A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Hurricane -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

I always celebrate the arrival of another John Ford film on Blu-ray, and his 1937 tropical blockbuster, The Hurricane is no exception.

While I would have to visit Joseph McBride's fine bio to get the details (and I recommend the book to anyone with an interest in film history), Mr. Ford directed The Hurricane for the Samuel Goldwyn Company, between his stays at Fox, RKO and then his return to Fox.

The final hurricane sequence is classic, and a very expensive piece of sfx for the time.

While I salute Kino Lorber for the release -- the more I see the Goldwyn productions, the more concerned I become for their survival.  While WB has moved budgetary mountains to restore some of the titles to which they hold limited distribution rights, it's unfortunately the tip of the Goldwyn iceberg, with films such as Wuthering Heights, waiting its turn to be saved.

Most of the Goldwyn's are derived from older video masters, and The Hurricane is no exception.

As a Blu-ray, I consider it a bit better than okay.

It has a pleasing gray scale and blacks, but also occasional light scratches, and dirt, which in all honestly, and siding with Kino Lorber on this one, are probably not worth their investment to clean up.

The film needs a total spa treatment from original elements.

Like many films from older elements, it has movement within the frame, possibly both from the transfer of the element, as well of the dupe, and how that dupe was produced.

I wish I could give it a more enthusiastic write-up, but, as I said, Kino is not to blame here.

As a film, with a great cast -- John Hall, Dorothy Lamour, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey et al, it holds up nicely, and is absolutely worth your time.

I sincerely hope someone in the Goldwyn family, which own the other films, but may no longer own this one, sees the proverbial writing on the wall, before it too late.  The Goldwyn library is highly worth saving.

Image - 3.5

 

Audio - 4

4k Up-rez - 4

Pass / Fail - Pass

 

Recommended

 

RAH

As a devoted John Ford fan, I was very pleasantly surprised to see this title receiving an HD release on Blu, and placed my pre-order immediately.

Thanks for the warts'n'all review, and providing us a little behind-the-scenes of the state of Goldwyn titles. I'm particularly interested in William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, so thank you for mentioning that title specifically.

I just watched this on Blu-ray. My first time ever seeing this film. Where has this movie been all my life? I was blown away by it. Why is it basically a forgotten part of the John Ford legacy? It is truly a masterpiece. The hurricane effects at the end of the movie are flawless. Not a single effect of the film ever looked artificial. Seriously, a CGI artist could not have improved the effects. And the icing on the cake is two gorgeous actors (Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour) running around in skimpy outfits for the entire film. This movie has the special effects of Titanic as well as the sensuality of The Blue Lagoon, not to mention a well-crafted script. What more could you want?

I don't see this as a forgotten Ford film--it always played on TV, and as a kid the hurricane sequence was quite frightening, setting the standard for all subsequent disaster epics. It truly looked hazardous for the participants, especially Mary Astor, who apparently put herself at real risk with water and wind.