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| Reap the Wild Wind | |
|---|---|
 Poster reversing Wayne and Milland's billing | |
| Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Screenplay by | Charles Bennett Jesse Lasky, Jr. Alan Le May Jeanie MacPherson |
| Based on | Reap the Wild Wind byThelma Strabel |
| Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Starring | John Wayne Ray Milland Paulette Goddard Raymond Massey Lynne Overman Robert Preston Susan Hayward Charles Bickford Walter Hampden Martha O'Driscoll Janet Beecher |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner William Skall |
| Edited by | Anne Bauchens |
| Music by | Victor Young |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Paramount Pictures |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4 million (US/ Canada rentals)[1] |
Reap the Wild Wind is a 1942 Americanadventure film produced and directed byCecil B. DeMille and starringRay Milland,John Wayne, andPaulette Goddard, with a supporting cast featuringRaymond Massey,Robert Preston,Lynne Overman,Susan Hayward andCharles Bickford. DeMille's secondTechnicolor production, the film is based on a serialized story written byThelma Strabel in 1940 forThe Saturday Evening Post. The screenplay was written byAlan Le May (author of thenovelThe Searchers),Charles Bennett,Jesse Lasky, Jr. andJeanie MacPherson.
While he based his film on Strabel's story, set in the 1840s along theFlorida coast, DeMille took liberties with details such as sibling relationships and subplots, while staying true to the spirit of the story, which centers on the headstrong, independent woman portrayed by Goddard.
Released shortly after the United States' entry intoWorld War II,Reap the Wild Wind was wildly successful at the box office and earned threeAcademy Award nominations, winning forBest Special Effects.
In 1840, Loxi Claiborne is running amarine salvage business started by her deceased father. Ahurricane is passing through theKey West area, leaving behind at least one wreck on the nearbyshoals. TheJubilee 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. Apparently, 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 visitsCharleston with her cousin Drusilla, Loxi schemes to win a plum captain's position for Jack by seducing Steve Tolliver, who is running thesailing ship line for which Jack works. Steve falls for Loxi and returns with her to Key West to investigate the truth about Jack's shipwreck.
Drusilla goes home toHavana when Loxi and Steve return to Key West. Steve has come to rid theKeys ofpirates like Cutler (and to be near Loxi). Cutler, in turn, arranges to have Steveshanghaied by the crew of awhaler. Loxi hears of the plot and gets Jack to help her save Steve. Later, they discover that Steve has concealed Jack's appointment to thesteamshipSouthern Cross on orders from his superior. Angry over a seemingly underhanded act, Jack meets with Cutler. He learns that Steve's boss has just died and that Steve will be taking over theshipping line. Jack realizes that he is unlikely to keep his command with Steve in charge and agrees to work with Cutler to sabotage his new ship; he sails to Havana to take command.
Rumors circulate and prices of the cargo of theSouthern Cross fluctuate wildly, leaving Steve to suspect a wreck is planned. He commandeers theClaiborne with Loxi on board and heads to Havana to stop Jack. Loxi, believing Jack is innocent, disables her ship, and they sit becalmed in a fog bank as theSouthern Cross piles into areef and sinks. Unknown to Jack, Drusilla had stowed away to be with her lover, King Cutler's brother Dan, and she drowns.
Jack is put on trial for wrecking his ship. 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 todive 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 agiant squid. Jack saves Steve's life, but is lost when theSouthern Cross slips off thecontinental shelf into deep water. Dan Cutler accuses his brother of murder and is shot dead by him, whereupon, Steve shoots King Cutler, killing him.
Loxi and Steve return to Charleston together.
The film is unusual among films starring John Wayne since it is one of relatively few films in which he plays a character with a notable dark side, as well as accepting second billing under Milland. Wayne subsequently starred in a 1948 seafaring adventure titledWake of the Red Witch which had numerous similarities toReap the Wild Wind, including Wayne's portrayal of an even darker character.
This film also marks the final appearance byHedda Hopper as an actress in a significant role. Thegossip columnist would, however, makecameo appearances in subsequent films.
Los Angeles architectWilliam Pereira designed special effects for this film. Pereira, newly arrived from Chicago, had a brief stint as a Hollywood set designer and engineer prior to becoming a professor at theUniversity of Southern California and later co-founding the architecture firm ofPereira & Luckman.
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award[3] | Best Art Direction | Hans Dreier,Roland Anderson,George Sawley | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | Victor Milner,William V. Skall | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects | Farciot Edouart,Gordon Jennings,William Pereira,Louis Mesenkop | Won | |
| Film Daily Filmdom's Famous Five Award[4] | Top Five Directors | Cecil B. DeMille | 3rd place |
| Top Five Cameramen | Victor Milner | 3rd place |
