The 1953 film “Miss Sadie Thompson,” with its exterior scenes filmed on Kauai, was based on William Somerset Maugham’s short story masterpiece “Rain,” first published in 1921.
Actress Rita Hayworth (1918-87), in the starring role of Sadie Thompson, put forth a dynamic performance in “Miss Sadie Thompson,” despite having just recovered from a severe cold.
Movie sets included a miniature Marine camp built at Kukuiula, and a hotel, a church, bar, hospital and native village constructed at Coco Palms, where Grace Guslander, its proprietor, prepared a luau for cast and crew, which included about 100 local extras.
At Hanalei, scenes were filmed at the pier and the Wilcox Beach House, as well as at Charles Rice’s Kalapaki property, now the site of the Royal Sonesta Kauai Resort, and at the nearby Kuboyama Hotel.
Born in Hong Kong in 1939, actress Nancy Kwan was the daughter of a Scottish mother, Marquita Scott, and Kwan Wing Hong, a prominent Cantonese architect.
In May 1965, Miss Kwan, who’d achieved stardom five years earlier for her performance as Chinese prostitute Suzie Wong in the romantic film drama “The World of Suzie Wong,” was on Kauai filming the comedy “Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.”
She had also previously starred as showgirl Linda Low in the 1961 musical “Flower Drum Song,” which also starred Hawaii-born actor James Shigeta.
Another actress, France Nuyen, born in Marseille, France, in 1939, the daughter of a French Gypsy mother and a Chinese Vietnamese father, first achieved movie success in the 1958 musical “South Pacific,” which was filmed on Kauai at Hanalei Bay in 1957.
In “South Pacific,” Miss Nuyen played the part of Liat, the Vietnamese daughter of Bloody Mary, and during filming Miss Nuyen stayed at the Coco Palms Hotel.
She also starred with William Shatner in the 1958 Broadway stage production of “The World of Suzie Wong.”
France Nuyen returned to Kauai in 1962 for the filming of “Diamond Head” in her role as Mai Chen.
The film setting for much of “Diamond Head,” was Charles Rice’s Kipu Ranch and the now decrepit Grove Farm manager’s house on Nawiliwili Road.
