The Hurricane

John Ford's 1937 film takes place on a Pacific island under French colonial rule. Terangi, a Polynesian sailor, is sentenced to prison for striking back at a white man who attacked him; the sentence is short but is extended with every escape attempt until it stretches into years. The islanders and the doctor petition the governor for clemency while the governor defends the letter of the law. The film openly criticises a colonial structure that reduces justice to one man's decision, and draws the governor as inflexible rather than malicious. The hurricane in the final section is among the most ambitious effects work of its period, with water, wind and destruction shot on rigs built in the studio, and the film won an Academy Award for sound. Who it's for: viewers who like classic Hollywood adventure and John Ford. Who it's not for: anyone unable to set aside the casting of white actors in most of the Polynesian roles.