ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

jacobs-greenwood Produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by John Ford, this James Norman Hall/Charles Nordhoff novel was adapted by Oliver H.P. Garrett and features a screenplay by Dudley Nichols that was rewritten by Ben Hecht (though he didn't receive a screen credit). One of the early disaster movies, following San Francisco (1936), it still preceded Oscar's Special Effects category by a couple of years. It did win Thomas Moulton an Academy Award for Best Sound, Recording and its Score earned Alfred Newman his first nomination. The titled event, which occurs more than 75 minutes into the drama and lasts for approximately 15 minutes, is pretty spectacular, giving one a pretty good idea of what it would be like to experience the high winds and storm surge that up until recently, because of 24 hour cable news, was unimaginable.The melodrama itself is rather average, and even provides a mild indictment against the rule of law. On the other hand, one could think of "the hurricane" as an act of God against the story's sinners. From the beginning, we know that the fictional island of Manukura (or Manakoora, as the song became known), said to be 600 miles from Tahiti, will be devastated - Dr. Kersaint (Thomas Mitchell, who earned his first Academy recognition with a Best Supporting Actor nomination) tells a fellow cruise ship passenger (Inez Courtney) that the strip of sand before them was once a vibrant island. In flashback, we learn the story before the storm.Raymond Massey plays the island's French Governor Eugene De Laage, a caricature of unyielding principles who believes justice must be meted out at all costs, regardless of the circumstances. As stern as he is paranoid (which conjures up Humphrey Bogart's performance in The Caine Mutiny (1954)), he provides a vivid contrast to the "live and let live" islanders whose native ways are supported by everyone else including his wife (Mary Astor), his drinking doctor (Mitchell), and especially the moral relativist priest Father Paul, played by C. Aubrey Smith. Top billed are relative unknowns, Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall (born Charles Locher), whose characters' (Marama & Terangi, respectively) love story forms the basis of the non- disaster part of the plot. John Carradine plays a typically sadistic prison warden and Jerome Cowan plays an ethically challenged boat captain, Nagle. Al Kikume plays the natives' island Chief, Mehevi.After a short scene which helps to establish the Governor's, the doctor's, and the Chief's punishment philosophies, the flashback features Nagle's ship coming into port, guided through the reefs by Terangi, a popular native who represents the island's free (as a bird) spirit. It's his wedding day, and after Father Paul performs a Christian service to marry Terangi & Marama, the two proceed to Mehevi, who performs the native ceremony. The whole island celebrates, but the newlyweds' time together is short-lived, Captain Nagle must set sail for Tahiti and the boat doesn't go anywhere without its navigator. On Tahiti, Terangi gets in a fight with a white man (William Davidson), whose nose Terangi breaks. Because of this, the Judge (Spencer Charters) sentences him to 6 months. Naturally, Nagle protests that this is unfair, that Terangi had been provoked, but the Judge promises to allow the native to work outside and that the time will pass quickly. Seeing his ship sailing without him, however, prompts Terangi to attempt to escape, to swim to the ship. But Nagle doesn't see him and Carradine's character, who had whipped him earlier, recaptures him. Attempting to escape adds a year to Terangi's sentence and further attempts add more time until it totals 16 years.Of course, everyone on Manukura, save Governor De Laage, feels this is unfair. They urge the Governor to intervene on Terangi's behalf, have him transferred to their island (anything!), but he refuses. Eventually, Carradine's character becomes the warden and Terangi fakes suicide to escape yet again. This time he's successful, but he kills a guard (with one punch) by accident in the process, so he's a murderer. Miraculously, Terangi is able to make it 600 miles across the open ocean to Manukura to be reunited with Marama and their (6 year old?, wedding night conceived?) daughter. Actually, Father Paul, who'd been fishing offshore, helped Terangi make it the last ten miles in his canoe. De Laage accurately suspects per the natives' celebrations that Terangi is back on his island ... right about the time the storm winds start blowing in.De Laage goes out with Nagle (on his boat) to find Terangi. Dr. Kersaint has to deliver a baby, Marama's sister's, and actually goes out into the storm on a canoe with her and some others. De Laage's wife goes to the church with most of the others to be with Father Paul, who's decided to sing (until the end), like on the Titanic. Terangi lashes his wife and child up in the biggest tree he can find, and then goes to the church (with a rope tied to the tree) to get others to join them. De Laage's wife is the only one that makes it. The storm destroys everything! Afterwards, Dr. Kersaint finds himself washed up on the sandbar that is left. The baby was born successfully. De Laage and Nagle are seen on his battered boat; they rendezvous with the doctor but decide to go out looking for other survivors. Terangi, his wife, child, and De Laage's wife survived on the tree; they find a canoe and make their way to another sandbar. Terangi sees Nagle's boat coming and decides to leave with his family in the canoe, but starts a smokescreen so that De Laage can find his wife. When De Laage arrives, he embraces her, and then sees the canoe in the distance, seeing clearly (with his binoculars) what it is (e.g. Terangi escaping with his family), but agrees with his wife's pleading conjecture that it's just a log.

