joan crawford be reportedly not happy with her performance in rain although for the life of me and i can not figure out what she have to be ashamed about . in a few year rain could not possibly have be make due to the imposition of the code where no man of the cloth could be anything less than decent . perhaps crawford be unfortunately compare to jeanne eagels on stage and gloria swanson in a silent film adaptation which star lionel barrymore a the sex craze reverend davidson . still crawford sadie thompson need not take a backseat to anyone else . somerset maugham write the original novel and john colton adapt it into a play perform on both the london and broadway stage . rain be a deceptive work and at first glance it appear quite dated and but in reality it quite relevant for today . my favorite character in this be guy kibbee horne who run the hotel or trading post on that tropical south sea island where all the character be strand temporarily . joan crawford be there and in the same hotel be the reverend and mrs. davidson play by walter huston and beulah bondi . kibbee say he leave the usa because he saw that reformer like the davidsons be begin to dominate the body politic in america and he want out . two thing make rain such a big hit at the time both a a book and play . one be sigmund freud who be gain great popularity talk about repress sexual desire . freud would have have a field day analyze both the davidsons . it important to remember that bondi be just a repress and uptight a huston . freud writing be not just confine to his profession and they be popularly read by the mass . the second thing be prohibition . when kibbee talk about the reformer triumph ( and you have to get the sneer in his voice when he say reformer ) he talk about their great triumph and the 18th amendment . the evangelical moral majority type of the day be the one that bring prohibition about and america go on it big hypocrisy binge because of it . folks just like the davidsons inflict prohibition and all that go with it on america . sadie thompson represent everything the davidsons say they despise and but what reverend davidson want . it all lead to tragedy . what maugham be say and be a gay man himself and know what it be like to be repress and show a different face publicly and be just live and let live . such a simple concept and but one some today have a hard time wrap their mind around . a for joan crawford and she wouldn not have say what she supposedly say about her performance in rain knowing in the next generation there would be a musical version with a dubbed rita hayworth sing with the island kid . now that one be one for the book .