Jon Hall, Dorothy Lamour and an excellent cast are all caught in "The Hurricane," a 1937 film and the first to win a Special Effects Oscar. The original novel was written by Jon Hall's uncle. On the island of Manakoora, Terangi (Hall) and Marama (Lamour) marry amidst a happy celebration, though their happiness will be short-lived. Terangi must deliver cargo to Tahiti, though Marama has a premonition about the trip and warns him not to go. While in Tahiti, he gets into a barroom fight and is sentenced to 6 months in prison. The governor of Manakoora, DeLaage (Raymond Massey), despite the urgings of his friends and his wife (Mary Astor) refuses to ask for Terangi to be brought back to Manakoora and put on parole. Unable to endure a life with no freedom, and desperate to get back home, Terangi continually attempts to escape. Each time he does, 2 years are added to his sentence until he has to serve 16 years. At last, Terangi escapes and makes his way back to his island, where he meets his daughter for the first time. Knowing that DeLaage will capture him and return him to Tahiti, islanders prepare to help the family sail to another island. But a hurricane (actually a typhoon) strikes.

Besides those mentioned, "The Hurricane" also stars Thomas Mitchell as the French doctor on Manakoora, C. Aubrey Smith as the local priest, Jerome Cowan as Terangi's captain, and John Carradine as a sadistic prison guard.

The effects are astounding and are a no-miss, particularly considering it is 1937! The tremendous winds, the rising waters, the trees falling, buildings collapsing - all magnificent. John Ford did an excellent job of directing this film, which has racism as its underpinning - the prison sentence was the result of a so-called dark man hitting a white man; and DeLaage's patrician and cruel attitude has racism at the base of it. I disagree with one of the comments that states that Hall was a white-skinned movie star trying to pass himself off as a dark man; Hall's mother was Tahitian.

Dorothy Lamour, exotic and beautiful, has very little to do in this film except look frightened and lovely - you can count her lines on one hand. Hall, a total hunk if there ever was one, has more to say and do but one is so distracted by his face and physique that it becomes difficult to pay attention to anything else. The acting burden falls to Mitchell, Massey, Astor, Carradine, and Cowan, who are terrific.

Ford isn't known for his tales of the sea, but obviously he was good at everything. He wouldn't see water again until the 1950s. Lamour carried on the sarong tradition in better roles, and Hall worked into the mid-'60s; at the age of 65, dying of cancer and in excruciating pain, he shot himself.

Highly recommended as a feast of skin and brilliant special effects.

For a film that's billed as a romance movie, this has got a surprising amount of good suspense and action. It's really an adventure story with a romance angle. It's also very interesting and a good film with decent special effects, at least for when this was made.

It's almost a "Count Of Monte Cristo" story with an innocent man imprisoned on an island and finally succeeding in escaping. However, in this story, the escapee "Terangi" (John Hall) also has to battle a hurricane after escaping!

The film starts slowly in the first half hour, but stick with it, it's worth it. The story becomes very involving as "Terangi" begins his battle against "the law," which is not pictured very flattering here. In that respect, the film is ahead of its time with its anti-government message. However, it's behind the times with the typical classic-era white man trying to pass himself off as a dark-skinned island native. Dorothy Lamour is likewise as "Marama," Terangi's wife.

The cinematography is very good and the direction excellent. Then again, one of the best directors of all time did this film: John Ford. It also has a nice cast. Look at the supporting actors: Mary Astor, Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell and John Carradine!

A solid Golden Age adventure story and one of the best of the 1930s decade.

This is a very good movie that earns an 8 due to the amazing (though a bit overlong) ending. Without the technically brilliant ending, I'd give the film a 6 or 7.

The movie is about a small fictional French-controlled island near Tahiti. Everything seems happy and idyllic until one of the main characters justifiably protects himself from attack in a bar when visiting Tahiti (the film never mentioned WHICH island this was--just calling it "Tahiti"). However, the French legal system seems totally indifferent and unjust and sentences this native to six months in jail. And, not unexpectedly from a "child of nature", he goes almost crazy and tries to escape again and again--and increases his six month sentence to over 16 years!!! This is almost exactly like what occurred in LES MISERABLES, where poor Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread and after trying to escape is sentenced to spend most of his life in prison--just for a crust of bread! And, like Victor Hugo's classic, there is a parallel to the character Inspector Javert--a man whose obsession with the technicalities of the law but not justice makes him almost inhuman. Interestingly, however, in this film, there are actually several characters reminiscent of Javert--not just the governor (Raymond Massey).

In the role of the native couple are Dorothy Lamour (who is beautiful and looks like a real native) and Jon Hall (who is beautiful and looks too much like a European to be believable as the native prisoner). However, Hall did an excellent job with the role, though I must admit that Lamour was given little to do other than to pout, swim and kiss Hall.

Overall, this re-working of LES MISERABLES was very competently done and interesting. John Ford and the rest did a good job. However, the hurricane scene at the end was the true star of the film. How did they ever get it to look so realistic?!

FYI--This movie was made in 1937. I seriously doubt if it would have been made in the same form just a few years later, as it makes the French government look very, very bad. During the war years or especially just after WWII, Hollywood tried very hard to portray the French in a sympathetic (such as CROSS OF LORAINE) or somewhat sympathetic light (such as in CASABLANCA).