Hurricane Smith (1952)South Sea freebooters fight for hidden treasure and the love of the beautiful Luana. Director:Jerry Hopper |
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Hurricane Smith (1952)South Sea freebooters fight for hidden treasure and the love of the beautiful Luana. Director:Jerry Hopper |
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Complete credited cast: | |||
Yvonne De Carlo | ... |
Luana Whitmore
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John Ireland | ... | ||
James Craig | ... |
Gorvahlsen
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Forrest Tucker | ... | ||
Lyle Bettger | ... |
Clobb
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Richard Arlen | ... |
Brundage
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Mike Kellin | ... |
Dicer
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Murray Matheson | ... |
Dr. Whitmore
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Henry Brandon | ... |
Sam
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Emile Meyer | ... |
Capt. Raikes
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Stuart Randall | ... |
Matt Ward
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Ralph Dumke | ... |
Ben Hawkins
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Kim Spalding | ... |
Brown
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Hurricane Smith and his marooned sailors escape from a South Seas island by stealing the ship of Capt. Raikes who's come to the island in search of slaves. Smith sails the ship to Australia where he charters it to Harry Gorvahlsen and Dr. Whitmore who claim to be studying flora and fauna. To fill out his crew, Smith "shanghais" Capt. Raikes who, by this time, has also made his way to Australia. During the course of the voyage, it becomes clear that Gorvahlsen and Whitmore are actually in search of a cache of gold that's been hidden on a South Seas island. Smith also seeks this gold, which he considers his own, as does Capt. Raikes. Complicating this 3-way rivalry is a growing shipboard romance between Smith and Dr. Whitmore's beautiful daughter, Luana. Events reach a violent climax when the treasure-island is finally reached. Written by dinky-4 - Minneapolis
Fans of buried-treasure stories and those who have a fondness for 19th-century ships in full-sail will find ample diversion in this modest but entertaining movie from 1952. While too much effort is devoted to shipboard rivalries, (obviously staged on studio sets), there are points of interest en route such as John Ireland battling a shark, Yvonne de Carlo doing a hootchy-kootchy dance, and Lyle Bettger getting ten lashes across his bare back. (This flogging ranks 54th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.") While Ireland spends much of his time bare-chested, he simply lacks "hunk" status and one can't help but wonder how much better "Hurricane Smith" might have been with Jeff Chandler or Fernando Lamas as its leading man. Even a bit-past-his-prime John Payne would have been an improvement since his shaved-and-oiled chest always looked great in Technicolor.