The Story of Temple Drake

source: The Story of Temple Drake

I have not read "Sanctuary" but "The Story of Temple Drake" is a nasty story populated by some nasty people bracketed by some good people. Somewhere in the middle is Temple Drake, a southern tease who is asking for trouble, and finds it. This must be Miriam Hopkins' best performance as she goes from debutante to fallen woman before regaining her equilibrium and self-respect. Her final few scenes are outstanding and might have earned her an Oscar nomination in a later time period and in a less controversial film. Mention must be made of Jack LaRue, who plays Trigger, the villain of the piece. A repugnant figure, Trigger is the thoroughly rotten personification of evil and LaRue is terrific in the part. Like Miss Hopkins, this must be the high point of his long career which began in silents. "The Story of Temple Drake" was shocking for its time and still packs a wallop today. Unlike today's fare, it leaves much off the screen to the imagination, which can be substantial depending on your frame of mind. It was one of the pictures chiefly responsible for the introduction of the Hays Code the following year.

It was Faulkner's marriage in 1929 to a woman who bought two children from her first marriage that caused him to start thinking seriously about writing a book for financial profit which ended up being "Sanctuary". He said he then forgot about it but that didn't stop it becoming a sensation. It would be nice to think that Faulkner could have realised a nice profit but with his usual luck the publisher that he had given the book to, Harrison Smith, went bankrupt six months after "Sanctuary" was published and so he received almost no royalties. The only money he made from it was to come from Hollywood. By the time "Sanctuary" was ready to be filmed in 1933 the novel had been denounced as obscene and degrading. The Hays office became involved by informing Paramount that neither the film nor the credits were allowed to mention the title so Paramount compromised by calling it "The Story of Temple Drake", hoping the heroine's name would cause the public to remember the book's scandal. George Raft, who had been scheduled to star pulled out. He had no intention of hurting his newly won box office allure by playing a sadistic gangster who had no sympathetic qualities. He had already played a pretty despicable gangster with both Miriam Hopkins and Mae Clarke so there was method in his rejection. Probably the only role rejection that actually helped his career. Jack La Rue was given the assignment and it certainly didn't catapult him to stardom. He played Trigger (in the book it was Popeye) a city punk living in the Mississippi hill country. Temple Drake (Hopkins), Southern belle and grand daughter of prominent judge, has rejected Stephen Benbow's marriage proposal as she finds him too serious and unromantic. She craves excitement and unfortunately finds it. Exiting a stuffy party with inebriated Toddy (William Collier Jnr.) she is plunged into a nightmare world when their car overturns and they seek shelter at an abandoned mansion with a group of misfits. There's a baby in a wood box- "so the rats don't get it", a cretinous teenager, Tommy, a worn down woman (Florence Eldridge, Frederic March's wife) and a couple of men who wouldn't be out of place in "Deliverance". The rape scene between Temple and Trigger, a sadistic city gangster, is very powerful. The film drips with sexuality and decadence and the artfully lit soft focus photography of Karl Struss went far to diffuse the story's more shocking implications. Trigger kills Tommy who has appointed himself Temple's guardian and is determined to see no harm comes to her. Trigger takes a shell shocked Temple into the city to establish her in a brothel. Goodwin (the wonderful character actor Irving Pichel) one of the men from the house, goes to the police to report Tommy's murder and suddenly finds himself charged. Of course Benbow is assigned to the case and it is up to him to find Temple and convince her to testify and with it destroy her character!!!! Temple Drake was a challenging role and Miriam Hopkins, in one of her best screen performances, gives it everything she has. Her scene in the old house where she suddenly realises this is real and there is no escape, she starts to really cry and makes you believe in her. Jack La Rue is simply chilling as Trigger, a thug with no redeeming qualities. It is a pity it didn't lead to bigger and better parts but he could always be proud of his performance in "The Story of Temple Drake".

Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) is an idealistic defense lawyer who is in love with Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins). She is a southern belle wild child and a tease. Her granddad Judge wants her to go with Stephen but she can't seem to marry the straight laced Stephen. She leaves a party with the drunken Toddy who crashes the car. They're taken by bootleggers. Soon she's in fear of the lowlife criminals and the drunken Toddy is useless. She is raped by the well dressed killer Trigger (Jack La Rue). He kidnaps her as his kept woman. Stephen investigates Trigger for a murder and finds Temple. She pretends to be Trigger's woman to send Stephen off. The controversial salacious content is pre-code. There is some violence and a lot of suggested sexuality. It's actually effective as a noir style movie. The surprising thing is that it's still very watchable. The acting isn't always the best. William Gargan is a bit stiff. Miriam Hopkins is playing it very melodramatically as is usually the case of this era. It works in this melodrama. Jack La Rue is great as the quietly threatening villain.

Based loosely on Faulkner's novel Sanctuary(but watered down), this film is a Southern Gothic tale of a spoiled southern belle named Temple Drake(Miriam Hopkins)who is the town tease, and loves to get all the local boys hot & bothered, only to leave them cold. One night with one of her beaus, they are involved in a car accident that leaves them stranded at a house where there's bootlegging going on, with an assorted lot of bootleggers,getting drunk. The head of them,a gangster from the city named Trigger(Jack La Rue)sees Temple,wants her as his, and nothing will stop him. The morning after, with Temple having a restless night in the barn, being guarded by Tommy(James Eagles), the feeb.She is trapped like a rat by Trigger, who kills Tommy, and then rapes her. Trigger then hauls Temple off to the city, to Miss Reba's place, a brothel, and she becomes his sex slave. Temple is so shell shocked by the rape, she stays there with Trigger, until an old beau, Stephen (William Gargan)who is defending Lee Goodwin(Irving Pichel) in the death of Tommy, comes looking around for Trigger. Stephen can't believe his eyes that Temple has taken up with Trigger,and wants to bring her back home. Temple then acts the part of a fallen woman, when she sees Trigger getting ready to kill Stephen, saying that she wants to be with Trigger. After Stephen leaves, Temple decides it's the best time to get out of there, but Trigger starts to beat & assault her again, she then shots Trigger dead, and goes back home. Back home, Temple has to take the stand and clear Lee Goodwin in Tommy's death. The whole cast is great, the best parts are the brothel scenes,which are so hot one could fry an egg on them. I really enjoyed the performance of Jack La Rue, who's Trigger is so hot & so sleazy, it's perfect. Also the fact that this film raises profane thoughts in one's head, that Temple may have enjoyed the rape(the very end of the film), makes this film one of the best of the pre-code era.

Story of Temple Drake, The (1933) *** (out of 4) Notorious pre-code tells the story of Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins), a Southern Belle who uses her beauty to turn men on only to quickly throw water on them. To Temple turning men on is just a joke but when a date takes her to a dangerous bar, she's quickly held hostage by a bootlegger named Trigger (Jack LaRue) who will stop at nothing to feed his lust. THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE was highly controversial when it was first released and in large part it was one of the main reasons that the Hayes Office would have to finally stand up and keep on eye out for the "products" being released by Hollywood. Seen today the film is certainly less shocking but there's no doubt that the subject matter is still rather touchy and especially the "wannabe" bad girl who finally gets broken down when sexually, physically and mentally abused by an evil man. I think the best thing going for the film is the performance by Hopkins who was clearly born to play this role. Even though the film runs a very short 70-minutes and a lot of the material from the William Faulkner novel has been left out, the character of Temple Drake still goes through quite a bit of developments. Hopkins nails all of them and I really loved the early scenes where she was just playing the men to get them worked up so that she could just dump them and then move onto the next. These scenes with the actress are perfectly done but she also handles the later moments when she's terrified of what's going to happen to her and then of course at the end when she's broken down. I was also impressed with LaRue who gets to shine even if the screenplay doesn't do too much justice to him. William Gargan plays the lawyer who also just happens to be in love with Drake and he too is pretty good. Flrence Eldridge really stands out in her role and those with a quick eye can spot John Carradine in the courtroom. The pre-code elements are somewhat strong with a rape and several sexual moments with Hopkins either stripping down or showing off her legs. The most notorious scene happens when she strips down to her bra and panties only to have one of the thugs rip off a coat that she's wearing and the viewer gets even more of a glimpse of her. At 70-minutes the film moves extremely fast and there's no question that film buffs will want to search this one out.

