The Hurricane (1937 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Hurricane


caption = original 1937 movie poster
director = John Ford
Stuart Heisler (uncredited)
producer = Samuel Goldwyn
writer = screenplay by
Oliver H.P. Garrett
Dudley Nichols
based on the novel by
James Norman Hall and
Charles Nordhoff
starring = Dorothy Lamour
Jon Hall
Mary Astor
C. Aubrey Smith
Thomas Mitchell
Raymond Massey
John Carradine
music = Alfred Newman
cinematography = Bert Glennon
editing =
distributor = United Artists
released = November 9, 1937
runtime = 110 min.
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget = $2,000,000 (estimated)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:23941
imdb_id = 0029030

"The Hurricane" (1937) is a film, directed by John Ford and produced by Samuel Goldwyn, about a tropical cyclone in the Pacific Ocean. It stars Dorothy Lamour and also Jon Hall, with Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, and John Carradine.

Plot

In the days of the tall ships and colonial rule of the South Pacific, a naive native sailor working as first mate on an island hopping windjammer is unjustly jailed in Tahiti for striking a racist planter with government connections. His attempts to escape imprisonment and return to his home island and young wife are contrasted with the attitudes of the white colonials, including a humanitarian physician, a "by the book" governor and a sadistic jailer, as well as the forces of natural justice in the form of a devastating hurricane. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029030/plotsummary]

Awards

* Best Supporting Actor (nomination) - Thomas Mitchell
*Best Sound Recording - Thomas T. Moulton

Cast

* Dorothy Lamour as Marama
* Jon Hall as Terangi
* Mary Astor as Madame Germaine De Laage
* C. Aubrey Smith as Father Paul
* Thomas Mitchell as Dr. Kersaint
* Raymond Massey as Governor Eugene De Laage

Literary references

In his memoir "La tregua" ("The Truce"; re-titled "The Reawakening" for publication in the U.S.), Primo Levi recounted his experience watching "The Hurricane" among other films while he was interned at a Soviet transit camp at Starye Dorogi in the aftermath of World War II. The audience of Soviet troops, former prisoners of war, and Holocaust survivors (Levi included) became more and more unruly as the movie progressed, culminating in what Levi called a "witches' sabbath" when the actual hurricane appeared on screen. A fight broke out in the cramped theater and the projectionist decided to shut off the film before the end, to Levi's dismay (he recalled the film as "quite a good American film of the thirties").

External links

*imdb title |id=0029030 | title=The Hurricane
*amg title | id=1:23941 | title=The Hurricane
*tcmdb title | id=78725 | title=The Hurricane