The Hurricane (1937)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
In the Island of Manukura, a French colony in the South Seas,
the joyful Terangi is a leader among the natives and the first mate of the Katopua,
the tall ship of Captain Nagle. Terangi gets married with Marama
and sooner he sails to Tahiti.
While in a bar playing with other natives, Terangi is offended by an alcoholic racist French
and he hits his face, breaking his jaw. Despite the testimony of Captain Nagle,
Terangi is sentenced to six months of forced labor since the victim
had political connections with the Powers That Be.
Captain Nagle asks the Governor Eugene DeLaage to uses his influence
to help Terangi, but the governor refuses.
Terangi unsuccessfully tries to escape from the prison,
and each attempt increases his sentence.
Eight years later, he finally escapes and his jailbreak is celebrated in Manukura.
Father Paul finds his canoe and brings Terangi to the island.
But a devastating hurricane also arrives in the island threatening the dwellers.
Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Full Cast
Dorothy Lamour ... Marama
Jon Hall ... Terangi
Mary Astor ... Mme. DeLaage
C. Aubrey Smith ... Father Paul
Thomas Mitchell ... Dr. Kersaint
Raymond Massey ... DeLaage
John Carradine ... Warden
Jerome Cowan ... Captain Nagle
Al Kikume ... Chief Mehevi
Kuulei De Clercq ... Tita
Layne Tom Jr. ... Mako
Mamo Clark ... Hitia
Movita ... Arai (as Movita Castenada)
Lionel Braham ... The Governor (uncredited)
Spencer Charters ... Judge (uncredited)
Anne Chevalier ... Reri (uncredited)
Inez Courtney ... Girl on Ship (uncredited)
William B. Davidson ... Abusive Drunk (uncredited)
Roger Drake ... Captain of the Guards (uncredited)
Flora Hayes ... Mama Rua (uncredited)
Francis Kaai ... Tavi (uncredited)
Chris-Pin Martin ... Sailor (uncredited)
Mary Shaw ... Marunga (uncredited)
Pauline Steele ... Mata (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Dudley Nichols (screenplay)
Oliver H.P. Garrett (adaptation)
Charles Nordhoff (novel) and
James Norman Hall (novel)
Ben Hecht uncredited

Original Music
Alfred Newman

Cinematography
Bert Glennon

Trivia
According to Life Magazine, special effects wizard James Basevi was given a budget of $400,000 to create his effects. He spent $150,000 to build a native village with a lagoon 200 yards long, and then spent $250,000 destroying it.

The native village set was on 2½ acres of United Artists' back lot.

Doubles were not used for Mary Astor and Dorothy Lamour when they were lashed to a tree during the hurricane. In her autobiography, Astor said that the sand and water whipping their faces sometimes left pinpricks of blood on their cheeks.

Charles Locher officially changed his name professionally to Jon Hall with this picture in order to capitalize on his real life relationship to "The Hurricane"'s co-author, James Norman Hall.

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Pago Pago, American Samoa
Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA
(studio)
Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA
Tutuila Island, American Samoa

Watch this clip

[extendedmedia]

The Hurricane is a 1937 film set in the South Seas,
produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions,
about a Polynesian who is unjustly imprisoned.
The climax features a special effects hurricane.

It stars Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall,
with Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell,
Raymond Massey, John Carradine.,
James Norman Hall, Jon Hall's uncle,
co-wrote the novel of the same name
on which The Hurricane is based.

User Review

Quote

Film Gives a Lot More Than It Promises
16 November 2004 | by Mike-764 ([email protected]) (Flushing, NY)

The South Seas island of Manikoora is alive with happiness on the day of the wedding of Terangi and Marama. Terangi has his honeymoon cut short, when he has to sail to deliver cargo to Tahiti. Terangi's visit to Tahiti becomes hell when he slugs a man in a barroom brawl and is unjustly sentenced to six months in prison mainly because he as a native islander hit a white man. Terangi repeatedly tries to escape and is caught each time, only to add more years to his sentence. Back on Manikoora, Governor De Laage makes no effort to release Terangi because in his mind Terangi is a law breaker and deserves to be punished, despite the words of his wife, priest, and island doctor to the otherwise. One night Terangi does manage to escape, even though he unknowingly knocks a guard to the ground, killing him. Father Paul rescues Terangi from the sea and arranges to meet Marama and their daughter Tita. When De Laage learns that Terangi is back on the island, he makes a determined effort to apprehend him, not realizing one of the most devastating hurricanes is coming to strike, which may destroy the whole island. A very good movie. I was expecting much footage of hurricane destruction, I didn't realize the plot aspect of the prison, which was a lot more than plot filler. Hall and Lamour were good, even though I enjoyed their movies from the 40's a lot better. Massey gives one of the best performances of his long career as De Laage, as a heartless and sadistic fellow. The special effects are amazing, even by 2004 standards. Beautiful on-location photography as well.