I heard that Temple Drake was one of the most memorable and controversial female figures in the history of fiction, and consequently read William Faulkner's notorious novel "The Sanctuary" and watched the "pre-code" movie "The Story Of Temple Drake". I was very disappointed in the book, and the movie isn't worth writing home about neither -- in parts it's a pretty schlocky B-movie. If you're watching this to be shocked, then prepare to be shockingly bored. However, Miriam Hopkins is amazing, she's a true goddess of the silver screen, and Jack La Rue will solder his effigy into your brain, especially in that notorious close-up scene. And to give credit where it's due, the story makes a lot more sense than in the book, which really shows off the bad quality of the original novel -- later Nobel Prize winner Faulkner gets taught a lesson or two by a bunch of spotty Hollywood hacks here. Where Temple simply behaves erratically in the book, she does cut a memorable figure in the movie: a sweet-hearted but capricious girl, she gets violated and abducted by the sinister stroke dashing Trigger (his role makes a lot more sense than in the book, too, where he is a crossover between Al Capone and some sort of ridiculous cripple). When her Prince Charming arrives at the scene of the crime, she sees Trigger reach for his gun and acts the gangster moll to protect her saviour. Then the events pile up ... So, what's a good way to watch this? I saw it on my own as a video in very bad visual quality, and couldn't recommend it. The best way to see this is probably with a bunch of friends who enjoy offbeat movies, in a musty art-house cinema, and with a fresh one in your hand.

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.

So I finally got to see this Pre-code film which has become part of movie lore for us classic fans. It's near impossible to find (but it's available now on *cough* the world's most popular video-sharing site), but it always rates a mention when discussing Pre-code Hollywood. This is one of the films that brought on the Hayes decision to censor movies--and you can see why. It's packed full of the things that make Pre-code great: sex, booze, violence and suggestive dialogue. Miriam Hopkins is perfectly cast as the Southern socialite of the title, who parties all night with all sorts of men (as her wise black maid says, her doting, oblivious rich grandfather really SHOULD look at her underwear!), but is really a pricktease. At least, she only does what she wants. Hopkins is convincing with her brittle Southern accent and her mannerisms. So when Temple gets kidnapped by a gangster after witnessing a murder, she's shocked. Jack LaRue is fantastic as the sinister yet somehow attractive Trigger. His performance is so good that it really belongs up there with Muni, Cagney, Robinson etc in those famous Warners gangster films. He rapes Hopkins, yet we wonder if she isn't staying with him by her own choice. Eventually an old lawyer flame of Temple's finds her co-habiting with LaRue, which sets off a string of events that lead to Temple being put on trial. I felt perhaps the last 20 minutes or so took some of the heat off the film (I don't really like courtroom drama), and the guy playing the ex-boyfriend is boring as heck, but Hopkins is very, very good on the stand. The sleazy, seedy atmosphere of this film is maintained well throughout (it fairly reeks of sex). Definitely worth seeing.

"The Story of Temple Drake" is an infamous Pre-Code film that was withdrawn from circulation for two decades because the content of the movie was considered inappropriate after the new Production Code was put into effect in mid-1934. The tale about rape and murder was simply impossible to show based on the dictates of the new system. However, the film was later rediscovered and is considered by some one of the most daring films of the era. When the film begins, Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) is in love with Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) and has asked her to marry him. But while she cares about him, she's also a flirtatious lady and doesn't want to yet settle down. Unfortunately her lifestyle gets her into trouble one night when she and one of her many boyfriends have an accident and they are stranded in the middle of no where. They come upon a house run by a bunch of very stereotypical white trash and eventually one of them, a thug named Trigger (Jack La Rue) rapes her and then hold her hostage as a love slave for some time thereafter. Eventually, Temple is able to break free of this monster...and walks into the middle of a court case being defended by Benbow...and if she talks about her trials, she could help get Benbow's client acquitted. But this also means talking about her ordeal in front of folks....during an era where no one would dare talk about this. Fortunately, while the content is rather racy, the rape was NEVER shown and was handled tastefully. And, surprisingly, the topic of rape was treated rather fairly considering this was an era when women were often blamed for the assault. An important and groundbreaking film that actually stands up pretty well today...and features some powerful acting by Hopkins and Gargan.