The Hurricane [Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour] Summary 'Great Movie' Review I love this movie, I love this movie. It was packed well and I would buy from this seller again. They just don't make movies like this anymore and would be a great addition to any collection. I had not seen this movie since I was a child and thanks to amazon I can watch it again and again | |
Hurricane (1937) Summary 'The Hurricane Review' Review I was delightfully surprised upon viewing this film for the first time. I had never heard of it, and took a chance because the price was right and I had other Dorothy Lamour films. I believe this to be either her best or second best next to My Favorite Brunette (with Bob Hope). I couldn't believe that this film isn't better known. It's got a great story line, interesting characters, and is superbly directed by Ford. Dorothy Lamour is young and looks great (1937). The special effects are great and don't have a "staged" feel or look to them. I've seen more modern films with worse special effects. They did a terrific job putting this film together and making it look as realistic as it does, especially for 1937. I have a feeling White Cargo (1942) starring Hedy Lamarr which was released a few years after The Hurricane was influenced by this film. Not all of it, but certain parts of the films are similar. Hedy's character in White Cargo and Dorothy's character in The Hurricane are complete opposites, nothing alike. But both have a well-meaning, heavy-drinking doctor as well as a "by the rules" guy in charge, as well as some other plot aspects. I must give The Hurricane a very strong recommendation. Very entertaining from beginning to end. You won't regret giving this a viewing! | |
| Wagon Master Summary 'The Hurricane.... entertaining force of nature' Review THE HURRICANE (1937) directed by John Ford. This is an excellent movie that I highly recommend. While it is mentioned now and again as a really good movie, It's not often mentioned as a great "John Ford movie". It's said that John Ford campaigned to get the directing gig that had been promised to Howard Hawks. It ended up with Ford and what an excellent job of it he did! Dorothy Lamour is given top billing over such great 30s actors such as Mary Astor, Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith, and Thomas Mitchell. In my opinion deservedly so. This is Lamours tour de force from beginning to end. Dorothy Lamour as the Island Girl is the sexiest thing on two legs in this film. Jon Hall is her true love. Massey is the overbearing governor of the island and Astor as his wife. Mitchell is great as the hard drinking Island doctor trying to get Massey to lighten up. Aubrey Smith is the priest of the island who also sympathizes with the Islanders and tries to defuse Masseys hard line approach to governing. This movie is full of action, amazing effects that still hold up. The story is a simple one, and so much the better as it's more about the characters and the Hurricane anyways. Lamour and Hall are the island lovers, separated when Hall is unjustly imprisoned. Carradine makes a deliciously evil prison guard gleefully making Halls life miserable. The looming Hurricane however, makes no distinctions between good and bad. It simply devastates. This movie also has some of the sexiest scenes and one of THE best kisses in classic movies hands down. Check out the wedding scene at the beginning. We are given examples of the "traditional" wedding and then BAM, Island style! There is so much heart in this film. It's got amazing chemistry between the leads. Hall is also quite exceptional as the "free spirit" first mate who just cannot be caged. Its got endless energy and exuberance. The finale of course is The Hurricane itself and it does not disappoint. Unbelievably filmed on a studio back lot. I knew this before watching it, but still didn't believe it, its that good. The opening, when Mitchell is on a ship, looking at the island as he passes by and tells a curious passenger "the tale" is a wonderful opening to a great story. I've always been a fan of films that start with a peripheral or main character looking back and "telling the story". One great example of this type of storytelling device is the fantastic Greer Garson/Walter Pidgeon film "MRS PARKINGTON" (also highly recommended). Ford puts it to great use in this film. It also has a great score and is visually very easy on the eyes. Lamour is beautiful, sexy, playful, poignant. She does it all in this and mostly with her eyes alone. As much as I enjoyed all of her appearances in the Road Pictures with Hope and Crosby, I think they could have done a lot more with her based on this performance. She even makes Astor seem tepid by comparison, no easy trick! An extremely enjoyable film that I can't praise highly enough. | |
| Prince of Thieves Summary 'Classic' Review Beautiful period film. A wonderful addition to the collection of anyone interested in classic Hollywood productions of the 1930's. | |
| Hurricane Summary 'An oldie, but goodie' Review A tip-off to the age of this film is its lack of confusion with the more recent "Hurricane," which portrays the life of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Of a different genre, this hurricane epic might be compared with the likes of "Deep Impact" or "The Perfect Storm." It is that riveting. The story centers around a Pacific islander named Terangi (Jon Hall) who is incarcerated on Tahiti for a minor offense in an atmosphere of colonial racism. Terangi's plight is worsened as he keeps trying to escape and gets socked with more prison time. His home island governor, De Laage played by Raymond Massey, is an unbending martinet who wants to make an example of Terangi. His efforts are in vain, for the islanders revere Terangi and shelter him when he makes good his escape after eight long years in prison. Meanwhile, Terangi's wife Marama (Dorothy Lamour) has given birth to a daughter whom Terangi has never seen. Just as they finally reunite, the mother of all storms kicks up and they have to use all their wits to survive. The storm (typhoon) is loud and frighteningly realistic. Monster waves obliterate the island and all life still on it. Fortunately for De Laage's wife Germaine (Mary Astor), Terangi takes her with his family and saves her life too. When De Laage returns to her after riding out the storm at a distance, he is a changed man and buries his grudge against Terangi. A great story of love, injustice, and redemption. Rev. Dennis J. Mercieri | |
