The background of the story is that Temple Drake(Miriam Hopkins) is the wild somewhat spoiled granddaughter of a well-respected Judge in a rural community. She rather enjoys staying out late, bringing her dates to the brink sexually, and then leaving them cold. Temple has an earnest proposal of marriage from local defense attorney Stephen Benbow (William Gargan). However, Temple turns him down because she likes him too much and loves him too little. At a party one night, wanting to get away from Stephen and his earnest intentions, she grabs one of her less serious beaus and they go off in search of a drink. They find the backwoods joint they seek, but it is hardly a society haunt. Their car crashes just before they get there, and this particular night the place is full of bootleggers getting ready to make a shipment, and one real bad character in particular, the aptly named "Trigger" (Jack LaRue).

The art direction, cinematography, underscoring (rare for a film of this era),and atmosphere in general allow the tension to build and let you know that violence is ahead for this young woman. The question is when and by whom. The answer is in the barn the next morning by Trigger. When a simple-minded boy that has been left outside the barn to keep watch over her makes a comment that Trigger should leave her alone Trigger shoots him dead. Afterwards, Trigger hauls Temple back to the city with him like she is some kind of wild kitten he has found and claimed for himself. She stays there with him, in a shabby little room, scantily dressed, and at his disposal as his personal plaything. Another shock, months after the rape, finally brings Temple back into the real world and causes her to deobjectify herself.

The cast is just perfect in this one. Miriam Hopkins was always wonderful at morally ambiguous roles, and here she runs the gamut from tease to terrified to catatonic in a performance that is electrifying. Irving Prechel once again plays a type of deviant. No wonder he switched to directing after all of the weird roles he was given by Paramount. As for Jack La Rue, he is perfect as the completely immoral predator who thinks everyone and everything exists in this world just to give him a laugh. It's a wonder he didn't get better and bigger roles with performances such as this.

I've talked to people who have no compassion for Temple after watching this film. They can't figure out why she stays with Trigger after he rapes her when she has probably had plenty of chances to get away. It's obvious she's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and Stockholm Syndrome. The realistic portrayal of a person in such circumstances puts this film decades ahead of its time psychologically. Compare the way Temple acts after being raped by Trigger in this film and then go watch Lee Remmick's portrayal of a rape victim in 1959 in the excellent "Anatomy of a Murder". She talks to defense attorney James Stewart about the crime as calmly and coolly as one might describe how their car ran off the road and hit a traffic sign.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys precode film. There are good quality copies of this old film out there.

Miriam Hopkins gives perhaps her best performance in this adaption of a truly scandalous novel by legendary William Faulkner. Even before the code, the word of the crime here could not be spoken, but it is plain as the blonde hair on Miriam's head as to what it is. She is the heiress to an old Southern family, the granddaughter of a very prominent judge. Her reputation is already of a loose young girl when her honor is violated thanks to the lust of a very perverted man. Thanks to her drunken date, she ends up in a decaying farmhouse where the lustful looks of the men who reside there make the tired woman of the house (Florence Eldridge) resentful and bitter. But determined to keep Hopkins out of the clutches of the man she loves (Irving Pichel),she hides Hopkins in the barn with a mentally slow farmhand guarding her. When the sleazy Jack La Rue makes his move on her, a brutal murder occurs which leads to Picgel on trial, defended ironically by a hot-shot lawyer (Wiliam Collier Jr.) and a shocking testimony by Hopkins.

Certainly, much detail from the novel, "Sanctuary", had to be eliminated, but in just a very short 70 minute running time, enough is included to maintain the audience's attention. Hopkins, only nominated once for an Oscar, deserved a nomination this year, but like Bette Davis the following year in "Of Human Bondage", she was overlooked, possibly because of the subject matter which was definitely not family entertainment. Eldridge too is outstanding, playing a character so tired that it practically oozes off of her. This is a tight but detailed script with an eerie atmosphere and a spooky looking house that if it wasn't haunted before certainly would be afterwards.

Stephen Benbow (William Gargan) is an idealistic defense lawyer who is in love with Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins). She is a southern belle wild child and a tease. Her granddad Judge wants her to go with Stephen but she can't seem to marry the straight laced Stephen. She leaves a party with the drunken Toddy who crashes the car. They're taken by bootleggers. Soon she's in fear of the lowlife criminals and the drunken Toddy is useless. She is raped by the well dressed killer Trigger (Jack La Rue). He kidnaps her as his kept woman. Stephen investigates Trigger for a murder and finds Temple. She pretends to be Trigger's woman to send Stephen off.

The controversial salacious content is pre-code. There is some violence and a lot of suggested sexuality. It's actually effective as a noir style movie. The surprising thing is that it's still very watchable. The acting isn't always the best. William Gargan is a bit stiff. Miriam Hopkins is playing it very melodramatically as is usually the case of this era. It works in this melodrama. Jack La Rue is great as the quietly threatening villain.