Maître après le diable

For once it was not Edward Ludwig nor Lewis R Foster who made this film totally in their usual lines, but Jerry Hopper, who also worked for Paramount: SECRET OF THE INCAS, BLUEPRINT FOR A ROBBERY. And instead of Arlene Dahl or Rhonda Fleming, also usually cast for this kind of topics, you have Yvonne De Carlo, the queen of adventures films for the fifties, but rather for Universal Pictures. It is quite good, even more than this, pleasant, exciting to watch plenty of action, exotic atmosphere, the perfect way for the audience to escape from daily boredom. We won't see this kind of films anymore, and it's not Johnny Depp and his blockbuster PIRATE....movie series that will erase those golden little gems.

The early 1950's was a good time for Technicolour, basic plots in the adventure and musical genre, and this kind of crowd pleasing cinema must have been a breath of fresh air after the dull greys and black and white that had predominated in the previous decades of film. ' Hurricane Smith ' is an excellent example, with an attractive cast, good production values and a story that is enjoyable to follow, concerning pirates, deserted islands and a shark fight. No spoilers but the beautiful Yvonne de Carlo and the sexy John Ireland steal every shot they are in, and of course they go for each other, and the audience must have enjoyed Yvonne de Carlo dancing and singing on a captured ship's deck. Jerry Hooper, a director I know nothing about directed well, and the camera work catches every exciting piece of action and romance perfectly. The dialogue is just above average, but then no one would have been watching for profound observations on the meaning of life. I wondered what made Yvonne de Carlo so exceptional; we have to wait for her to appear in the great actor of the times tradition, and when she appears, and in my opinion, knows she is on a film set and knows that this is not ' reality ' but pure and simple entertainment. A definite 9.

Yvonne DeCarlo is top billed in this tale of the South Seas, but the title role of Hurricane Smith is played by John Ireland who is a pirate who when we first meet him is temporarily beached on an island thereof with his two companions Forrest Tucker and Richard Arlen.

Not to fear because slave trader Emile Meyer has anchored looking for natives to catch and sell. So while Meyer is on the hunt our intrepid trio steal his ship.

Ireland has a pirate treasure buried on one of these tropical islands and he along with Meyer and phony scientist James Craig with south sea princess DeCarlo in tow are all searching for it. One guess as to winds up with it.

Some nice color cinematography from that first master of color movies Ray Rennahan is a hallmark of Hurricane Smith.

The other is a cast where just about everyone has essayed some kind of screen villainy more than once in their roles. Makes for interesting viewing in terms of identifying the good and bad guys.

Hurricane Smith is an enjoyable potboiler that won't tax the gray cells too hard.

Aside from Yvonne De Carlo's raunchy Polynesian dance, the most eyecatching feature of this garrulous Paramount potboiler is the motionless eggshell blue backdrop representing the sky that looks on impassively throughout the histrionics above deck.

"Hurricane Smith" is a typical sort of pirates adventure with the classic group against group fight for a buried treasure in an island. Director Jerry Hopper can't count in his credits a good or memorable film and shorlty after this one he turned to television where he seemed to find his right place (he directed episodes of the most remarkable series of the 60's). But big screen adventures where perhaps too much for him.

"Hurricane Smith" is colourful and fast moving -which is good- but such a standard plot needed a more intense and daring direction (the final confrontation between the good and the bad guys in the island is definitely common and lacks strength and impact.

The cast fills the level of the film in general. Ivonne de Carlo is acceptable as Luana and she had an interesting screen presence. It is also amusing to have in the supporting cast such mean regulars as Lyle Bettger and Henry Brandon. On the other hand, John Ireland in the title role doesn't seem a good choice and he hurts the product. Ireland didn't quite make it to stardom because of a sort of common and not too charismatic personality; in fact, he will probably be remembered mostly for his supporting performances in some big budgets as "Spartacus" or "55 Days in Peking" or second villains such as the hoodlum in "Party Girl" or the gunfighter in John Sturges western "Gunfight at OK Corral". But my feeling is that he could not sustain a film as a the lead performer; a more vivacious and sympathetic actor as Hurricane Smith would probably have raised this film a bit (Stewart Granger, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis or some other back then).

"Hurricane Smith" stands as a just average product in its genre; no more than a 5 out of 10 to me.