1927/28 – Gloria Swanson
Sadie Thompson
Gloria Swanson’s career had more critically panned films than films for which she was praised. This was one of the good ones, and it showed. I saw nothing wrong with her performance at all. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and her acting was really first rate. The roll was perfect, giving Swanson to show off a full range of emotions.
Her character started off as a wild woman who just wanted to have a good time. The she fell in love and planned to run away with her new man. But then we find out that she had a sordid past. In San Francisco, she had been accused of a crime, but claims that she had been framed. Correctly guessing that Sadie had been a prostitute, and in an effort to save her soul, the evil Mr. Davidson convinces the Governor to deport her back to Frisco to go to jail for the crime, even if she was innocent. Wracked with guilt, Sadie is converted, and agrees to serve the sentence in atonement for her many sins.
Swanson had to portray Sadie’s anger as Davidson tells her she is being sent to San Francisco and prison. She gives us the fear of her impending incarceration, and the desperate pleading with which she convinces Davidson that he had repented of her sins. She even goes so far as to spurn her lover who tries to save her from her dire fate. It isn’t until Davidson finds himself sexually attracted to her and commits suicide, that Sadie is allowed to return to her devoted man, so they can both live happily ever after.
Apparently, in the original novel, Davidson was a Reverend, and he actually rapes Sadie, but Swanson, who also had a hand in writing the script, removed those sordid bits for the censors. Otherwise the movie would not have been made. However, only 5 years later, in 1932, the movie was re-made, and the rape was left in. Either way, Swanson’s 1927 performance was wonderfully executed, showing that though many of her films were box office flops, she really did know what she was doing in front of the camera.