Luecarou
What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
michelboudot-48990
Badly directed...overplayed by most except Hopkins and guy standing....the rest amateurish..looks like a silent movie wanting to talk..LaRue awful actor..cartoon like..so sad ..they showed this film at a festival somewhere..people were rolling in the aisle..and this is Faulkner.not funny at all..in my words a disaster...has aged very very badly
classicsoncall
Miriam Hopkins portrays the conflicted Temple Drake in this tale of rape and murder that must have set film goers on their ear when it was initially released. Not only are there allusions to prostitution and illicit sex, but treatments of subjects that would be considered controversial even today in terms of political correctness. I refer to attorney Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) calling out 'Boy' to a black waiter at a party, and another scene that reverses the stereotype when a black man responds to Toddy Gowan (William Collier Jr.) coming out of his drunken stupor at the railroad station - "You askin' me, white man?" This is why films of an earlier era genuinely fascinate me. Not to mention how thin a plot could often be in order to advance the story. Wouldn't anyone have noticed that when Benbow issued the subpoena, he stated to Trigger (Jack La Rue) and Temple Drake that he was presenting it to both of them. How would that subpoena have involved Temple since Benbow had no idea she would even be there, which was certainly more than evident when he expressed his shock and surprise to see her with him. Sometimes I wonder how a director or the principals in a scene would let something like that go by.It wouldn't be unusual in the Thirties to see a story like this in one of those exploitation flicks dealing with the same type of subject matter. A few titles that come to mind would be "Gambling With Souls" (1936), "Slaves in Bondage" (1937) and "Mad Youth" (1940), all having to do in one way or another with the theme of prostitution. To see it here in a more or less mainstream film must have been quite a shock for it's time, perhaps even making it difficult for some movie goers to even concentrate on the story.The finale does allow the title character a redemptive moment by having her summon the courage to testify against her evil captor, but at the same time the picture leaves a lot more questions for the viewer than it answers. How is it, for example, that no one ever made mention of the car crash that resulted in Toddy and Temple heading for the Godwin house in the first place? It's not like the aftermath of the accident would have disappeared once the story turned into a murder investigation.
MartinHafer
"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.
Michael_Elliott
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.
