Naturalism, my pals, naturalism was often interwoven with melodrama and stridency, in Maugham as in T Williams (--the difference being, naturally, that Maugham was a remarkable writer, while T Williams, a hack--)in other words, psychological exploitation, _dramsploitation; RAIN seems a quite peculiar drama, well handled and intelligently crafted, it looks peculiar, striking, unusual, fundamentally exciting and intriguing, with a pretty good pace and sharply devised roles and Mrs. Crawford's particularly raw and convincing performance; and most of all, it has those things, those twinned things we call gusto and brio.<br /><br />Mrs. Crawford does what was once called a composition, a performance carefully developed of a role that allows for a broad range of expressionlike Charlize Theron being the murderess in a famous movie, or Pacino playing the officer in SCENT OF A WOMAN, or Brando being the godfather Corleone, or Rourke in HOMEBOY and BARFLY, or Nicholson in A FLEW OVER  and THE SHINING.<br /><br />Well, Mrs. Crawford is awesomely good at what she does. Her performance in RAIN, and her character, Sadie Thompson, are memorable. What is less successful is the preacher's conversion, he switches abruptly, there's no rise of desire felt in him.<br /><br />RAIN has a modern look and feel, and a thorough appeal; its author was the legendary Lewis Milestone, the one who has directed All Quiet on the Western Front, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, etc.. In RAIN, his directing is neat and commending, the movie's style has suppleness and sharpness.<br /><br />The script exposes the bitter fruits of virtue. In those early days of the talkies, when there was the tendency to deliver filmed theater, they preferred to shoot not the literary sources directly, but stage adaptationslike they did with Dracula in the same span of time. RAIN is also based not directly on the Maugham prose, but on a stage version.