Such An Adventure!!
Added 10/13/2009
Reap the Wild Wind is an adventure in the true classic sense. This one will surprise you. Who'd have thought that DeMille could put together such a lively cast and keep the story lively & moving so well. No bogging down with this one. It's fun, wild ... and such a villian!
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Run of De Mille sea yarn
Added 8/5/2009
Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor epic REAP THE WILD WIND won a Special Effects Oscar, primarily for a giant rubber squid that was brought to life by 21 remotely-controlled motors. As in many of his pictures, the director voice intros the story, which is a fairly straightforward one.
SYNOPSIS--
In the 1840s, Atty. King Cutler (Massey) and brother Dan (Preston) run a piratical Key West-based salvage operation. After they cause ships to run aground on shoals off the Florida Keys, the Cutlers remove cargo and ransom it back to owners at half its value.
Loxi Claiborne (Goddard) is their competition, an honest, tomboyish gal who can't get the upper hand on the Cutlers.
When a cutter piloted by Capt. Jack Stuart (Wayne) founders during a storm, the nearby Cutlers swoop in and take her cargo, leaving Loxi to rescue the crew, which is how she meets Stuart. In a lapse of script continuity they're suddenly in love.
Loxi goes to South Carolina to speak with Cmmdre. Devereaux (Hampden) about naming Stuart the skipper of a brand new steamer. The commodore is very ill however and Loxi tries to charm his subordinate, Steve Tolliver (Milland) into doing her bidding. Steve falls for her, and maybe Loxi returns his regard; thus a love triangle is formed with an active rivalry between Steve and Jack.
Back in Key West, Jack assumes command of the steamer and King Cutler approaches him about double-crossing his newly-appointed boss, Steve Tolliver. Meanwhile, Loxi must find a way to stop the Cutler brothers' illegalities and to sort things out with her two suitors. What she doesn't know is that an enormous sea monster will decide this second matter for her.
Parenthetical number preceding title is an imdb 1 to 10 viewer poll rating.
(6.8) Reap the Wild Wind (1942) - Ray Milland/John Wayne/Paulette Goddard/Raymond Massey/Robert Preston/Susan Hayward/Charles Bickford/Walter Hampden/Louise Beavers/Hedda Hopper/Lane Chandler/Milburn Stone/Barbara Britton (uncredited: Monte Blue/Sarah Edwards/Akim Tamiroff-voice only)
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The Duke and his Majesty
Added 7/19/2009
This DVD transfer is very good to excellent. All the technicolor splendor is preserved for us.
This is a major effort from Paramount and Cecile B. DeMille and it shows. Not only do we get a tremendous cast: John Wayne, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Charles Bickford and Louise Beavers, the sets and locations are first rate as well. DeMille gives us a real feel for the period with location shoots in antebellum Charleston and beautiful costuming fitting the period (1840's). The giant squid monster (shot completely underwater with the actors AND the dierecor, DeMille!) is real enough to give even modern audiences a shiver.
The plot is simple. Two men (Wayne as a sea captain and Milland as a lawyer) fight pirate salvagers who have been sinking ships and claiming the cargoes. Both fall in love with the beautiful Loxi (Paulette Goddard) which creates tension between our two heroes. They work in opposition for the same goal.
This is a great film for the whole family although I'm inclined to put a PG rating on the film for the sea monster attack on our protagonists. It's not too bad though.
Recommended for: All adventure fans, family viewers, John Wayne fans, Cecile B. DeMille fans. This is a top quality offering and one you'll watch more than once.
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Paulette Goddard shines in her own version of "Gone with the Wind"
Added 10/28/2007
Paulette Goddard was the frontrunner to play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" until Vivien Leigh pipped her at the post. Four years later, Goddard finally got the chance to play another firebrand Southern belle in Cecil B. DeMille's REAP THE WILD WIND, a costume adventure with the emphasis on costume--and filmed in glowing early Technicolor.
Goddard plays Loxi Claiborne, the feisty manager of a ship salvage company in 1840s Key West, Florida. Loxi falls in love with Captain Jack Stuart (John Wayne); but later finds herself caught under the spell of his attractive arch-rival, Steve Tolliver (Ray Milland). Playing one man off the other, Loxi gets caught in the middle of a dangerous battle between rival shipping companies, masterminded by scheming King Cutler (Raymond Massey).
REAP THE WILD WIND, based on a story written by Thelma Strabel, is an energetic movie with something for everyone: costume drama, romance, pirates, action, and a spectacular sequence featuring a giant squid (the film picked up an Academy Award for 'Best Visual Effects' in 1943).
Paulette Goddard is a sensation playing the firebrand heroine Loxi Claiborne; she would have been a superb Scarlett O'Hara. John Wayne and Ray Milland also provide strong performances as the two men vying for Loxi's hand. A very young Susan Hayward and Robert Preston are touching, playing ill-fated forbidden sweethearts (they would later be re-united for "Tulsa" in 1949).
A top movie.
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Young John Wayne in color!
Added 8/28/2007
I don't know of any other Wayne film before the forgettable '47 "Tycoon" that was filmed in color. All those classic '40s Republic westerns and war movies were filmed in B&W. After his epic B&W '39 western: "Union Pacific", De Mille had the clout to insist that all his future films be shot in Technicolor, a rare luxury treatment in the '40s.
In contrast to most other reviewers, this film is perhaps my favorite Wayne film(if we can consider it a Wayne film, since he was not originally given top billing). The Technicolor treatment is certainly one factor, but I guess I'm just hooked on DeMille's better films(In spite of several other fine '39 westerns, "Union Pacific" is my clear favorite for that year). The general style of the present film often apes that of "Gone with the Wind", to which it has often been disparagingly compared. I've never been a big fan of the latter film. If given a choice,I would see DeMille's film again. It is also commonly compared with Wayne's later film "The Wake of the Red Witch", which I haven't seen, but is said to be largely a reworked version of the present film.
Considering the age of this film, I thought the DVD transfer quality was excellent, with vivid colors. I also enjoyed some of the extras. For example, we learn that much of the shooting was done on location in Charleston and around Key West, although the underwater action was done in a huge tank. Both Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward had tried out for the role of Scarlett in "Gone with the Wind". It is speculated that Paulette lost the role because of her uncertain official relationship with her recent lover, Charlie Chaplin. By the time the present film was begun, that relationship had ended.
There are so many complexities to this film and so many interesting, if sometimes stock, characters. I thought all of the main characters and most of the supporting characters were well cast. Captain Jack and Steve Tolliver seem destined to be at each other's throat throughout the story. Yet, occasionally, they fight together against a common enemy or help the other in a desperate situation. Captain Jack is a tragic figure, sometimes in hot water through no fault of his own, yet performing a dastardly deed to help win his love that precipitates the demise of many of the main characters. Raymond Massey sheds his Lincoln and John Brown images to become an engaging masterful villain. In one of the many convoluted relationships, Susan Hayward's character falls for Massey's handsome younger brother, who lives in his brother's shadow as a marginal villain. This romance, on the sneak, will become central to the tragic and redemptive events near the end of the story. In contrast to some viewers, I thought the talking dog and mischievous pet capuchin helped provide a bit of comic relief. I also enjoyed Lynne Overman's portrayal of Captain Phil, a classic old salt and grandfatherly figure.
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