](https://www.edgepedia.org/joan-crawford) and [Walter Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-huston) under Lewis Milestone, and as *Miss Sadie Thompson* (1953), a Columbia semimusical with [Rita Hayworth](https://www.edgepedia.org/rita-hayworth) and José Ferrer directed by Curtis Bernhardt, in which Code-era censors insisted Sadie not be a prostitute.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906) • [8](https://www.screeningthepast.com/issue-2-first-release/prostitution-and-film-censorship-in-the-usa/)\n\n## Preservation\n\nThe last surviving print was found in Mary Pickford's collection, with nitrate decomposition already having destroyed the final reel.[6](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/) In 1987 Kino International underwrote a restoration supervised by Dennis Doros, reconstructing the final scenes from production stills and original titles; damage is visible in other scenes as well.[3](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-12-ca-1589-story.html) The film is in the public domain in the United States.[3](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Sadie Thompson (1928), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/11838-SADIE-THOMPSON?cp=1&pos=1&sid=27b4e127-fe59-4409-b45c-5cdff7487f9b&sr=0.069855906)\n2. [Sadie Thompson (1928), TCM article by Lorraine LoBianco](https://www.tcm.com/articles/1036640/sadie-thompson-1928)\n3. [Sadie Thompson (1928), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.co.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SadieThompson1928.html)\n4. [Take a Look at Sadie Thompson, The New Yorker, February 11, 1928](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1928/02/11/take-a-look-at-sadie-thompson-colleen-moore-helps-out-again)\n5. [Two Raucous Silents: 'What Price Glory?,' 'Sadie Thompson', Parallax View](https://parallax-view.org/two-raucous-silents-what-price-glory-sadie-thompson/)\n6. [Sadie Thompson, San Francisco Silent Film Festival](https://silentfilm.org/sadie-thompson/)\n7. [Sadie Thompson (1928), The Hollywood Revue](https://hollywoodrevue.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/sadie-thompson-1928/)\n8. [Prostitution and film censorship in the USA, Screening the Past](https://www.screeningthepast.com/issue-2-first-release/prostitution-and-film-censorship-in-the-usa/)\n9. [Final Reel Restored to Gloria Swanson's Silent 'Sadie', Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-12-ca-1589-story.html)\n10. [Sadie Thompson (1928), The Film Examiner](https://www.thefilmexaminer.com/films/sadie-thompson-1928)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1927 to 2012*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Sadie Thompson\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Sadie Thompson](https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson](https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Sadie Thompson\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-thompson. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Sadie Thompson, 1928 silent drama directed by Raoul Walsh, produced by and starring Gloria Swanson from Maugham's 'Miss Thompson' and the play Rain; hit remake source, censored, partially restored 1987." }