the Story of Temple Drake (1933)

[Decotodd]

Miriam Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, so presumably she knows something about a southern accent.

[colbyco82]

I thought it was a very good movie on a number of different levels. Plot was pretty good, camerawork and atmospherics were also great. Once things got rolling, the acting was also superb. Jack LaRue was tremendous, and so were the others.

My only criticism was Miriam Hopkins' Southern accent, which was not only atrocious, but also seemed to come and go from one reel to another. I guess Paramount couldn't afford a voice coach at the time? SETH

And Hopkins is a born Southerner I believe....

[dr.giraud]

I thought it was a very good movie on a number of different levels. Plot was pretty good, camerawork and atmospherics were also great. Once things got rolling, the acting was also superb. Jack LaRue was tremendous, and so were the others.

My only criticism was Miriam Hopkins' Southern accent, which was not only atrocious, but also seemed to come and go from one reel to another. I guess Paramount couldn't afford a voice coach at the time? SETH

I doubt that the hot-tempered, Georgia-born Hopkins would have appreciated being offered coaching on how to talk like a Southerner.

[sethb]

Be that as it may (and I appreciate the information, which I was not aware of), I still found her accent inconsistent and totally unconvincing. But it's a minor trifle in an otherwise very good and intense picture. SETH

[Salty Dog]

I thought it was a very good movie on a number of different levels. Plot was pretty good, camerawork and atmospherics were also great. Once things got rolling, the acting was also superb. Jack LaRue was tremendous, and so were the others.

My only criticism was Miriam Hopkins' Southern accent, which was not only atrocious, but also seemed to come and go from one reel to another. I guess Paramount couldn't afford a voice coach at the time? SETH

Well, given that she was from Georgia, I think you have to blame her parents rather than Paramount's voice coach.

[Jack Theakston]

Did anyone mention that Miriam Hopkins was, in fact, a Southerner?

[sethb]

Yes, this was pointed out by several folks. But she didn't sound like one, at least not to me.

This entire problem probably falls under the "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" rule, or in this case, the ear of the beholder. SETH

[drednm]

Terrific film, great performance by Miriam Hopkins and even William Gargan, who I usually don't like. Jack LaRue was a creep, Irving Pichel was good. Was Florence Eldridge purposely made up to look like Bette Davis?

Jobyna Howland's part must have been cut to ribbons.

Like Joanne Woodward, Hopkins was probably voice trained to lose the southern accent. But I had no problem with her accent.

[3rdManTheme]

[quote="drednm"]

Jobyna Howland's part must have been cut to ribbons.

[/quote]

What I said.

[drednm]

As for accents. My guess is that there are many different "southern" accents. Maybe Hopkins' Georgia accent is not what we expect as a movie southern accent. The same can be said about movie New England accents. They are usually either the Kennedy Boston accent or the Maine downeast accent. And both highly exaggerated.

[precode]

Fox.

Thanks, Danny. Especially glad I recorded it. Sitting in the Fox camp we won't be seeing this on DVD any time soon.

I've already suggested to Twilight Time (which licenses Fox titles) that they release both as a double feature.

Mike S.

[Danny Burk]

I've already suggested to Twilight Time (which licenses Fox titles) that they release both as a double feature.

Mike S.

Great idea - I have no interest in the remake, but if it helps to get the original released, I'm all for it.

[R Michael Pyle]

That "fake" Southern accent? Miriam Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia!! That's the way she spoke before the voice pros smoothed her over.

[Jack Theakston]

Don't you guys realize that Miriam Hopkins was from Georgia?! SHEESH!

[mndean]

Don't you guys realize that Miriam Hopkins was from Georgia?! SHEESH!

Funny thing is I often hear her Southern accent leak out where it shouldn't rather than the other way around.

[Frederica]

Reviving this thread because I finally saw the film last night. I was rather taken aback by it, as the film has been so overhyped for precode naughtiness. It certainly dealt with taboo subject matter, but it isn't at all cynical. I agree with Harold and Greta on this, I saw no sense of wantonness in Temple Drake's character. I saw a spoiled little rich girl who is traumatized and terrified. As to why Goodwin didn't rat out Trigger, I think he was not only fearful for himself, he was fearful for his wife and baby. (Whether they were married or not isn't really made clear, but it's immaterial.)

Ditto Donna on the Karl Struss's photography, and for me a first: Miriam Hopkins did not make my hair itch in annoyance. I thought she was very effective.

[drednm]

How can hair itch?

[Frederica]

How can hair itch?

By watching Miriam Hopkins in almost anything else.

[drednm]

Temple Drake is one of the few films I like William Gargan or Jack LaRue in.

[Mike Gebert]

I finally saw this, after (a bit tongue in cheek) putting it on my year's best list last year. Put me in the camp that loved it— the twisted gothic atmosphere, the use of metaphor which was often more effective than an outright depiction (Trigger's flashlight looks her up and down with more salaciousness than any actor could). Yes, you have to accept that it's one of those movies where you have to have read the book to entirely know what's going on, like A Woman of Affairs or King's Row. Sometimes the dialogue falls into utter crypticness ("Did he-- was he--"), but on the other hand, there was maybe the filthiest thing in any pre-Code ever. Though the movie depicts a woman traumatized by fear, the book is about one who's also in sexual thrall to the gangster and her own degradation. Once she shoots him, she's suddenly hysterical over what she's lost, the source of her pleasure. And she tries frantically to grab what Trigger is clutching. Which is her hat. Yeah, a hat, that's what he's holding: