Typhoon *** (1940, Dorothy Lamour, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, J Carrol Naish, Frank Reicher, Jack Carson) – Classic Movie Review 6993

The admirable Dorothy Lamour stars again in director Louis King’s jolly, carefully contrived 1940 film vehicle for her as Dea, a beautiful island girl, cast away on the island from when she was a child, discovered and saved by a couple of sailors (Robert Preston and Lynne Overman) searching for black pearls and marooned on the island when their crew mutinies.

Typhoon is soppy but happy, and good fun. Besides the headline twin attractions of Lamour and the typhoon, there is also a forest fire, a chimpanzee and William C Mellor’s Technicolor cinematography vying for attention as the main pluses.

Valuable members of the Paramount Pictures repertory company, Overman and J Carrol Naish, play Skipper Joe and Mekaike and go into overdrive – wisely perhaps – with the comedy and the villainy.

Also in the cast are Frank Reicher, Jack Carson, Chief Thundercloud, John Rogers, Paul Harvey, Norma Gene Nelson, Paul Singh, Angelo Cruz and Al Kikume.

Paramount Pictures were determined to undersell it: ‘ITS FURY SCREAMS ACROSS THE SCREEN…! Roaring out of the South Seas…smashing everything before it with the fury of its passion!’

Typhoon is directed by Louis King, runs 70 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Allen Rivkin, based on a story by Steve Fisher, is shot in Technicolor by William C Mellor, is produced by Anthony Veiller, is scored by Frederick Hollander, and is designed by Hans Dreier and John Goodman.

It was shot at Baldwin Dry Lake, San Bernardino National Forest, California.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6993

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