Jezebel was Bette Davis's consolation prize for losing the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes. Considering the sacrifice that the title character makes in this film, it is fitting and proper that Davis got this role because she could have had Scarlett, but she wouldn't make Gone With the Wind if it included Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler.

Julie Marsden is as willful and and spiteful a southern belle as Scarlett O'Hara ever could be. But Scarlett would never deliberately violate the code the way Julie does and wear that red dress to a cotillion. Just simply not done in the best families.

Bette Davis is Julie and while she's going to be married to the very proper Henry Fonda, she likes the idea that she can still turn the head of every young blade in New Orleans. Especially George Brent's head as the dashing Buck Cantrell.

When Fonda doesn't jump at her beck and call he prefers doing business to catering to her whims she decides on a daring move. This is a woman who cannot stand not being the center of attention. She wears a red dress to a cotillion when polite society dictates that all the unmarried young ladies wear white. When she does, New Orleans society shuns her as effectively as the Amish can and Davis retreats to her plantation upriver.

Fonda goes north and returns after a while to New Orleans with Margaret Lindsay who he is now married to. An insult our southern belle won't put up with. Davis sets in motion a string of events that results in a lot of tragedy.

I have to say that just a description of the plot seems a bit ridiculous at times, but Bette Davis does make this whole thing quite believable. She won her second Oscar for Best Actress in this film and as her aunt who occasionally gives her a reality check every now and then Fay Bainter was named Best Supporting Actress of 1938.

Fonda and Brent are fine in their parts, but they are in support of Bette Davis in a Bette Davis film. Another performance I liked is that of Donald Crisp as the doctor who fights a lot of prejudice and ignorance in New Orleans in trying to deal with yellow fever.

Looming over all of the film is the knowledge we have that this society will come crashing down in another eight years or so in events so well told in Gone With the Wind. This film should be seen back to back with Gone With the Wind as a view of southern society.

This was Bette Davis's first film with director William Wyler who she admired above all other directors. Davis was not generous with praise for colleagues so any kind words towards one are really something. Apparently Wyler did have the magic touch in handling Bette.

Jezebel is one of Bette Davis's finest films, maybe not the finest, but definitely right up there. Unlike Davis's first Oscar for Dangerous which she said was a consolation for not winning for Of Human Bondage, this one she was proud of. And we're proud of it too.


Bette Davis is at her best in this 1800s Southern melodrama in which her attempts to snag a married ex-love (Henry Fonda) end in tragedy. Storywise this is nothing new, and there are way too many scenes were people talk endlessly about Southern manners. Also seeing all the black slaves so happy and singing is a bit hard to take. But the direction by William Wyler is excellent. He directs in a way that makes you part of the action (especially in the ball sequence and a duel at the end). Best of all is Davis. Her performance is superb--when she's on screen you can't take your eyes off her. She won a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for this. Also Fay Bainter is excellent as her long-suffering aunt--she won Best Supporting Actress. All the acting is good except for Henry Fonda--he's so stiff and dull--what does Davis want with him? One last complaint--it's not in color. I know there are two reasons for this: 1) the expense and 2) they did tests and Davis looked horrible in color (think about it--how many color movies did she make?). Still, the non-stop compliments about the red dress at the beginning are annoying--the dress looks black! Still, this is worth seeing for Davis, Bainter and the direction.


Bette Davis dominates the whole movie with a mesmerizing performance,which earned her a second Oscar. As the love of her life we find a young and handsome Henry Fonda.Davis,who sometimes overacted gloriously, is kept more subdued by master director William Wyler. Her performance is the better for it.George Brent,playing the other male lead, has rarely been better.As the southerner unable to change his obsolete ways,he's a marvel.The musical score by Max Steiner is one of his best and adds to the brilliant depiction of a bygone era. Depiction of African-Americans in movies from this era are often very racist, but I found some scenes were they were portrayed more sympathetic than in other movies of the thirties. Jezebel is one of the best movies I have seen with Bette Davis.


Up until the last few minutes of this film, this was a truly wonderful film. Bette Davis does an exceptional job playing an extremely manipulative woman who repeatedly overplays her hand. At the beginning of the film she is engaged to nice-guy Henry Fonda. But, time and again, she picks fights with him and tries to dominate him until he eventually tires of this and leaves her. A year later, Fonda returns and Davis is ready to apologize and pick up where they had left off--only to find out that Fonda is now married. True to her manipulative nature, she then schemes to have Fonda and the hot-headed gentleman, George Brent, get into an argument. What she didn't anticipate was that after Fonda was called away, that Brent would continue this argument with Fonda's wife until eventually Fonda's younger brother challenges Brent to a duel. Soon afterwards, Brent is dead and Davis sees that her scheming has gotten way out of hand. She loved manipulating others and making them miserable, but this death really shook her. So, a short time later when Fonda is stricken with Yellow Fever, she tries to redeem herself by volunteering to follow him into quarantine to nurse him back to health--at which time the movie ends.

So after that summary, let's talk about the good and bad of the movie. As for the good, there's so much to like about the film. The performances are wonderful--Davis received the Oscar for Best Actress and was THE standout performer in the film. Fonda and Brent give excellent support and are not overshadowed by Davis. Even the supporting actors are excellent, though I really did not think that Fay Bainter (playing Davis' aunt) deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (though she got it), as her role was pretty small and not particularly transcendent. I really think they gave it to her because of the overall movie, not her individual performance.

