THE HURRICANE (1937)
Starring: Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, John Carradine, Jerome Cowan, Al Kikume, Kuulei De Clercq, Layne Tom Jr.
Writers: Dudley Nichols, Oliver H.P. Garrett (from the novel by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Music: Alfred Newman
Editor: Lloyd Nosler
B&W, 1h 44m. 1.37:1 presentation.
Released on: November 5, 1937 by United Artists
My experience: Kino Lorber Blu-Ray
The Hurricane is one I've been looking forward to for quite a while. I'd heard a lot about it, but it's not one of Ford's more revered films. The special effects have been praised, and for good reason; the at that time jaw dropping natural disaster-based visuals of 1936's San Francisco, and In Old Chicago and The Hurricane from '37, were enough to persuade the Academy to create a best visual effects Oscar starting in 1939 (which was won by the monsoon effects for The Rains Came, naturally).
Dorothy Lamour is top-billed and plays Marama, but our protagonist is Terangi (Jon Hall), a free spirited South Seas native of the island of Manakoora who works as first mate on a boat run by Captain Nagle (Jerome Cowan), and is loved and respected by everybody on the island: the colonisers, including Father Paul (C. Aubrey Smith) and Dr. Kersaint (Thomas Mitchell), as well as the colonised, including Chief Mehevi (Al Kikume), Mako (Layne Tom, Jr.), Hitia (Mamo Clark), and Arai (Movita Castaneda). Everyone, that is, except DeLaage (Raymond Massey), the governor of the island, whose entire existence depends on the upholding of law and order. His wife (Mary Astor) is more open-minded, and befriends Marama when Terangi is jailed in Tahiti for breaking a racist man's jaw.
Terangi is not a man to be held captive, and continually tries to escape imprisonment from his sadistic warden, played by John Carradine. He finally escapes, and is rescued by Father Paul, and after reuniting with Marama and meeting his now eight year old daughter Tita (Kuulei De Clercq), he's forced to go into hiding after the relentless governor learns of his escape. He's helped in this pursuit by Chief Mehevi and the plucky Mako ... and then the titular hurricane comes and unleashes hell on everybody, friend and foe alike.
I quite enjoyed The Hurricane. The special effects held up well, the acting is for the most part quite strong, it has nice visuals, and it moves at a nice pace. Jon Hall isn't much of an actor, but he makes up for it with his physical presence. Originally I thought he was too Caucasian looking, but apparently he was half Tahitian, which is more than I can say for New Orleans-born Latina Dorothy Lamour, who nevertheless fills out her sarong quite nicely indeed. John Carradine always seemed to find himself cast as the baddest people around, and here he plays the warden with all scowls and evil grins permeating his long, gaunt face. Mary Astor fails to make much of an impression, but Massey pretty much carries this film in a supporting role as the conflicted governor. He's basically playing Javert from "Les Miserables", as he ignores his moral compass in favour of upholding the law to the letter. Thomas Mitchell, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role, bookends the film as the narrator, and plays basically the same jolly alcoholic he would play two years later for Ford in Stagecoach.
The casting of the two romantic leads aside, the film seems quite novel for its time as most (although not all) of the islanders seem to have been played by people of Asian-American or Pan-Pacific descent. In fact the film goes out of its way -- sometimes in an overly heavy-handed way -- to condemn racism and profiling. It's made clear that the film strongly disapproves of DeLaage's stance, the warden is a caricature of evil, and Tarangi is held up almost as a Christ-like figure at times. There's one scene where Father Paul proclaims his belief in the virtues of Tarangi, and then the camera pans upwards to the clouds as heavenly music swells. A bit on the nose, Mr. Ford! When I was watching The Hurricane I couldn't help but think of it as a precursor of sorts to the type of films Stanley Kramer would make his name producing some twenty years later.
If you want more proof as to the progressive views of the filmmakers, Tarangi and Marama get married twice, once by Father Paul and once in a native ceremony. We don't see anything of the Christian wedding, only the newlyweds leaving the church as the colonisers and a few natives stand on the steps looking after them. More attention is given to the native ceremony directly following, as the islanders disrobe the lovers' European attire and proceed to host a joyous celebration led by Chief Mehevi. This is followed, cheekily enough, by the couple running away to a clearing by the beach, where it is not so subtly insinuated that they are running off to fuuuuuuuuccckkkk. Indeed the scene ends on a medium close up of just their legs intertwined with each other, the rest of their bodies hidden from the reeds. By 1937 standards, it's kinda hot!
The climactic hurricane sequences, justly heralded, were created by James Basevi, who would later transition into being an art director, winning an Oscar for 1943's The Song of Bernadette. Here he created the entire island on a soundstage, spending $150,000 to build the sets, and $250,000 including use of the largest water tank in Hollywood to destroy them for posterity. The fourteen minute sequence is phenomenal, with quick cutting and Oscar-winning sound design combining with the visuals to create an intense spectacle.
Natural disaster aside, there are some great moments that stand out in The Hurricane. The montage of escape attempts as Tarangi tries to get away from his Tahitian jail and rejoin his family, is really great, mixing a little bit of expressionistic visuals with intense close-ups of the many members of the cast. While not quite The Godfather in terms of storytelling, it's right up there with The Roaring Twenties in terms of virtuoso editing. There's also a scene (again involving the jail) in which we get a shot from Tarangi's point of view, of John Carradine glowering at him and telling him he'll ensure Tarangi never escapes, in which Carradine's face is filmed through a spider's web. Pretty sure I don't need to explain the symbolism to you, but suffice it to say it makes for a fantastic visual.
I was waiting for this to come up in my chronological journey through John Ford's filmography, and it was worth the wait. Aside from some fairly prevalent focus issues in certain scenes, the film looks fantastic, and sounds just as great. While it probably only rates in the middle tier (maybe upper-middle) of his resume when all is said and done, I quite enjoyed it. Outside the box Ford is still worth checking out.
Eight galvanised gales out of ten.
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