This memorable Cecil B. DeMille high seas epic sports a topnotch cast and glorious Technicolor photography, not to mention a giant red squid. Set in the 1840s, when tall ships were being replaced by steam engines, the film opens as Goddard, a tough and independent salvage-schooner owner,
ventures her ship into a hurricane to save Wayne, whose ship has been wrecked on the shoals of Key West, Florida. When Goddard gets near his crippled vessel, she finds the exhausted Wayne lashed to the mast and Massey, her vicious competitor in the salvage business, already on the scene. Massey
and his younger brother, Preston, have such an uncanny knack for reaching wrecks first that some suspect them of being in cahoots with dishonest captains. Since Massey and his crew have dibs on the sinking ship, Goddard tends to the weakened Wayne and nurses him back to health. During his
convalescence, the two begin to fall in love. Wayne frets that the loss of this ship will cost him the helm of his company's new steamship, but Goddard promises to travel to the company headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina, and convince the investigators that pirates were responsible for the
wreck. In Charleston, Goddard meets with the company lawyer (Milland), who, though he has Wayne's approved commission papers, is ordered to go to Florida and confirm the story before handing them over.
Learning of Milland's arrival, Massey recognizes the threat to his shady operation and tries to shanghai both Milland and Wayne, intending to toss them on a whaling boat that won't see shore for three years. The two men fight off Massey's goons, and during the violent struggle Wayne's commission
papers fall out of Milland's pocket, leading Wayne to believe that the lawyer is trying to sabotage his career and steal the affections of Goddard. Angry and hurt, Wayne, now commissioned, makes a deal with Massey to wreck the new steamboat, but before that can happen, the ship strikes rocks in a
dense fog and sinks. Wayne is brought up on charges, and at his trial it is revealed that Hayward, Preston's young girl friend, had stowed away on the steamboat and was drowned. Before murder is added to the list of charges against Wayne, the court adjourns to the wreck site and waits while Wayne
and Milland go down in diving suits to look for evidence that the missing girl was indeed on board. They find a scarf, but before the men return to the surface, a giant squid attacks, strangling him. Faced with a moral dilemma (since letting Milland die would solve all his problems), Wayne nobly
cuts the creature's tentacles and frees his rival, only to be caught in the squid's grip himself, and he dies. Milland returns to the surface and reports Wayne's brave deed. When he produces the scarf, grief-stricken Preston accuses his brother of piracy. Massey shoots Preston, then is himself
killed by Milland. Goddard comforts the dying Preston. It is obvious that she and Milland will never forget the bravery of Wayne.
REAP THE WILD WIND was given a typically lavish production by DeMille, with a budget of $2 million--$12,000 of which was spent to construct the bright red mechanical squid, made of rubber and manipulated with a complex series of hydraulic pistons and steel cables that allowed the creature's
tentacles to be moved in any position. The squid scene was the popular highlight of the movie. (Six years later Wayne would do battle with another rubber sea monster, an octopus, in Republic Studio's WAKE OF THE RED WITCH, which bears a remarkable resemblance to REAP THE WILD WIND--the big
difference being that Wayne survives his battle with the tentacled monster in the 1948 film.) A big hit at the box office, REAP THE WILD WIND garnered Academy Award nominations for art/set direction and cinematography, and was awarded an Oscar for special effects. The film gave Wayne a last boost
on his way to full-fledged stardom, and also helped Susan Hayward's career considerably. When the film was re-released in 1954, the poster art and billing were changed to capitalize on the superstar status of both Wayne and Hayward, who by then had surpassed Milland and Goddard in popularity. leave a comment
