The Story of Temple Drake is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Stephen Roberts and starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue.

Though some of the more salacious elements of the source novel were not included, the film was still considered so indecent that it helped give rise to the strict enforcement of the Hays Code.

Long unseen except in bootleg 16mm prints, The Story of Temple Drake was restored by the Museum of Modern Art and re-premiered in 2011 at the TCM Classic Film Festival.

Temple Drake, the reckless granddaughter of a prominent judge in a small Mississippi town, refuses to marry her lawyer boyfriend, Stephen Benbow.

Lee's wife, Ruby, suggests that Temple sleep in the barn, and arranges for a young man named Tommy to stand watch.

[2] As the public felt the novel had a racy reputation, the film received a new title as the plot had been made more mild and to avoid associating it with the source work.

[6] Several alterations were made to the screenplay that deviated from the source material: For example, in the novel, the judge is Temple's father; Gene D. Phillips of Loyola University of Chicago stated that "presumably" to make it more believable that he is "ineffectual" with her, he was changed into being her grandfather.

E. Pauline Degenfelder of Worcester Public Schools wrote that the characterization of Temple differs from that of the novel version,[8] and that the film gives her a "dual nature", dark and light.

[14] He was ultimately replaced by Jack La Rue, then a bit player for Paramount[13] who had garnered some notice for his performance in a Broadway production of Diamond Lil opposite Mae West.

[14] According to Filmink the fact the film ultimately "did little for La Rue’s career... served to give Raft a false idea of the quality of his instincts when it came to script selection.

[16] Though the film only suggests the rape, as the scene concludes with Trigger approaching Temple, followed by her scream, Hopkins recalled that Negulesco had extensively "planned how it could be done...

[1][19] These shots were allegedly only supposed to be included in rushes and not in the final cut, but were considered obscene enough that the Hays Office ordered Paramount to reshoot the rape sequence in a barn, and mandated that no footage of a corncob could be shown.

[24] A review published in The Washington Times lambasted the film, describing it as "trash," while the New York American deemed it "shoddy, obnoxiously disagreeable...  trashy, sex-plugged piece.

"[25] Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times was similarly unimpressed, describing the film as "deliberately sordid, unsympathetic, and nearly offensive," as well as "crudely realistic.

"[26] Some critics were more favorable in their responses, such as Martin Dickson of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, who deemed the film a "compelling, if not always pleasant, photodrama," adding that Hopkins brings "a vital and credible characterization to the part.

"[29] The Story of Temple Drake largely remained unavailable to the public after its initial theatrical release,[30] never even receiving television airings in the United States.