20 FEBRUARY 1953, Page 12

Rain. By. John Colton and Clemence Randolph. (Embassy.) Tins is

a wet, sweaty production of the play based on Somerset Maugham's damp, hot story about the tart from Honolulu who falls into the clutches of a Bible-punching missionary on a Pacific island. It has a small, ironical plot with the moral that there ain't no good in men jabbingly stated by Sadie Thompson, and the stage version is more or less faithful, though some extra characters have been developed who were only hinted at by Maugham. Miriam Karlin is loud, highly-coloured and sometimes physically awkward, but she is undoubtedly authentic as Miss Thompson, and Marjory Hawtrey stamps herself on a part that might be only a sketch, making it new and real—the most creative thing in the whole procluction. G. F.