zorrito1953 Wow, what a picture! If only someone would digitize, remaster and possibly colorize this flick. UCLA Film Archive, are you listening? Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour put on some great skin beauty candy for the viewers. Both had long natural hair and athletic bodies. And the special effects were before their time. The "wind" plays as a character in the movie. You would be surprised at these special effects, given it was filmed in 1937 without computers! On a different note, I wish all seven of Dorothy Lamour's sarong movies were available on DVD with tons of special features, remastered, of course! Did you know that one of Dorothy Lamour's sarongs is in exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum? I can't wait to read her "My Side of the Road" autobiography.

vincentlynch-moonoi John Ford's 1937 film is remarkable on several counts. Most obviously, the climactic scenes when the hurricane hits the South Sea island is stunning, sustained, and imaginative...way ahead of its time on special effects that mostly look extremely realistic...and done the hard way -- without computers! Second, an underlying theme here that is expressed subtly through the telling of the story, rather than by preaching, is the difference between morality and law...not a simple topic. John Ford made about 140 films, this is certainly in his top 20.The basic story line is that a Polynesian (unfortunately, Jon Hall) is imprisoned for a fight with a white man in a bar. It begins with a not-too-unreasonable sentence, but over more transgressions balloons to 16 years, and that's where it becomes unjust. It's a morality play, however, and the climax of the film, where many are punished is the hurricane. The film begins with a passenger ship sailing by a bleak, deserted island. Thomas Mitchell, who plays the island's doctor, tells the story of the once tropical paradise to a fellow traveler. Regrettably, although Mitchell is excellent as the doctor, he is a heavy drinker at various times throughout the film...almost a cliché for him.It's the colonial era in the South Seas, and Jon Hall is first mate on a local schooner. He plays Terangi. Now, it's not that he's bad (in terms of acting) in this film. It's that he looks so darned White to be playing a Tahitian that it's distracting and appears to be typical studio miscasting of minorities. Ironically, Hall's mother was really Tahitian and his uncle wrote the book on which the film was based! Terangi marries Marama, Dorothy Lamour in her 7th film. She's just right for the part, looks Tahitian, and is quite captivating in this film. She plays the daughter of the island's chief.On a ship's journey to Tahiti, Terangi gets into a fight with a racist colonial type, and the governor sentences him to 6 months in jail. The governor is not being unfair, but rather following the law. On Terangi's home island, the new governor there -- Raymond Massey -- is not an evil man, but he is obsessed with the letter of the law. Through his harshness he relentlessly condemns Terangi, making his job as governor tenuous since the local population turns against him. It's an interesting part for Massey, because while he seems so unfair in his job, you also see him as an adoring husband who does have a change of philosophy at the very end of the film.The island Catholic priest -- C. Aubrey Smith -- is sympathetic to the island's people and customs, so this is an interesting role for him. He is very relaxed here, doesn't come across as the typical Puritanical priest in the third world, and has some great visual scenes in the film.Mary Astor's role is also a bit atypical of her. She often plays very "hard" characters, but here she is the wife of the governor (Massey), and manages to come off as very sympathetic in her ability to adjust to island mores and still be supportive of her husband.Terangi repeatedly tries to escape, thus his increasingly long sentence, and here's where the evil comes into the film -- the gleefully harsh jailer (John Carradine). After 8 years, Terangi does escape, but kills a guard in doing so. He steals a canoe and manages the grueling journey to his home island (although his killing of shark in a swarm of the vicious animals seems a little far fetched to me). Terangi is rescued by Father Paul and a Tahitian boy, who keep the situation secret from the governor. He is reunited with his wife and their daughter, whom he has never seen before. Massey attempts to hunt him down on a schooner, but that's when the hurricane strikes. Heavenly retribution? Well, not really because a lot of innocents die, and the governor (and his wife) survive.There's hardly a dull moment here, the acting is top notch, and the story is timeless. This is one for you DVD shelf!

kenjha This silly but fun potboiler looks at life on a Polynesian island before a hurricane. The main attraction here is the climactic hurricane sequence, which is quite impressive for its time. What precedes it is rather melodramatic. Hall's many attempts to escape from prison are ridiculously implemented. As with other Ford films of the period, it's visually opulent but the acting is overdone. Massey and Mitchell seem to have a competition going to see who can be more hammy. At least they are actors who have shown themselves to be good performers in other films. The same can't be said of Hall. Like Johnny Weismuller, the hunky actor looks great but can't act his way out of a loincloth.