| San Francisco Summary 'Spawn of the North' Review Great movie and excellent viewing. If your looking for a prestine copy of Spawn, this is it, but disappointed that there is no menu selection. | |
| Spawn of the North (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'Four Great Stars in a Five Star Film' Review SPAWN OF THE NORTH is one of the most underrated films from the late 1930's although at the time it was a big hit and won Academy Awards for it's excellent special effects (so impressive they were lifted in put in later films). The movie stars Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, George Raft, and John Barrymore and is set in Alaska. Dorothy Lamour has one of the best dramatic roles of her career as the cannery girl torn between Raft and Fonda and Barrymore is excellent in one of his best "character" parts as a drunken newspaperman but the emphasis is on action. The fairly recent movie THE PERFECT STORM seems to have been a little inspired by this classic. This movie is a must for those who love big-budget "big" movies with top production values. | |
| The House of the Seven Gables (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'LAMOUR, FONDA AND BARRYMORE' Review In the thirties, all-star action melodramas didn't come much better than SPAWN OF THE NORTH, an eventful yarn of the war between Russian and American salmon-fishing fleets along the Alaskan coast. It was a winner for Paramount, which made several such big-scale mass entertainments in a period when other companies were scooping up all the Oscars and critics' awards. Even some of the reviewers enthused about the rugged vigour of Henry Hathaway's direction of this Barrett Willoughby story, scripted by Jules Furthman and Talbot Jennings. Performances pleased, too: Henry Fonda as the stalwart skipper, Dorothy Lamour as the gal who stands by him, defying the world, the flesh and the devil; George Raft as Fonda's pal (who goes over to the bad guys but thinks better of it). The great John Barrymore is great fun as a grizzled, guzzling newspaperman and Akim Tamiroff is good as the Russian heavy. Charles Lang's photography (the exteriors shot mostly in Alaska) was magnificent. | |
| Ruggles of Red Gap (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'Excellent historical drama of trap fishing in Alaska' Review I enjoyed the authentic depiction of the challenges and dangers of fishing in Alaska in the thirties and earlier using fish traps. Some of the footage was on site and spectacular! | |
| Death Takes a Holiday (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'Old Memories' Review Henry Fonda, John Barrymore, George Raft and Dorothy Lamour lead an all-star cast in the sprawling epic Spawn of the North. This wild-eyed "western of the North" is the tale of one man's transformation from fisherman to vigilante, forced by honor to stand alone against Russian pirates. It was the early 1900's, and Alaska was proving itself to be the last of the American frontiers. Men and women of all backgrounds raced to make a better life for themselves in this virgin territory, while others strove to rob its riches and claim its beauty as their own. Jim Kimmerlee (Fonda) just wanted to make an honest living off of the rich Alaskan salmon fisheries. He was about to find out, however, that whether in friendship, love or war, frontiers are neither easily forged nor soon forgotten. This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. This disc is expected to play back in DVD Video \"play only\" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives. | |
| Dragnet (1954) (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'It's BOB HOPE... what MORE do you NEED to know?' Review I am a Bob Hope fan so I think everything hes in is great.These are very old clips and happy to say way before my time.Bet you Can't watch it without a smile on your face. | |
| The List of Adrian Messenger (Amazon.com Exclusive) Summary 'bobfan' Review The Primer to BOB HOPE Movies: 1930s' films.............***** 1940s' films.............***** 1950s' films.............***** Early 1960s'..............**** Latter Films...............*** All the ROAD Pictures are worth the money, except "THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE"... but STILL better than ISHTAR! The BOB HOPE USO SHOWs are butchered due to the copyrighted songs. | |
| Bob Hope: 100th Anniversary Collection Summary 'NOT HURRICANE BUT INTERESTING' Review This collection is worth the purchase price if you do not already own "Road to Bali". Bob fans will also find value in the segments from 50's TV shows in which Bob guest starred on the Jack Benny show and on the Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra show. There is also a segment in which Bob guest stars on the Bobby Darin show. Other material includes segments recorded (in a studio) in front of serving military personnel from the 40's and 50's of sketches, dancing and singing from Bob and his guests. The sketches are lampoons of military life and are great vehicles for Bob's wit and physical timing. Unfortunately much of the material in this collection is of "less than perfect" video and audio reproduction with little effort in cleaning up the original source sound and vision evident. | |
| On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia) Summary 'Completely in the dark' Review May 29, 2003, is an important date in American comedy as it marks the 100th birthday of Bob Hope. | |
