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Reap the Wild Wind

Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind.jpg
DVD cover with cast out of order
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Written by Thelma Strabel (book)
Screenplay by Charles Bennett
Jesse Lasky, Jr.
Alan Le May
Jeanie Macpherson
Based on Reap the Wild Wind (1941 novel)
Starring Ray Milland
John Wayne
Paulette Goddard
Robert Preston
Susan Hayward
Charles Bickford
Music by Victor Young
Cinematography Victor Milner
William Skall
Edited by Anne Bauchens
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • March 18, 1942 (1942-03-18)
Running time
123 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $4 million (US/ Canada rentals)

Reap the Wild Wind is a 1942 film starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, and Susan Hayward, and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, his second picture to be filmed in color. It is based on a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post. The movie, released shortly after the United States' entry into World War II, was a swashbuckling adventure set in the 1840s along the Florida coast, and was wildly successful.

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 portrayed by Paulette Goddard.

As the film opens, Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard) is running a marine salvage business started by her deceased father. A hurricane is 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 (John Wayne), but do not share in the salvage rights. It appears that the first salvor on the scene, King Cutler (Raymond Massey), 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 (Susan Hayward), Loxi schemes to win a plum Captain's position for Jack by seducing Steve Tolliver (Ray Milland), who is running the sailing ship line Jack works for. Steve falls for Loxi and returns with her to Key West to investigate the truth about Jack's shipwreck.


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