Also, a major plus to this movie was the incredible cinematography. This is simply the most beautiful black and white film I have seen and it's obvious the cameraman and director (Wyler) were tops in their fields. It's really amazing how despite being filmed in a sound stage, the film looked so good.

As for the bad, and this kept the movie from receiving a 10, it was the stupid conclusion to the film. Throughout the entire film, Davis played a self-centered manipulator. But, after seeing her plans go out of control, she repents and is willing to give her life to save Fonda!? This just isn't in character at all and seems like a "Hollywood" ending. I really wanted a more thought-out ending--maybe where she did go with Fonda into quarantine but only to try to win him back or perhaps him dying and her going about her merry way while hardly skipping a beat. THAT would have been more in character.

One other note: You will no doubt notice that this movie gives a VERY idealized view of slavery. The slaves seem universally happy and well-treated. For the sake of reality, I kind of wish they'd showed less of Bette hobnobbing with the slaves (something a society woman NEVER would have done in the Old South) and maybe ordering some of them to be whipped!


Such a wonderful film, with Davis giving perhaps her best performance on screen. No chain smoking or chewing the scenery here. She plays her character of Julie, aka Jezebel with a quite reserve, showing that still waters do run deep. William Wyler makes the most of his cast with all delivering (except for Press' wife) believable, touching performances. Fay Bainter is exceptional here and rightfully took home the Oscar for her performance along with Davis. It's unfortunate that this was not filmed in Technicolor. I would loved to have seen this in rich, saturated color. In many ways, I find this much more enjoyable than GWTW. The old South and it's "strange ways" never once strikes an odd chord. The last scene is very strong and touching with Julie pleading to "Make me clean like you." The somber music returns and you hear the cannon fire and you see Julie cradling Press' head as they head toward the leper island, no fear in her eyes. You have no doubt she'll persevere.


In 1852, in New Orleans, the southern Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is an impulsive and spoiled young woman from the society of Louisiana. Her fiancée is the successful young banker Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda), who is climbing in his career with his dedication and work. When Preston stays in a meeting in the bank instead of with Julie, she wears a red dress against Preston will in a traditional ball where the upper class ladies white to get even, shocking the local society with her attitude. The mortified Preston calls their engagement off and moves to the branch of the bank in New York. When Preston returns to New Orleans one year later, Julie believes that he misses her and organizes a dinner party to welcome him and ask for his forgiveness. However, Preston is married with the New Yorker Amy (Margaret Lindsay) and the surprised Julie does not accept his marriage and decides to fight for him. The vindictive Julie uses the rivalry and hostility between North and South to make Amy uncomfortable and the situation provokes a fatal duel between her former boyfriend Buck Cantrell (George Brent) and his friend Ted (Richard Cromwell). Meanwhile Preston is contaminated in New Orleans by the Yellow Jack and Julie disputes with Amy the right to nurse him in an isolation island with lepers.

"Jezebel" is another great movie of Bette Davis and William Wyler based on the southern lifestyle a couple of years before the American Civil War. Bette Davis character is a controlling, independent and spoiled young woman and when she finds out that her former fiancé is married, she tells her aunt that she would fight for him despite being married and her aunt compares Julie with Jezebel. The Biblical name Jezebel is the synonym of a promiscuous, wicked and manipulative woman. The story also focuses the outbreak that happened in 1853 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where thousands of residents died. The comparison with "Gone with the Wind" is inevitable since Julie Marsden and Scarlett O'Hara characters have many characteristics in common. Bette Davis deserved the Oscar of Best Actress in a Leading Role My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Jezebel"


William Wyler directs this first rate costume drama and Ms. Bette Davis picks up her second Academy Award playing an Antebellum Dixie vixen that goes a little too far to make her fiance(Henry Fonda)jealous. Fonda returns to New Orleans from New York with a lovely wife(Margret Lindsay)only to put Davis in a jealous rage and desperate for revenge. A superb cast that also features Donald Crisp, George Brent and Fay Bainter. Ms. Davis is vibrant in one of her best roles.


Actually, I believe that "Jezebel" is a very different film "animal" from "Gone with the Wind". GWTW is a mega-epic, with the whole Civil War and Reconstruction period as backdrops. "Jezebel", on the other hand, plays out over a much shorter period of time, historically. I'm not even a big Bette Davis fan, but I'll say that if "Jezebel" doesn't convert you, you can't be impressed. All of the performances are excellently crafted and satisfyingly deep, as would be expected from a stage play taken to the big screen. I love GWTW, but "Jezebel" works as well or better at capturing the same basic period in US history, while also keeping you waiting expectantly for the heroine's next outlandish maneuver. William Wyler was one of the great directors, and his gift shines through in every scene. I give "Jezebel" 10/10 stars, and Davis more than deserved her Oscar.


