To me, this movie is perfection.

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Get ready for an epic love quadrangle aquatic adventure with Cecil B. DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind. Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, John Wayne, and Susan Hayward all sneak behind each other's backs, deceive, seduce, and fall in love for real. And it takes two hours to sort it all out!It's a little complex, though, and miraculously at the same time, a little tedious. It's as if screenwriters Charles Bennett, Jesse Lasky, Jr., Alan Le May, and Jeanie Macpherson, wanted the audience to take so long to figure out who's who and what they're doing that it would stretch the running time out. But, if you like large-scale adventures with lots of boat scenes, you might not mind. It reminded me of Tap Roots in a way, an attempt to recapture the epic splendor of Gone with the Wind but not really succeeding. You can tell everyone in this movie thinks it's an incredible blockbuster-which, to be fair, it was at the time-but nowadays with so many ship movies out there with more up-to-date special effects, it doesn't feel the same. The famous crane shot in Gone with the Wind doesn't feel the same today, either, so if you like stepping back in time, and you're totally riveted by hurricanes and shipwrecks, you might like this one.

Reap the Wild Wind (1942) *** (out of 4) Cecil B. DeMille's over-the-top but fun adventure takes place in the 1840s as ships try to reach the Atlantic ocean but often end up wrecked on the shoals of Florida. Southern belle Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard) has Captain Jack Stuart (John Wayne) and Stephen Tolliver (Ray Milland) battling for her before the men end up battling a giant squid. REAP THE WILD WIND is a pretty fun movie, although there's no question that it doesn't rank among the director's best work and there are some fairly big flaws scattered throughout the picture. I love Milland but I thought he just wasn't right for this role. In later years John Wayne would say that he was cast in the movie to make Milland seem more like a man and perhaps that's true. There just wasn't a single second where I bought Milland and Wayne battling each other for this woman and their fight scenes aren't very believable either. Milland gives a good performance, don't get me wrong, but he just wasn't right for the part. Wayne, still not a star, does a nice job in his role, although there's a scene early on where he gets knocked out and the way Wayne does this is somewhat laughable. Goddard is her usual good self and we get nice support from villain Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Charles Bickford and Susan Hayward. The visual effects ended up winning an Oscar when this was originally released and I'm sure people only used to CGI effects are going to think these here are awful. For 1942 they're actually pretty good and this includes the scenes with the ships on the sea. I'm not exactly sure what DeMille put into the pool that they were shooting these scenes but the water looks beautiful. As for the giant squid at the end, it's certainly very fake looking and I was a little surprised that they didn't do more with it as the fight is pretty small. REAP THE WILD WIND isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination but it's certainly worth watching.

This film had a plethora of stars from the 40s: Ray Milland who won an Oscar for The Lost Weekend, Paulette Goddard who was nominated for So Proudly We Hail!, Raymond Massey who was nominated for Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Susan Hayward with an Oscar for I Want to Live!, and four other nominations, Charles Bickford with three Oscar nominations in the 40s, Milburn Stone who played Doc Adams on Gunsmoke, and John Wayne who got his Oscar for True Grit, and who had two other nominations.It was directed by the great Cecil B. DeMille, who won three Oscars and had two other nominations. He was best know for The Ten Commandments.The film itself won an Oscar for Special Effects, and had two other nominations for Cinematography and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration.The film is full of storms, ship wrecks and gang fights, and will entertain for the full 123 minutes.

The good news is: * The production is visually lush and colorful. Very high production standards. * As others have pointed out, you get an idea of what kind of Scarlett O'Hara Paulette Goddard would have made. * This is definitely one of John Wayne's best roles.The bad news here is: * Cecil B. DeMille was a great director, but he was definitely of another era, even in the 1940s. * Cecil B. DeMille was clearly jealous of Victor Fleming and David O. Selznick and their success with GWTW. * Paulette Goddard would have made a poor Scarlett O'Hara, unless all you wanted was a Scarlett who couldn't decide whether she was supposed to be a simpering and nauseating little fool or a female swashbuckler. * While Ray Milland does a good job here, it seems like an odd role for him.The underwater diving scenes toward the climax of the film, while primitive by today's standards of special effects, are imaginative and stunning. Kudos!There are quite a few great character actors in this film, although with the exception of Raymond Massey (as the ultimate bad guy), few have very big parts -- Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Charles Bickford, and Louise Beavers (who is delightful). Milburn Stone of "Gunsmoke" is there too, although I missed him entirely. You'll also recognize Oscar Polk when you hear his voice -- one of the memorable slaves in GWTW.This is a difficult film for me to rate. It is certainly not a "great film" (such as GWTW or "Ben-Hur" or even DeMille's "The Ten Commandments"), but it is entertaining. Recommended to be seen at least once.