Main Cast: Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 123 minutes
Plot
Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor historical spectacle Reap the Wild Wind was to have starred Gary Cooper, but Cooper's prior commitment to Goldwyn's Pride of the Yankees compelled DeMille to recast the leading role with John Wayne. The film, set in the mid-19th century, centers around Key West, Florida, where piracy reigns unchecked. Wayne plays the captain of a salvage business, working on behalf of Raymond Massey to rescue valuables from the merchant ships wrecked by pirates. During one expedition, Wayne is rescued from drowning by Paulette Goddard, the hoydenish manager of a rival salvage firm. Goddard arranges for Wayne to go to work for her boss, Ray Milland, and a romantic rivalry ensues. Later on, Goddard's cousin Susan Hayward is lost at sea when her ship is attacked by pirates. Wayne is accused of engineering the wreck, thanks to the duplicity of Massey, the real brains of the pirate operation. Wayne and Milland both don deep-sea diving gear and swim to the bottom in search of evidence. When Milland is attacked by an octopus, Wayne saves his rival's life at the expense of his own. Massey is exposed, and Milland wins Goddard. Essentially a standard maritime meller, Reap the Wild Wind takes on the veneer of importance thanks to DeMille's epic treatment of the material. Though competition is fierce, Ray Milland steals the show with a truly offbeat characterization (he even gets to indulge in a little ventriloquism!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A really ripping yarn, Reap the Wild Wind may be mindless entertainment, but it is entertainment. Those seeking anything resembling deep thought or an in-depth approach to subject matter should definitely pass Reap by, for it's about nothing other than trying to create something light for the masses. It would be even better if director Cecil B. DeMille had arranged to spread the excitement out a little more evenly. As it is, Reap starts out well, but turns sluggish when it gets into its courtroom theatrics, before revving into high gear for its smash-up finale. The special effects get a lot of credit here, and while they are not going to fool those raised on computer-generated effects, they're still impressive and do their job well. The giant squid, though not really realistic, is still well worth the wait. The Technicolor photography is also a delight, an orgy of oversaturated colors that feels like a paintbox turned upside down. The screenplay is perfunctory at best, but it does provide for the necessary set pieces. Reap is also worth catching to see John Wayne in a not-so-good-guy role (Although he is ultimately heroic) and for Paulette Goddard's interesting "This is what my Scarlett O'Hara would have been like" performance. Ray Milland does well as the third point of the triangle, and Raymond Massey is a doozy of an over-the-top villain. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Hans Dreier - Art Director, William Pine - Associate Producer, Natalie Visart - Costume Designer, Cecil B. DeMille - Director, Anne Bauchens - Editor, Buddy G. DeSylva - Executive Producer, Victor Young - Composer (Music Score), Roland Anderson - Production Designer, Victor Milner - Cinematographer, William Skall - Cinematographer, Cecil B. DeMille - Producer, Farciot Edouart - Special Effects, Gordon Jennings - Special Effects, William L. Pereira - Special Effects, Dewey Wrigley - Special Effects, Louis Mesenkop - Sound/Sound Designer, Jeannie Macpherson - Screenwriter, Alan LeMay - Screenwriter, Jesse Lasky, Jr. - Screenwriter, Charles Bennett - Screenwriter, Thelma Strabel - Book Author
Reap the Wild Wind is a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post. It was the basis for the 1942 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, his second to be filmed in color. The film, released shortly after the United States' entry into World War II, was a swashbuckling adventure set in the 1840s along the Florida coast. It was wildly successful, and proved to be just the ticket to take the minds of the American movie-going public off of the war for two hours.
While he based his film on Strabel's story, DeMille took liberties with details such as sibling relationships and sub-plots, while staying true to the spirit of the story, which centers on a headstrong, independent woman, played by Paulette Goddard.
As the film opens Loxi Claiborne is running a salvage business started by her deceased father. A hurricane is just passing through the Key West area, leaving behind at least one wreck on the nearby shoals. The Jubilee founders and Loxi and other salvagers race to claim the cargo. Not arriving first, Loxi and her crew rescue the captain, Jack Stuart, but do not share in the salvage rights. It appears that the first salvager on the scene, King Cutler, may have actually planned the wreck.
Nursing Jack back to health, Loxi falls in love with him. When she visits Charleston with her cousin Drusilla, Loxi schemes to win a plum captain's position for Jack by seducing Steve Tolliver, who is running the sailing ship line Jack works for. Steve falls for Loxi, and returns with her to Key West.
Drusilla returns home to Havana when Loxi and Steve return to Key West. Steve has come to rid the Keys of pirates like Cutler (and be near Loxi). Cutler in turn arranges to have Steve shanghaied by the crew of a whaler. Loxi hears of the plot and gets Jack to help her save Steve. Later they discover that Steve has Jack's appointment to the steamship The Southern Cross with him. Angry over a seemingly underhanded act, Jack meets with Cutler before sailing to Havana to take command of his new ship.
Rumors circulate and prices of the cargo of the Southern Cross go up and down wildly, leaving Steve to suspect a wreck is planned. He commandeers the Claiborne with Loxi on board and heads to Havana to stop Jack. Loxi disables her ship and they sit becalmed in a fog bank as the Southern Cross piles into a reef and sinks. Unknown to Jack, Drusilla had stowed away to be with her lover, King's brother Dan Cutler, and she is drowned.
Jack is put on trial for wrecking his ship and the testimony reveals a woman may have been on board, though none was rescued. To determine if a woman is in the wreck, Steve agrees to dive to the wreck with Jack. While down in the wreck Jack and Steve discover proof that Drusilla was on board and has been drowned. They are attacked by a giant squid. Jack saves Steve's life, and is lost when the Southern Cross slips off the underwater shelf into deep water.
Loxi seems to get over the loss of her intended husband pretty quickly and winds up in Charleston with Steve.