Bette Davis is a southern belle whose aunt (Fay Bainter) calls her Jezebel in a moment of supreme disappointment. This is a 1938 film also starring Henry Fonda, George Brent, and Donald Crisp. Bette is Julie Marsden, a brat engaged to Preston Dillard (Fonda). She soon loses him for what appears to be the second time when she wears a red dress to a ball where all the women are in white. Press goes to the north and returns with a wife (Margaret Lindsay). Julie sets out to win him back, with a bad result.

"Jezebel" has many similarities to "Gone with the Wind" - the south, the red dress, the manipulative, strong young woman, her obsession with a man and the disapproval by the family of her actions. The period is the 1850s; the place is Louisiana, where there is an outbreak of the dreaded yellow fever.

Although the film is similar to "GWTW" it stands on its own. It doesn't have the sweeping scope of GWTW. It's the story of one woman's love for a man and the effect it has on those around her. There are some striking scenes: the dance sequence, when Press and Julia are the only ones on the dance floor due to her being in red; and the end is very striking.

Bette Davis is great in the title role. Under William Wyler's direction, it's a restrained performance. It's a good thing because she's appearing opposite the master of underplaying, Henry Fonda. All of the women look stunning in their gowns, Davis in particular. As with Scarlett and Ashley, we don't really know what the attraction is between Julia and Press, and the script doesn't tell us. Fonda seems a little on the dull side for a lively girl like Julia.

Donald Crisp turns in a powerful performance as Dr. Livingstone, and George Brent is very good as the elegant Buck Cantrell.

Highly recommended. One of Davis' best.


Very good film from director Wyler, although it is its star, Bette Davis, upon whom its high quality mostly rests. This is perhaps Davis' best performance that I've seen. She plays a spoiled Southern belle whose fiancé (Henry Fonda) leaves her after a socially embarrassing event. As he leaves her, she swears that he will return, as he has in the past. And he does, one year later, with his new Northern wife in tow. The film does wonders with its historical setting, New Orleans a short while before the Civil War. A year before Gone with the Wind cooed over the fancy lives and manners of the Ante Bellum South, Jezebel was exploring them in more detail, and with a more intelligent eye. Also lurking about is the threat of Yellow Fever, which devastated New Orleans in the 1830s and is starting to grow rampant again. Another thing I really liked about Jezebel was its ending. Perhaps when it was released in 1938 there would be a feeling that Davis' character has turned a corner and has become more selfless, but to me her motives seemed awfully suspicious. That ambiguity is fascinating. Along with the leads, Donald Crisp and George Brent give fine supporting performances, and Max Steiner's score is one of the best of its era. 9/10.


Bette Davis is positively magnificent in this film, and it won her a well-deserved second Oscar as Best Actress. She plays a very spoiled and uncompromising southern belle named Julie in 1850's New Orleans, who intends to marry young beau Henry Fonda but mercilessly tries his patience; she is selfishly late for her own party, and despite all self-respecting folks' protests, rebelliously dons a glowing red gown at a Grand Ball at a time when it's forbidden for any unmarried woman to wear anything other than white. After properly humiliating herself and fiancé Fonda at the Ball, her man decides he can take no more of her manipulation tactics and leaves her.

Julie comes to regret some of her ways and is confident that her intended will come back to her. One year later, when a violent outbreak of Yellow Fever plagues the south for the first time in 22 years, Fonda returns home again; but it will be an unpleasant shock for the headstrong and vengeful Davis.

William Wyler directs this lavish melodrama quite well, and all the actors are well selected ("Little Rascals" fans will also have fun spotting young Stymie Beard). The greatest scene in the movie has got to be the humiliating Olympus Ball sequence, with Davis beginning to have second thoughts when she is ostracized by hundreds of aghast eyes, leering at her and Fonda as they waltz around an abandoned dance floor while she wears that controversial dress. She begs her fiancé to take her out of there, but he makes her endure every second of what she so defiantly wanted.

Bette Davis is perfect and oozes star power. Her performance makes you wonder how she would have fared in GONE WITH THE WIND, the classic film for which this film is said to be a warm-up.


I've heard a lot of complaints about not filming this masterpiece in color. Watch it again, and this time look at the beautiful use of light and shadow and the depth of atmosphere, especially in the night scenes. I don't believe that these effects could have been achieved with the strong lights needed for color at that time. All we need for the Olympus Ball scene is our imagination. Maybe the lack of color made us feel what was going on during that strange waltz.


A Southern soaper which Warner Bros. was hoping would ride on the advance steam perpetuated by M-G-M and their upcoming "Gone With the Wind"--and starring Bette Davis, who had been bypassed for the role of "Wind"'s heroine, Scarlett O'Hara. It's a somewhat dire stew about a spoiled belle in 1850s Louisiana who hopes her shocking little-girl tricks will light a fire under her stoic sweetheart, enough to jolt him into making a commitment to her. Despite a fully thought-out performance from Davis (who won a Best Actress Oscar), this costume mini-epic never quite realizes its ambitions...and never seems completely satisfied with itself. Henry Fonda's affected twit of a boyfriend is like a wet blanket on the proceedings (can't Bette's Julie aim any higher than this?) and the supporting cast is like a round-up of Warners' contract players (none of whom do anything surprising). Still, there's enough fluttery melodrama on display in the picture's first-half to make it worth-seeing for Davis-buffs, though the second-half concerning a spreading epidemic lacks urgency. ** from ****


This was the film about deep Southern attitudes vs Northern attitudes that came out before "Gone With the Wind" and left Davis out of the running for the role of Scarlet O'Hara.  It was the second film she made with director William Wyler and the best of the three.  She also won her second Academy Award for the role.  Davis' character, Julie, is not all that unlike Scarlet.  She is very headstrong and full of bad decisions, but this is what makes the film work so well.  Her character is compelling in that you feel like you are watching a train wreck in action.  It's horrible but you can't look away.  This is the earliest of the films I watched from Davis' Golden Era and she is quite young, very attractive, with an array of beautiful costumes to wear.  Plus the cinematography and sets are thick with atmosphere.

