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".
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".