Memorable, crazy movie

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

John Ford is one of my favorite directors (to my wife's dismay!) and I will watch his films, repeatedly and see something new every time. "The Hurricane" is one of his best, I think. The casting is excellent, especially with John Carradine as the sadistic warden, and Raymond Massey as the island's governor, who is trying to hold onto his position of power, knowing full well of the situation that sends Terangi (?) to an unjust prison term. It's extremely well written, directed, and acted. The gentleman who played Terangi, Jon Hall, was a direct descendant of Charles Nordhoff Hall, who also co-wrote Mutiny in the Bounty. Don't let the naysayers talk you into not seeing this excellent movie.

James Basevi's special effects are very good for the period and hold up well today. During the climactic storm, director John Ford told his photographer to keep the cameras running "in case somebody's sarong blows off or something." There must have been many out-takes involving disappearing sarongs because the wind machines and water tanks were working overtime.John Hall is Terangi, happy first mate of both a cargo-carrying sailboat and of Dorothy Lamour. In fact all the natives on the island of Manakura are happy. So are the white folks who more or less run the place -- Raymond Massey as Inspector Javert, I mean Governor DeLaage, his wife Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith as the priest, and Thomas Mitchell as a drunken doctor, a role he must have found comfortable. On a visit to Tahiti, six hundred miles away, Terangi is insulted and slapped by a racist white man and impulsively hits back, breaking the man's jaw. This nets him six months in jail, despite the efforts of his captain, Jerome Cowan, to have him pardoned.John Hall, however, isn't used to confinement. No "native" is, explains Cowan to the governor. And he's right about that. Hall's repeated attempts to escape cost him more time until it all totals up to sixteen impossible years, before Hall finally makes a successful escape and return to Manakura and his wife and child.Governor Massey is not a cold fish. He loves his wife, enjoys the company of his friends, and wants to be liked by his subjects. But he's adamant about upholding the law. When he learns that Hall has returned to Manakura he turns the place upside down looking for him.At that point the eponymous storm strikes and destroys the island, leaving only a handful of survivors including Massey, Astor, Cowan, Mitchell, Hall, and Lamour. The latter sail off into the sunset with their daughter in a small canoe. Massey spots them but, having undergone a conversion to compassion during the hurricane, he pretends he sees nothing but a floating log.It's an interesting movie, if a very sad one, and raises questions about what might be called "slippage" in following bureaucratic rules. Can there be no exceptions at all, as Massey argues? In World War Two, one of my professors was a company commander who received orders to set up a machine gun before an expected enemy attack. The field of fire covered nothing but the face of a cliff, from which no attack could possibly come. He pointed this out to his superior officer, who replied that, yes, it was true, the map was wrong, the position was untenable in the case of an attack and everyone in the company might be killed. But that's what you have to do because it says so right here in the orders.Got a bit derailed there, for a moment, but universalism is the central issue of the movie. It's what moves the entire plot along. The increasing tension and the final resolution depend on the conflict Massey experiences between the letter of the law and its spirit.The climactic hurricane aside, I have to subtract some points for acting and make up. The acting resembles that in silent movies. John Hall is handsome and has expressive features with big bright sorrowful eyes but he overuses everything. That's partly Ford's fault. Dorothy Lamour, pretty much ditto. And, man, she can't handle a Polynesian accent. As far as that goes, one native near the beginning speaks Samoan and later some others speak Tahitian. It's a minor point because Polynesian languages are closely related. If it's "aloha" in Hawaiian, it's "talofa" in Samoan and "tarofa" in Tahitian. But among all the extras, they could apparently find only one woman to do the traditional Tahitian dance called "tamure", and no skilled men at all.Again, that's all carping. Less minor are stereotypical shots of the priest with his arms upraised to heaven while a choir sings and the walls of the church cave in and kill everyone. Ford, a sentimental and religious populist during this era, didn't waste any time on subtlety. Everyone is good, everyone is right -- except the unyielding governor. Oh, and John Carradine, who plays a sadistic guard in the prison at Tahiti. The natives are thoroughly stereotyped. They celebrate Hall's return by getting drunk, doing dirty dances, and allowing men to sling women over their shoulders and rush off into the jungle. Ha ha.The story is shot in a straightforward fashion. Unlike Terangi, we're never at sea. The fine, evocative score -- overused by today's standards -- is by Alfred Newman. And the climax is slam-bang.

You will enjoy this movie more if you believe Jon Hall and Lamour are Polynesians. In fact, these people are John Ford constructs which is why Thomas Mitchell plays the amiable drunken doctor. But this is a John Ford movie about justice, survival, love and more. And if you accept it with a willing sense of disbelief it is a bit of fun. There are the usual stunning Ford visuals which he always seemed to do so effortlessly. He is a master of camera placement. His sailing scenes are perfect. At one point a boat raises and flys a sail called a "mule," on a schooner. You'll never see this again. But mostly it is a movie about which it is easy to take sides. Vicious, racist colonial Europeans versus the simple people of the islands. And in the end nature asserts her judgment over all the characters.

John Ford directed many great classic films over the years, however, this film was outstanding with great special effects for a 1937 film. All the actors were great film veterans of the silver screen, who contributed a great deal of their great talent during the 30's 40's and 50's.; Dorothy Lamour,(Marama) "Man Handled", was very young and extremely sexy on an island with Jon Hall, (Terangie),"The Invisible Man's Revenger" who was very handsome and the two of them created a very warm romance through out the entire film. Raymond Massey,(Gov. Eugene DeLaage), "Abe Lincoln in Illinois",' hated poor Terangie for murdering a man and wanted to keep him in prison for the rest of his natural life. Thomas Mitchell,(Dr. Kersaint),"Gone With the Wind", was a doctor who liked to drink and was still able to deliver a baby in a horrible Hurrican. John Carradine,(Warden),"House of Frankenstein", was the warden of a prison and an extremely hateful person who was good friends with Gov. Eugene DeLaage. There is a great fight scene with a shark between Jon Hall (Terangie) and Jaws which was very dramatic. This entire film is a great masterpiece from 1937.