"Jezebel" does have the somewhat same patronizing attitude towards blacks that "Gone With the Wind" had, but at least it wasn't as objectionable as it was in "Little Foxes," Davis' next and final collaboration with Wyler.  Aside from Davis, who really does give a great performance, Henry Fonda is quite memorable.  Yet on top of everything, the ending is so unusual for a film of this period that it just made my jaw drop.  Of all the Bette Davis films I've seen from this period of her career I rate this one the highest.  It's a classic for sure, and is far more than just a Bette Davis film, certainly well worth experiencing.


Let's put the best features forward. JEZEBEL is a superbly acted film and well directed. Both Bette Davis and Fay Bainter deserved their Oscars for their performances in the film. Davis's Julie has a remarkably blind spot about how far womens rights have gone in the age of Millard Fillmore, for it is only four years since the first womens suffrage conference was held in New York State. The most noted woman of 1853 was probably George Sand the novelist, but people thought of her as the lover of Chopin. Henry Fonda's Pres is a man of dignity and one who will not let anyone make a fool of him. George Brent as Buck represents a final flowering of the Old South's aristocracy and even chivalry (and again demonstrates that Brent could act - note the heavy restraint when he confronts Richard Cromwell's Ted toward the end of the film). Donald Crisp has a great moment telling off the cowards in the saloon in New Orleans who won't assist him with a prominent patient. William Wyler does do a first rate job of directing - as in what is an early highpoint of the film: Pres teaching Davis' Julie a lesson by humiliating her at the "Nimbus" ball for wearing a scarlet dress.

That said, why is JEZEBEL a lesser film than GONE WITH THE WIND? JEZEBEL was a film about a willful and spoiled southern belle named Julie, and how her selfishness hurts many of the people in her life. It is a great part for Davis (and probably would have been just as good for Miriam Hopkins, the one who played the role on stage). But it is not grand enough. Maybe if it concentrated on the "Yellow Fever" epidemic it could have been (but then, the 1938 audience had also seen MGM's YELLOW JACK, and was aware of how to tell the story of that scourge). GONE WITH THE WIND had a willful, spoiled heroine too, named Scarlet O'Hara, and played by Vivienne Leigh. But while she too is at the center of the story, the story is epic in describing the Civil War's affect on Atlanta and Georgia, and the slow "Reconstruction" of the economy there in the late 1860s and 1870s. As a result there was more meat in GONE WITH THE WIND (compare Fonda's genteel banker Pres with the rough and ready Rhett Butler of Clark Gable and you can see what I am talking of).

This does not diminish JEZEBEL as entertainment, even if one dislikes the stereotypes of African - Americans as incredibly loyal slaves. I somehow think the average slave in Louisiana in 1853 would have looked to their own safety in such epidemics and been rather neutral about the number of Caucasian - Americans who were carried off by the disease. But then stereotypes abound in GONE WITH THE WIND (to its detriment). But there is no character like "Mammy" (Hattie MacDaniel) in JEZEBEL, to steal the picture from the star. Actually, despite her being shown to be simple-minded, Butterfly McQueen's "Prissy" is also more memorable than her equivalents in JEZEBEL.

In the end, what can be said of JEZEBEL? An entertaining film that was well made and acted...a little out of date due to stereotypes of slaves. But it's overall significance? - it answers the question, "which was the better of the two movies that Bette Davis won the Academy Award for in the 1930s?" (the other one is the now forgotten DANGEROUS).


Bette Davis gives an excellent performance in this entertaining character study set in the Old South in the 1850's. She plays flighty, flirty, selfish Southern belle Julie Marsden who delights in shocking both her fiancée Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda) and New Orleans society by wearing a scandalous red dress to a ball. Fonda leaves her, and comes back a year later with a Northerner wife (Margaret Lindsay). An outbreak of the dreaded yellow fever hits the city, and Davis, finally realising the damage she has caused after she has lost her lover and caused the death of old friend Buck Cantrell (George Brent), has a chance to atone and try to save the life of a stricken Fonda.

A very good film that still holds up well today. Wyler contributes some particularly well-directed scenes, with Davis' entry to the ball most memorable. The terror of the yellow fever is also excellently conveyed, and the images of countless bodies being carted away is still very powerful. Davis is wonderful as Julie, giving one of her best early performances, although I can't see what she sees in Fonda's Pres Dillard! Davis had far better chemistry with George Brent, and Fonda is just boring. Fay Bainter gives a great supporting performance. I found the ending good, but maybe a little unsatisfying. I like ambiguity, and I don't need thing spelled out to me, but is Davis heading towards certain death with her true love or is she going to nurse him, then give him up to Lindsay? Perhaps that is the film's enduring mystery.


