“Reap the Wild Wind” is an exciting action-adventure film set in Key West, Florida, in the 1840’s. The story centers around cut-throat salvagers who profit from the wrecks of transatlantic cargo ships, and also wreak havoc by attacking active shipping. Raymond Massey plays once such salvage captain who attacks the wrong ship, as it was commanded by John Wayne. The thrills, chills, and spills proceed from there in abundance, quite a crowd-pleaser for 1942 movie goers.
Director Cecil B. DeMille (“Union Pacific” 1939) put his best foot forward at the helm of this old-fashioned Hollywood thriller, filmed in Technicolor. DeMille and his crew kept busy depicting a variety of scenes like making ships crash on reefs, salvage workers taking cargo from underwater ships, producing believable hurricanes, putting together a big courtroom scene, creating a giant squid to attack Wayne and Ray Milland, and more. “Reap the Wild Wind” won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, with two other nominations for art direction and cinematography.
The outstanding cast includes John Wayne, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Milburn Stone, Charles Bickford, Louise Beavers, Hedda Hopper, Martha O’Driscoll, Elisabeth Risdon, Oscar Polk, Lynne Overman, Walter Hampden, Janet Beecher, James Dime, and Cecil B. DeMille as the narrator. The very watchable “Reap the Wild Wind” was the fourth highest grossing film of the year for producer C. B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures.
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
cinema
My Review
“Reap the Wild Wind” is an exciting action-adventure film set in Key West, Florida, in the 1840’s. The story centers around cut-throat salvagers who profit from the wrecks of transatlantic cargo ships, and also wreak havoc by attacking active shipping. Raymond Massey plays once such salvage captain who attacks the wrong ship, as it was commanded by John Wayne. The thrills, chills, and spills proceed from there in abundance, quite a crowd-pleaser for 1942 movie goers.
Director Cecil B. DeMille (“Union Pacific” 1939) put his best foot forward at the helm of this old-fashioned Hollywood thriller, filmed in Technicolor. DeMille and his crew kept busy depicting a variety of scenes like making ships crash on reefs, salvage workers taking cargo from underwater ships, producing believable hurricanes, putting together a big courtroom scene, creating a giant squid to attack Wayne and Ray Milland, and more. “Reap the Wild Wind” won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, with two other nominations for art direction and cinematography.
The outstanding cast includes John Wayne, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Milburn Stone, Charles Bickford, Louise Beavers, Hedda Hopper, Martha O’Driscoll, Elisabeth Risdon, Oscar Polk, Lynne Overman, Walter Hampden, Janet Beecher, James Dime, and Cecil B. DeMille as the narrator. The very watchable “Reap the Wild Wind” was the fourth highest grossing film of the year for producer C. B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures.