Miss Sadie Thompson

In the post-World War II, while heading to work in New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the liberal and joyful Miss Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) is stranded in a rainy island in the Pacific when one crewmember gets typhus and the vessel Orduna is put in quarantine. Sadie befriends a group of marines from an American outpost and is courted by Sergeant Phil O'Hara (Aldo Ray) that proposes her to move together with him to Sidney, Australia. However, the moralist and powerful Reverend Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer) recognizes her from the infamous Emerald Club in Honolulu and forces her to return to San Francisco where she has a past that haunts her. Nevertheless nobody can run away from himself.

I have just watched "Miss Sadie Thompson" following the recommendation of a friend of mine. Rita Hayworth is impressively wasted for a thirty-five year-old woman, but perfectly cast in the role of a woman with a disreputable past. In a certain moment after the conversion of Sadie Thompson I hated this movie and I found it awfully moralist. However the unexpected plot point is great and saves this tale of corruption of the human soul. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher de Satã" ("The Satan's Woman")