Talk about your tour-de-force. Ms Davis dominates a talented cast and expensive backdrops as the vainglorious Southern belle Julie / Jezebel of the piece, cowing her spiky fiancé Henry Fonda into allowing her to wear a scandalous red dress to the ball where the great and the good are all in attendance to pass judgement on her misplaced show of bravado. A mortified Fonda toughs it out in one of the most memorable scenes as the universally white - frocked female dancers vacate the floor, too affronted to share space with Davis, with the aftermath seeing Fonda move away and bring back a year later a Yankee wife. Davis's reaction to this and her ultimate sacrifice as redemption, when she later tends to fever - infected Fonda at the movie's climax encompass the main plot to this grand old piece of Hollywood costume drama. There are some disaffecting matters here though, particularly the patronising of the southern negro, all "yes'm'" and "clap yo' hands" - even if this is the way old Dixie treated its coloured inhabitants it's still painful to view the coarse stereotyping. Allowances made for this, this is a compelling showpiece for Davis, whose physical and emotional energy drive the film along. Watch out for the justly celebrated scene as Davis drops a magnificent curtsy to Fonda in a grand show of humility - in her huge white dress, you almost think she drops through a trapdoor.


I love old Hollywood movies. They are so elegiac, elegant and sweet. Bette Davis and Henry Fonda are real winners of this antebellum novel, so sweet, but so threateningly looming, as the news of the forthcoming Civil War is spread all the time in the film and the peaceful routine is soon to be rudely interrupted by the horrible conflict of two cultures and two worlds. Bette as Miss Julia is so natural, so open and easy-going that she seems a bit shocking even in this spoiled time. Her lover / enemy / bride-not-to-be is a Yankee and their conflict is deeper than a usual love / hate relation. This is a looming war between North and South, between two world, two sets of ideals and likes. This film is great at showing the lazy Southern society with its Black servants, white masters, pre-war sentiments, clashes and classes. Gone With The Wind may be grander on a general scale, but this one is so intimately sweet that it is highly recommended for all who are interested in the Civil War times.


OK. So the plot and dialogue are wobbly today. And it may not be politically correct. But watch this one for a magnificent performance from Bette Davis. Add one of Max Steiner's most effective scores and you have a winner from 1938.


Bette Davis is a legend. I'd always heard that growing up, but felt some disconnect from it . When I became aware of her it was late in her career after she had developed into a boozy, smoke belching, caricature of her on screen persona's. So, if the "Bette Davis/Legend" concept rings a little hollow with you as it did me, watch this film. I just saw "Jezebel" for the first time on DVD. Wow! I haven't seen a lot of movies from the 1930's but I'm pretty sure that no one else was doing then what Bette Davis was doing. It is an acting style, and skill level, that isn't seen often.

She is brilliant throughout but one scene in particular made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It happens in the scene where Henry Fonda escorts Jezebel home after the ball and breaks off their engagement. When he tells her, "goodbye" and not "goodnight", a look of puzzlement and humiliation comes over her face. She starts to turn away to leave, but decides instead to extend her hand in Southern feminine cordiality to wish him well. As she does this something inside her wells up. Her expression changes, and as they say, if looks could kill... With the speed of a cobra, and unable to restrain herself, she slaps him in the face. Unlike a cobra however, which recoils after it strikes, she lurches slightly closer and you think she might just rip his throat out. William Wyler lets the camera linger on her and it's a powerful, and slightly disturbing, moment. I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off like Davis did.

The film is great although the depictions of slavery as a genteel Southern quirk are more than a little cringe worthy. To see this movie though is to understand how Bette Davis became a legend. And to see this movie is to see one of the most powerful screen performances ever. Who knew... After all 1938 was a long time ago and I've been busy with other stuff.


Bette Davis then only 30 years old, won an Oscar for best actress for this movie in 1939. Directed by William Wyler, Jezebel is one of Hollywoods best from its Golden Age. Jezebel was released in 1938 and also stars a young Henry Fonda who at times had to take leave from production because of the birth of his daughter Jane. The picture tells the story of a headstrong young Southern woman during the Antebellum period whose actions cost her the man she loves. Bette Davis plays the young woman whose name in the movie is actually Julie, but because of her conniving and the hurt that results from it her Aunt Belle, played by Fay Bainter tells her that she is acting like Jezebel from the bible. Fay Bainter would go on to win the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in this movie. Fay Bainter by the way also was nominated this same year for best leading actress for her role in another movie titled "White Banners". I really enjoyed this film that went on to earn a nomination for best movie of 1938. Frank Capra's "You Can't Take it With You" eventually won that year. Jezebel is a great movie with a great cast. Gimme more....GimmeClassics


This was not a movie that I particularly liked watching (perhaps it's just not my favorite genre) but it simply was one fine made movie, that is effective in basically everything it tries to achieve. There is no denying it that this is a great movie.

It features a strong dramatic story, in which Bette Davis plays the central character. It's a strong and independent woman for her time (the movie is set in the 1850's), yet also spoiled and stubborn, who of course eventually has to pay for her deeds.

Bette Davis plays a role in which she could had easily gone over-the-top with, since its a very stubborn and spoiled character but instead she plays her role more humane and realistic, which also keeps her likable. She even won an Oscar for her role in this movie. Western expert actor Henry Fonda also plays one fine role and I especially liked the work he did with the accent within this movie. The movie further more among others also features the always great Donald Crisp. Donald Crisp was never an actor who played the main lead in a movie but he always played small and humble but great roles, which also should be a reason why he got cast in so many fine and well known movies throughout his career. The same somewhat also goes for George Brent, who plays Buck Cantrell in this movie. It's a well cast movie with fine acting performances, which mostly also carries the movie.

Max Steiner also delivers one fine Oscar nominated musical score for this movie. Steiner was one of the big composers from the early days of film-making for a good reason.

Like basically every period movie at the time, it's a fine looking movie with some impressive sets and costumes. It's often being compared to "Gone with the Wind" due to its story, themes, time period the movie is set in and it got shot around the same time but this really ain't fair in my opinion. "Jezebel" isn't even nowhere close in the same league and epic proportions as "Gone with the Wind" and "Jezebel" is a more light and less complicated one, that has a totally different style and breaths a total different atmosphere, not in the least also since "Gone with the Wind" is a movie in color of course.

A fine multiple Oscar nominated and winning movie from William Wyler.

8/10


Bette appears as a spoiled young Southern beauty who likes to play with men to tickle her ego. But as the trauma of a Yellow Fever epidemic sweeps through 1852 New Orleans, she finds that playing with men can be deadly.

Henry Fonda plays a rather priggish young banker who finally runs out of patience with his wayward fiancée. His high ideals are set boldly against Bette's rebellious act of wearing a vile crimson dress to the Memphis Ball. Young ladies always wear virginal white until marriage, Bette is told, to which she nearly replies a la Scarlett O'Hara: Fiddle dee dee!

Gorgeous gowns, great acting and full-stop melodramatic fun.


This film is the reason Ms. Davis didn't play Scarlett, as it would have been a rerun. She has it down pat in her performance in this movie. While she had so many great performances in her career very few top this one.

Henry Fonda is young in this film but very effective playing opposite as the male lead. The film accidentally has a valuable historic lesson today's environmentalist chooses to ignore. A fair piece of the plot centers around the fact that a plague (fever) type of illness is running through the South & killing a lot of people.

Fondas character is shown being bitten by a mosquito at one point in the movie. He then becomes ill with the plague & dies. After he is bitten, Fonda's character says "Maybe with all these people getting sick & dying, the Yankees up North have a good idea about draining all their swamps."

Today environmentalists are trying to save wetlands but in order to do that they are ignoring the health risks to people living near them (today West Nile Virus). This proves there has to be a balance between preserving wetlands where there are not people living but making sure they don't exist too close to civilization either. Going to extremes by preserving wetlands in populated areas is dangerous.

This movie is very well made for 1938, & Ms. Davis has one of her strongest early performances in her career.


Bette Davis stars as Julie, a Southern Belle in the Antebellum South. This movie predates the famed Gone With The Wind, and in many ways outdoes it--having more to offer--namely the incomparable Bette Davis.

Julie is so much more than a pouting, prissy Southern Belle. She does what she wants when she wants. She doesn't care what others think about it--whether it's wearing a red dress to a ball while others consider that 'taboo' or sitting out on the porch with the slaves, singing spirituals.

She was a feminist before there was feminist--a liberated woman before women's lib. She was to strong to be quiet and genteel. And her beauty lay in her strengths.

Bette Davis does a remarkable job of portraying this character, going from a catty, to strong willed, to kind hearted and self-sacrificing. We see every facet of the brilliant diamond that is Julie through Davis' superb acting.

The plot is gripping, and realistic--true to the historical nature of the Antebellum Era. But it specifically deals with one woman's struggle to redeem herself against a reputation as a "Jezebel" during an era where certain things were considered "Taboo" and improper for a young lady of the south.

And yes...I cry at the end. But it's bittersweet tears.


is one way of thinking about this film, which is an adaption of a play. The first act must end at the bedroom scene where Ashley/Pres forgets he came up the steps to cane his lady. The second ends with the conclusion to the ball scene. The third concluding act is announced with the title "One Year Later."

Like many plays it begins slowly, almost too slowly, as Wyler gives the viewer exposition: Buck Cantrell and friends, including Pres' brother, talking at the bar, the end result being arrangements for a duel the next day, The story moves to a party at Julie's house, where the host is notably absent. When she does appear on a fractious colt, bantering lightly with Our Gang's Stymie, and then her guests, her character is drawn and limned deeper by a trip to Pres' bank, where she interrupts an important meeting. All of these scenes are more or less padding, allowing Wyler to ring up the curtain on the Ball and the red dress. From that point, melodrama breaks out, holding the viewer to the fitting climax where Julie/Scarlett and Amy/Melanie almost switch roles.

