Hurricane, The (1937)
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Director: John Ford
Honors:
Audiences experience the fury of a South Seas storm in the
John Ford picture The Hurricane. This
picture featuring a melodramatic love story is punctuated by the near half
million dollar special effects sequence that would shake theaters to its
foundation, bringing the ferocity of a hurricane indoors. In a string of
success by John Ford, this tropical disaster picture further manifested the
creativity of the filmmaker when given the means and resources to create a
tangible event to the silver screen.
The Hurricane is a
drama of wrongfully accused South Seas nativeof a European colonized island
attempting to escape prison and return to his loving wife, capped off with a
massive storm that destroys his home island. Terangi (Jon Hall) is the very well-loved
native sailor of the small French colonized island of Manukura who runs afoul
of a terribly racist white man in Tahiti. After striking this man, breaking his
jaw, it is revealed that the man was of high political power and Terangi is
imprisoned. With no help from Manukura’s newly appointed duty-first governor,
De Laage (Raymond Massey), Terangi’s sentence stands and increases in length
for each time he attempts to escape, from six months to 16 years. He eventually
does escape,becoming a fugitive as he makes his way home reunited with his wife
Marama (Dorothy Lamour) and daughter, whom was born during his imprisonment. Despite De Laage searching for the fugitive
islander, Terangi helps to save the governor’s wife (Mary Astor) during the
devastating hurricane that completely destroys the island, leaving the governor
to only quietly thank as Terangi escapes one last time into the South Pacific.
This melodramatic love story can be compared to many other
stories of a wrongfully imprisoned man ripped away from his family, seen numerous
times over in a variety of films. Audiences would go to see this picture and
enjoy it for one reason, and it can be seen in its title. Most of the budget is
delegated for the epic storm sequence that encompasses the final twenty minutes
of the picture, which is clearly manifested in the high quality special effects
of extraordinary power and realism. In the end audiences would feel like they
survived a horrific event along with the picture’s hero.
John Ford would be one of the busiest and most fruitful
directors of the late thirties, producing success after success with uncanny
regularity. His genre of film would also fluctuate with many types of pictures,
manifested earlier in the year he directed the Shirley Temple film Wee Willie Winkie. Though he is a very
skilled director, the focus of the superior filmmaking skill is seen in the
powerful hurricane sequence with many special effects shot, heavy use of water
and wind effects, the quick editing, and the choice to edit the storm with only
sound effects and no overly dramatic music. The skill and precision would make
the scene easily the most significant of feature.
Looking at the credits of the picture would star two rather
unknown actors. Jon Hall, the new professional name for the actor born Charles
Locher, had only been acting for a couple of years. He would change his name to
better associate his moniker with that of his uncle, the author of the film’s
story James Norman Hall. He gives a rather bland performance to the role of the
film’s hero which a critic would liken to “a competent Tarzan.” This
description would not be far off with Hall’s build, costume, and hair very similar
to Johnny Weissmuller. His wife in the movie would be played by the equally
flat performance of Dorothy Lamour. This Paramount contracted beauty lent to
Samuel Goldwyn for the picture would begin to see her name rising, which is why
her name tops all other actor in the credits. Lamour would peak in the coming
years with her appearances in the hugely popular Bing Crosby/ Bob Hope Road to… movies.
Mary Astor would be given a high credit in the picture, even
though her role is rather minor compared to others in the scope of the story.
Coming out of her highly publicized divorce, Astor proved to be still a strong actress
and a good draw through the year.
With the top actors in Hall and Lamour being, unfortunately,
the flattest characters in the film, the ensemble of supporting cast would make
for the best acting in the film and the most dramatic. Raymond Massey plays the
major protagonist, even though he has no interaction with Terangi, as the
governor that refuses to pardon the popular and likable native. His smug scowl
and deep set eyes makes him an easy villain. Weathered veteran C. Aubrey Smith
provides the spiritual center of the film as Father Paul, whose drama rises in
the wake of the church being torn to pieces by the storm with him in it, which would
test the faith of audiences attached to the character.
Above all other performances is that of Thomas Mitchell, the
usual supporting actor whose character of the island’s alcohol loving doctor
provides the most heart of the film. He makes for the most human of all the
performances as a man with depth of character, complete with flaws, fits of
anger, compassion, and sense of nostalgia, ten times the profundity of any
other characters in the picture. Mitchell’s character appropriately opens the
film in flashback looking at the island in its final days. This outstanding performance
warranted Mitchell a nomination for best supporting actor.
The film would best be considered as a fine production for
its attention to detail in the face of devastating fury. The massive water and
wind effects would bowl over actors throughout the storm sequence, even drawing
blood from hard mist and sand hitting her face, Astor would later recall. John
Ford would even have Jon hall really flogged in a sequence of torture for its
painful reality that would later be cut from the feature for its intensity by
censors.
The film would be a rather well received success, including
an over one million dollar box office draw domestically. The superior sound
design and editing for those final twenty minutes of the picture would win the
feature an Academy Award for best sound recording. All said the film was a
meager picture with overall poor performances, but superior filmmaking. A
remake of the film would release in 1979 as a romance picture, but would be
further forgotten when compared to this original. Director John Ford would be
in a whirlwind period of his career, but his greatest films were still to come.
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