A wonderful film for its time, particularly in the special effects area. The plot has it all - romance and passion, heroes and traitors, adventure and devastation, climaxing with an epic disaster of the natural kind in the form of a hurricane. Based on the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, adapted by Oliver H.P. Garrett, with screenplay by Dudley Nichols, “The Hurricane” is set on the French colonised island Manakoora in the South Seas ruled by the cold and ruthless Governor Eugene De Laage (Raymond Massey) along with his kind-hearted and sensitive wife, Madame Germaine De Laage (Mary Astor). However the main characters of the story are the island chief’s daughter Marama (Dorothy Lamour) and her handsome hero husband, Terangi (John Hall) who is wrongly jailed whilst visiting in Tahiti. With Terangi’s escape and bid to return to his wife and his island home the story takes on an intensity that finally erupts into a breath-taking and havoc-wreaking finale. A classic film with a cast including C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine and Jerome Cowan.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
318700
Language
English
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Action & Adventure → Action films
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → France - Colonies
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Oceania
Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Hurricanes
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Literature → American literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)