Faulkner dismissed his novel Sanctuary as a "pot-boiler", although he liked the character of Temple Drake well enough to bring her back in a later novel (Requiem for a Nun). Both novels have greater complexity and moral ambiguity than the screenplay for The Story of Temple Drake could possibly capture in 70 minutes of film. The movie lacks Faulkner's depiction of how rich and poor don't have equal access to justice, but does portray how those who enjoy an elevated social standing aren't always more virtuous than those they look down upon. The elaborate film sets illustrate this when Temple crosses the divide between the elegant party scene and the bootleggers' foreboding farmhouse.
In the novel, the lawyer Benbow (whose first name is Horace) is less enamored of Temple and much more concerned with defending his client Lee Goodwin (and Goodwin's companion Ruby Lemarr) from prejudices both legal and social. In the film, Ruby briefly alludes to prostituting herself in order to get Lee out of prison.
SPOILER: The sudden ending of the film is the opposite of what happens in the book. Suffice it to say that in Sanctuary, Temple is untroubled by conscience and unswayed by Benbow. The bad guy gets away, and the good guy doesn't. It's my favorite of Faulkner's early novels.
Miriam Hopkins does well portraying the two sides of Temple Drake (with a stronger Southern accent than anyone else in the film). Florence Eldridge convincingly conveys her contempt for Temple. Jack La Rue shoots daggers with his depthless eyes, but the screenplay can't possibly capture the complexity of Trigger's character, known as Popeye in Faulkner's underrated novel.
In the novel, the lawyer Benbow (whose first name is Horace) is less enamored of Temple and much more concerned with defending his client Lee Goodwin (and Goodwin's companion Ruby Lemarr) from prejudices both legal and social. In the film, Ruby briefly alludes to prostituting herself in order to get Lee out of prison.
SPOILER: The sudden ending of the film is the opposite of what happens in the book. Suffice it to say that in Sanctuary, Temple is untroubled by conscience and unswayed by Benbow. The bad guy gets away, and the good guy doesn't. It's my favorite of Faulkner's early novels.
Miriam Hopkins does well portraying the two sides of Temple Drake (with a stronger Southern accent than anyone else in the film). Florence Eldridge convincingly conveys her contempt for Temple. Jack La Rue shoots daggers with his depthless eyes, but the screenplay can't possibly capture the complexity of Trigger's character, known as Popeye in Faulkner's underrated novel.