What is important to remember is that Wyler and Warners were not doing a send-up of the yet to be released GWTW, but rather using Owen Davis' 'old and often produced play.' And what a job they did, working in the customary Warners' Black and White style. Maybe Davis would be stronger and more southern had it been in color, but the ball scene, and the dinner scenes at Halcyon would not have the impact they do here. The credits scroll over moonlit moss-covered trees, and bear a similarity to those used two years later in the Wyler/Davis masterpiece, The Letter. Both films were scored by Max Steiner, but in Jezebel, Steiner uses an old ballad of the period to underplay Julie's preparations for her reunion with Pres, and it is pure genius, something years ahead of its time. It begins low and slow but as Julie gets more frenetic, it becomes louder and faster.

Watch too as Julie/Davis uses the same nervous mannerisms with the cut flowers as she did as Leslie Crosbie and her needle work in The Letter. In fact the two films make a perfect Bette Davis doubleheader.


An episode with a theme near and dear to Serling's heart: intellectual freedom and the will and power of the "little" guy. It's an obvious tribute to novels like "1984", and while not as well executed as that novel, there is something to be said for the startling visuals presented on such a low budget that bring to life the horrors of a totalitarian regime. My only criticism is the ending -- not to give anything away, but did they run out of money for something better? Regardless, this is an episode that makes you wonder what today's political realities and quasi-religious governments would have inspired Serling to write.


I can understand why people consider this episode preachy. And in some sense, I think that's a wonderful thing. Not wonderful that the episode is preachy, wonderful that people *think* so.

Because if people think it is preachy, it means that its message is obvious. But it's a message that has frequently NOT been obvious to people, in many times and places in human history. The theme of the individual versus the state is an absolutely timeless one, and the message is one that needs to be told again and again in every generation.

And the story *is* told timelessly. As much as one is tempted to see it from the cold-war context of its time as being a thinly-veiled anti-communism fable, the truth is that The State as presented here is any tyrannical totalitarian regime, be it Marxist, Nazi, or any other statist ideology.

The one flaw, for which I took off a star, is the invocation of religion. Religion is an ideological detail, not a fundamental to the theme. The State's outlawing of religion in this tale serves as too-concrete a connection with the Soviet Union of the era. It also excludes The State from potentially representing any kind of theocratic totalitarianism (which is just as bad).

But it's such a good episode, and the message so important, that I'm willing to cut it a lot of slack for that flaw.


I just watched this episode today. And, it seems as though every time I watch it. I get chills. The ones that are saying this episode is too preachy. You maybe right to a degree. However, this episode makes a powerful, and chilling statement.

Some who commented above said that he "Used" to think that this episode was preachy. But, no more. If you look around, especially with the Obama administration. We are seeing more, and more government control. And, the American people just seem to give in today. All, in the name of safety. And, also in the name of anit piracy. Obama wants to pass a law. That would give law enforcement the power to come in to your home without a warrent. And, confiscate computers that are suspected to hold illegal copywritten material. No, search warrant, only if they suspect that you have such material If this isn't' a form of nearly total government control. I don't know what is. And, no offense to the ones who say this episode is "Preachy". But, if I had any complaints whatsoever. it would be that maybe this episode wasn't preachy enough. Given, the fact that we are, where we are today. And, someone in the above post. Also illuded that perhaps this was a slam against Democrats. I disagree. I believe that Rod was say that any for of government can be like this. Rebuplicans, and Democrats a like.

To, those who haven't seen it. Strap in, and be ready for an intellectual ride. In my view, this episode is by far my favorite.


I first saw this episode when it was originally aired in 1961 and have since collected it on LaserDisc. Even seeing it with the eyes of an inexperienced 10 year old, the power and message it carried, compressed into a half-hour time-bomb, was at least as formidable as what was meant to destroy the librarian Romney Wordsworth. Meredith and Weaver both turn in laser-like performances, guided skillfully by the words of Mr. Serling's pen. It also benefits from the simplicity of the sets and the always-present black and white format, which I believe creates a greater focus on the characters.

It is episodes like this that ensure that the names Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone will be remembered and honored for excellence in television for a very long time to come.


I disagree with both sentiments stated here. I think this was simply a dramatization about the evils of totalitarianism from a 1960-ish perspective. All the actions of that government are evil, including outlawing god (I'm agnostic). But I don't see anything like this happening Bush or Obama. The 1963 Supreme Court case overturned laws that made prayer in public schools compulsory. Putting those laws back in place would move the country more toward the regime in the episode! (just from the other side.) The side that's not in office is always afraid. During Bush, Meridith's character represents liberals; during Obama, he is the conservatives. But only in their own minds.


This is a top ten pick for me. It's not so much the Orwellian culture it depicts. It's about our humanity; what we are. The shadow of the huge lectern where Fritz Weaver lords it over the accused. His incredibly emotive speech method. It's Burgess Meredith, seemingly cowering at first and then realizing that if his life is to have worth, he needs to make a final statement. While there is a bit of religion thrown in there, I like to think that it is the wish of this man to simply live out the last moment of his life on his own terms. Meredith, as I've said before, is a great actor. His calmness and grace in this role make this otherwise simplistic tale sing. The meek shall inherit the earth I guess.


The Obsolete Man makes quite an obvious comment on the role of government and certain ways in which powers can be abused or societies can go astray. The totalitarian state portrayed in the film gleefully broadcasts the executions of undesirables (1300 in 6 hours one time, if I remember correctly) such as, in the case we get to see, a man who has committed the mortal sin of being a librarian. The theme of publicly executing undesirables, by the way, bears amazing resemblance to the brutal regime of Mao Tse-tung, which was at it's heyday when this episode first aired.