| Best of Jack Benny Summary 'Lamour is beautiful but the copy stinks!' Review ,,,,,This movie is interesting because it introduced Dorothy Lamour to movie audiences and along with Hurricane and the Road pictures typecast her forever in a sarong. Lamour was an unknown when she was cast in the lead role because of her waist lenth brunette hair and her exotic beauty. It also marked the first major role for Ray Milland who screen tested with Lamour for the part and got the role when she suggested him. Milland was always grateful to Lamour and said in later years that she was responsible for saving his career. In his book, "Wide Eyed in Babylon", Milland wrote of Lamour, "a simpler nicer person does not exist". .....The plot of a girl raised alone in the jungle with a pet tiger is far fetched by modern standards but this was in an era when Tarzan movies were popular. The dvd print is sharp but somewhat dark in some scenes with little shading between black and white. I deducted one star for dvd quality. The movie is good escapist adventure with a feel good ending and a must have for fans of Dorothy Lamour. | |
| Bob Hope - Laughing With the Presidents Summary 'Star of Stage, Screen and Radio' Review I live in the U.K. so to acquire this film I had to send for a copy from the USA. This cost me $32.24 here in the U.K. that's £19.83. A lot of money for a single DVD. Upon arrival, very quick I must say, I played the disc and was very disappointed. There is hardly any definition, sometimes when Dorothy Lamour smiled she looked like a ghoul, just her eyes and teeth showing. If you want a copy of this film I would suggest looking to see if Paramount ever issued it on VHS. Which it what I shall be doing after typing this review!! | |
| The Ultimate Bob Hope Collection Summary 'They Got Us Laughing' Review This is a black&white movie. An I literally mean BLACK and WHITE. No other definition is visible. Nevertheless the original movie itself is good and Lamour is beautiful even without any gray-scales. But, it is as bad as any copy possibly could be. An old overused 8 mm would be more enoyable watching than this one. Not recommended.Looking for a better copy. | |
| Bob Hope - The Vietnam Years (1964-1972) Summary 'A Collector's Must Have' Review THE JUNGLE PRINCESS stars Dorothy Lamour, Ray Milland, Akim Tamiroff, Lynne Overman and Molly Lamont. Christopher Powell (Ray Milland) is in Malaysia with his fiancee and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting, he is attacked by a tiger and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah (Dorothy Lamour), a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. The movie was made in 1936, is in B&W and runs 83 minutes. | |
| THE JUNGLE PRINCESS - DVD - Dorothy Lamour, Ray Milland Summary 'Lovely Slice of the 1940's' Review I suppose the enormous reputation and popularity which Bob Hope achieved with the American people has already faded and will continue to do so. Thus it is with most "Icons" who have not established a cult identity. Nonetheless, for about a half-century, no entertainer was "bigger" than Hope over-all, although the occasional challenger, a Jackie Gleason or Marily Monroe, might share that eminence. This is not among the best of his films, but it is characteristic of how well he sells his wares. Brash, highly verbal, adaptable to physical comedy, good-looking enough to make it credible that he should get the girl, but, with a face that doesn't meet the Robert Taylor-Tyrone Power standard of male beauty....by a long shot. The script for his mystery-thriller-adventure films is followed in this relatively early one (World War 2 period) as does the expression of some of his central characteristics as a comedian, aggressive women chasing, bumbling, defeated, victorious, almost by accident, cowardly but brave when he has to be. It was a winning combination in all his media of choice. His co-star, as often was the case, was the lovely, talented Dorothy Lamour, one of his co-partners on the highly successful Road pictures; they were supported by an assortment of character actors, led by Otto Preminger, soon to become a leading director of films, amd Eduardo Cianelli, an actor of great skill (see his superb performance in the mid-thirties production of Winterset) who made his living for many years as a tough gangster,although he did a fine job,many years later,as Sophia Loren's father,in the Cary Grant comedy.Houseboat. So, not a first rate comedy, but quite a good one, pretty sure to give you an hour and a half of pleasure. | |
| The Thing from Another World Summary 'SIMPLY GREAT !' Review THEY GOT ME COVERED is a great wartime Bob Hope movie. Produced by RKO and released by MGM, THEY GOT ME COVERED successfully teams Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope in a Second World War spy romp. Hope plays a disgraced reporter who is looking for a big story to make amends for his failure to take notice of the German invasion of Russia. Escorted out of the company's New York bureau, he enlists Lamour in the Washington D.C. office to assist him investigate a tip about Axis sabotage plans. Hope is drawn further into the investigation than he plans and continuously calls on Lamour and her friends to bail him out. Hope ultimately succeeds in foiling the spies and regains his reputation. Until I recently ordered this movie it had been several decades since I last saw this film on television. Previously this movie was only available as part of a Bob Hope box set. Had it not been for the fact that I already owned several of the movies in the set I would have purchased it. I was happy to stumble on a stand-alone copy of the movie. I am also a big fan of the Hope and Crosby ROAD pictures. After watching THEY GOT ME COVERED and MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE I quickly realized that the real comic talent in the films of that decade was Bob Hope. It is no wonder that for a while he was one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. THEY GOT ME COVERED is a product of its era. Expect the usual stereo-typical villainous German, Italian and Japanese spies. No one back then could have anticipated the longevity of comedy films and political correctness had not yet been coined. Buy the DVD, watch the film and laugh. | |