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.

THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE (1933) proves to be a fantastic example of how censorship can pick apart a narrative to its bare bones plot and how a studio tries to repair the damage. This film is an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel SANCTUARY (1931). The book originally circled around the various readers' departments at various studios--but no one dared take it up. I believe it was a reader at Paramount who wrote to their supervisor that they couldn't even finish the novel! The screenwriter, Oliver H.P. Garrett, made the best of it he could when Paramount decided they wanted their own Faulkner adaptation after word let loose about MGM adapting Faulkner's short story "Turn About" produced and directed by Howard Hawks. So Paramount made the best film they could out of SANCTUARY with director Stephen Roberts. There was really no hope for it in the beginning. IN THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, we get a gangster in the figure of Trigger--crudely based off the novel's antagonist, Popeye. Unfortunately, the Hays Code predestined this film for mediocrity.

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".

In the steamy South during Prohibition, sexy blonde Miriam Hopkins (as Temple Drake) likes to party but won't put out. The granddaughter of respected judge Guy Standing (as Sir Guy Standing), Ms. Hopkins declines marrying lawyer William Gargan (as Stephen "Steve" Benbow) because she wants to continue living the wild life. Admittedly, she has a wicked streak. Out with a drunken William Collier Jr. (as Toddy Gowan) one night, Hopkins is stranded with gangsters at an old plantation mansion being used as a speakeasy, after their car crashes. Mother of the house Florence Eldridge (as Ruby Lemarr) realizes one of the men will soon find his way into Hopkins and doesn't want it to be her man Irving Pichel (as Lee Goodwin). She arranges for Hopkins to be taken to the barn for safekeeping, guarded by slow-witted James Eagles (as Tommy)...After her "lingerie scene" for theater viewers, Hopkins is raped by head bootlegger Jack La Rue (as "Trigger"). Mr. La Rue memorably plays almost his entire villainous part with a just-lighted cigarette in his mouth. This film's lighting and photography by Karl Struss is excellent, by the way. The story is based on the novel "Sanctuary" by William Faulkner. Therein, "Temple Drake" is known as an easy lay; but here, her bathroom wall advertisement is altered to "Temple Drake is just a fake. She wants to eat and have her cake." That she enjoyed her sexual encounters with her abductor is downplayed; in the book, those where accomplished with a corncob and other men, since the novel's character was physically unable to perform. Many viewers familiar with the book imagined those events simply took place off screen, and this film welcomed the thoughts.******* The Story of Temple Drake (5/6/33) Stephen Roberts ~ Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, William Collier Jr.