The Story of Temple Drake (Criterion Collection) (1933) on DVD

Actor: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Sir Guy Standing, Irving Pichel, Jobyna Howland, William Collier Jr., Elizabeth Patterson, James Eagles
Director: Stephen Roberts
Genre: Drama
Year: 1933
Studio: Criterion Collection
Length: 71
Released: 12/3/2019
Rating: Not Rated (MPAA Rating)
Format: DVD
Misc/Special Features: Subtitled, High-definition digital restoration • New program featuring a conversation between cinematographer John Bailey and Matt Severson, director of the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, about the film’s visual style, along with archival materials relating to its production • New program with critic Imogen Sara Smith about the complexity of the film and its central performance by Miriam Hopkins • New interview with critic Mick LaSalle about the film, censorship, and the Production Code • PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Language: English
Subtitles : N/A

DESCRIPTION:

Loosely adapted from William Faulkner's controversial novel Sanctuary, this notorious pre-Code melodrama stars Miriam Hopkins as Temple Drake, the coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge. When a boozehound date strands her at a bootleggers' hideout, Temple is subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely. Steeped in southern-gothic shadows by influential cinematographer Karl Struss and shot through with moral ambiguity, The Story of Temple Drake is a harrowing vision of sin and salvation that boasts an astonishing lead performance from the fiery Hopkins, whose passage through the stations of terror, trauma, and redemption is a true tour de force of screen acting.