SADIE THOMPSON proved to be a landmark of the silent era. Perhaps its greatest achievement was the film’s uncompromising translation of Somerset Maugham's controversial story of a San Francisco prostitute and a South Pacific reformer. Swanson correctly maintained that the film's silence was its greatest asset, for the churches and the Hays office could not censor what they couldn't hear. Tragically, many scenes were missing from the sole existing print of SADIE THOMSPON, until fully restored by Kino International in 1987. With Gloria Swanson.