10. ‘The Hurricane’ (1937)
![THE HURRICANE, Jon Hall (left), 1937](https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MBDHURR_EC037.jpg?w=300)
One of John Ford’s lesser-known films, ‘The Hurricane’ trades out the American West that the director is synonymous with for the southern Pacific Ocean. With a white cast playing Polynesian characters, the actual plot — about an island native imprisoned for punching a racist white man — is well-intentioned but poorly aged. None of that matters, though, because the reason to see it is mostly confined to the film’s last act, when the hurricane the title promises blows into town and sets everyone in a life-and-death battle against the elements. For an early stab at the disaster genre, the hurricane of the film — created by special effects director James Basevi — has aged remarkably well as a chaotic and frightening event, and represents one of the first times film managed to capture nature’s wrath so well. While you’re at it, fire up the all-time-great score by Nino Rota for Jan Troell’s 1979 remake.