The Hurricane (1937)

Best movie ever!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

In the Island of Manukura, a French colony in the South Seas, the joyful Terangi (Jon Hall) is a leader among the natives and the first mate of the Katopua, the tall ship of Captain Nagle (Jerome Cowan). Terangi gets married with Marama (Dorothy Lamour) and sooner he sails to Tahiti. While in a bar playing with other natives, Terangi is offended by an alcoholic racist French and he hits his face, breaking his jaw. Despite the testimony of Captain Nagle, Terangi is sentenced to six months of forced labor since the victim had political connections with the Powers That Be. Captain Nagle asks the Governor Eugene DeLaage (Raymond Massey) to uses his influence to help Terangi, but the governor refuses. Terangi unsuccessfully tries to escape from the prison, and each attempt increases his sentence. Eight years later, he finally escapes and his jailbreak is celebrated in Manukura. Father Paul (C. Aubrey Smith) finds his canoe and brings Terangi hidden to the island. But a devastating hurricane also arrives in the island threatening the dwellers. "The Hurricane" is a tale of injustice in the South Seas that recalls Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. The saga of the sweet Terangi is very similar to the story of Jean Valjean, both characters victims of the injustice of the French criminal system in those years. The sequence of the hurricane is very impressive for a 1947 feature. I can not say that the hurricane was brought in a divine intervention since the despicable governor saves his life in the end and most of the natives die. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Furacão" ("The Hurricane")

I always try to catch this movie when it shows up on TV, usually TCM. Leonard Maltin calls the hurricane scenes unequaled and he's right. Quite impressive even by today's standards.Well, I guess I need to continue with this review. I didn't meet the quota on lines.I would agree with the assessment above that Lamour and John Hall are in their prime physically. Impressive that they got top billing despite the appearance of Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, Carradine, and Thomas Mitchell. Of course, John Ford, the director went on to even more successful action movies, and won numerous awards. As many know, he teamed with John Wayne for a number of award winning westerns.

Jon Hall, Dorothy Lamour and an excellent cast are all caught in "The Hurricane," a 1937 film and the first to win a Special Effects Oscar. The original novel was written by Jon Hall's uncle. On the island of Manakoora, Terangi (Hall) and Marama (Lamour) marry amidst a happy celebration, though their happiness will be short-lived. Terangi must deliver cargo to Tahiti, though Marama has a premonition about the trip and warns him not to go. While in Tahiti, he gets into a barroom fight and is sentenced to 6 months in prison. The governor of Manakoora, DeLaage (Raymond Massey), despite the urgings of his friends and his wife (Mary Astor) refuses to ask for Terangi to be brought back to Manakoora and put on parole. Unable to endure a life with no freedom, and desperate to get back home, Terangi continually attempts to escape. Each time he does, 2 years are added to his sentence until he has to serve 16 years. At last, Terangi escapes and makes his way back to his island, where he meets his daughter for the first time. Knowing that DeLaage will capture him and return him to Tahiti, islanders prepare to help the family sail to another island. But a hurricane (actually a typhoon) strikes.Besides those mentioned, "The Hurricane" also stars Thomas Mitchell as the French doctor on Manakoora, C. Aubrey Smith as the local priest, Jerome Cowan as Terangi's captain, and John Carradine as a sadistic prison guard.The effects are astounding and are a no-miss, particularly considering it is 1937! The tremendous winds, the rising waters, the trees falling, buildings collapsing - all magnificent. John Ford did an excellent job of directing this film, which has racism as its underpinning - the prison sentence was the result of a so-called dark man hitting a white man; and DeLaage's patrician and cruel attitude has racism at the base of it. I disagree with one of the comments that states that Hall was a white-skinned movie star trying to pass himself off as a dark man; Hall's mother was Tahitian.Dorothy Lamour, exotic and beautiful, has very little to do in this film except look frightened and lovely - you can count her lines on one hand. Hall, a total hunk if there ever was one, has more to say and do but one is so distracted by his face and physique that it becomes difficult to pay attention to anything else. The acting burden falls to Mitchell, Massey, Astor, Carradine, and Cowan, who are terrific.Ford isn't known for his tales of the sea, but obviously he was good at everything. He wouldn't see water again until the 1950s. Lamour carried on the sarong tradition in better roles, and Hall worked into the mid-'60s; at the age of 65, dying of cancer and in excruciating pain, he shot himself.Highly recommended as a feast of skin and brilliant special effects.

I remember seeing this movie decades ago as a child and being frightened by the hurricane scenes. I saw the movie again last night on AMC and it was even better than I remembered.The special effects were far better than the computer generated ones of today. Sixty years before the real-life tsunami showed waves leaving villages and towns looking like Hiroshima, John Ford's movie dramatically showed similar results from a major hurricane. Utter devastation.In addition, the story line was excellent. What should be noted is that the movie was based on a book, "The Hurricane", written by Nordhoff and Hall. If their names sound familiar, you may have read their most famous book, "Mutiny on the Bounty". Two authors who certainly knew of the oceans and the South Seas.Wonderful.