Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

REAP THE WILD WIND  (1942)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Cecil B. DeMille
    Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, 
    Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward,
    Charles Bickford, Louise Beavers, Martha O'Driscoll
Two-fisted adventure with John Wayne as a 19th-century sea captain who runs afoul of pirates off the Florida Keys. Ray Milland plays a maritime lawyer, Wayne's would-be boss and rival for the hand of feisty Paulette Goddard. Raymond Massey's a scavenging cutthroat who's a lawyer and a pirate both, to which some would say, what's the difference? Dramatically this is a little over the top (it's DeMille), but the color cinematography is striking and the miniature work looks pretty good. Goddard gets to show what she might've done playing Scarlett O'Hara, and the climax has Wayne and Milland in heavy, bulky diving suits battling a giant squid.