At any rate, we already know that burning books is bad and I don't know that we need an entire twilight zone episode to show us that the next step of killing librarians is also bad, but it's an entertaining enough episode.

A lot of other IMDb users have complained that this episode is preachy, and I agree to a certain extent, but I also think that any film or story or TV show that shows the dangers of government can't be all bad, particularly given the astonishing political banditry that we have witnessed in America for the last 8 years. It's sad but unsurprising to me that the American economy is in shambles right now.

My favorite thing that the episode does is that it presents this quiet, unassuming man who lives a quiet life as a librarian, and even after his death sentence, he manages to completely undo the man who condemned him, and in front of a widespread audience as well. He uses the machine's rules against it and makes an incredibly powerful statement about political responsibility and the rights and wrongs of governmental power.

Pretty deep and intense material, and not the most fun I've had watching the twilight zone, but it's relevance can most certainly be felt today...


Gotta say, I, too, used to think it was "preachy." But not anymore. Like Star Trek's "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," which I also used to think was obvious and beneath me, this one now wows me. Perhaps it's because what was once so obvious about what "might be," to a young person (oh the evils that await us in the near future, yawn), now virtually IS.

What was once totalitarianism in other places is now happening in the United States of America. God and the Bible: banned. Prayer: banned. Dissent: banned. Wrong thinking: banned.

Why not ban all books? Most people don't read anymore anyway. No books? No need for librarians. The Khmer Rouge would find this show a positive portrayal of their "right" thinking.

It's not just about Fascism, Communism, or Islam, it's about the state, any state, that can call all of the shots. I'm sure the State in The Obsolete Man would be making some changes, like not letting the condemned choose their method of execution anymore (too much choice is not a good thing).

Effective set design, lighting that plays a part in the narrative, excellent acting. I personally like the way Fritz Weaver' Chancellor is dealt with, almost like they're feeding on one of their own at the end. Creeps!


To say this was too "preachy" or "obvious" is an understatement. The best Twilight Zone episodes were those where the meaning was not obvious and was instead subtly conveyed via fantastical allegory. Serling was forced to go this route after suffering from censorship early in his career that prevented him from directly addressing current social concerns with criticism that might offend the advertisers. This episode fit the prevailing Cold War mindset of the time and was therefore free from their censors. In the end, it became proof that perhaps the censorship Serling often complained about was actually a good thing. It forced him to "hide" his messages in his fantasy stories and avoid preaching directly to the audience as he does in this episode. The main characters here are ridiculous caricatures of the evil tyrant and the saintly martyr. The whole plot strains the limits of believability time and time again. Serling's ending monologue feels like he's hitting us over the head. Those who strongly agree with its message might be able to overlook or even enjoy these things, but in the end, it is a weaker episode than if it had been more subtly executed.


Charectar development has been a huge problem for an anthology show, especially if the show is only an hour and a half, bu Rod Serling pulls it off.

The episode of 'The Twilight Zone' entitled the 'The Obsolete Man', is awesome, the acting is awesome,the duologue sets in the mood perfectly. And Rod Serling can control you're mood. All of this gold of this is shown in this episode.

It starts out in a police state, where books are banned (notice Faherheit 451 similarities.) Where a man is arrested for being a librarian.

This episode ha great performances from everyone, even extra's, you can believe you're there. And the setting matches this depressing future perfectly. So all an all this is the best 'Twilight Zone' episode.


Interesting that when this show was made, it was two years before the Supreme Court Ruling June, 1963 Madyln Murray vs. whichever school district that eliminated prayer in public schools.

(This is NOT intended to be an argument for or against the ruling).

The United States has moved toward what this story is all about in the last 40 years.

George Orwell would have loved Rod Serling.

Watching this gave me the willies.

How much has changed and it makes me wonder if the United States will move toward what Serling predicted.

I think it will.


A librarian living in a totalitarian state is deemed to be obsolete and expendable--since books and independent thinking are banned. So the self-righteous judge sentences him to death. However, and this made no sense to me, the manner of death was just plain silly and overly melodramatic--like the judge was playing with the librarian much like a cat might play with a doomed mouse. In the end, the tables (naturally) are turned.

This seemed like one of the more preachy episodes of The Twilight Zone and is an obvious parable about not just Fascism but the horrors of Communism. Now I am NOT a fan of Communism--but the show is just so obvious and preachy that in the end I could see this show converting the audience to Communism! It just gives Democracies a bad name since it is so incredibly preachy and obvious.


This fulfills the criterias to be a cult classic, something to love OR hate for everyone. I belong to the first category: 2 kids growing up in a nuke shelter with a large collection of detective novels deciding to be the post apocalyptic worlds first dicks, The Atomic Dicks! Fastpaced wachy post apocalyptic tong-in-the-cheek comedy. Irresistible. B-movie queen Lisa Blount pops up in this weird mix and singer Sue Saad gives a few nice songs like the excellent title song "Radioactive Dreams", the soundtrack certainly deserves to be released. Great acting, excellent photography and score. It is very low budgeted, but every last penny is up there on the screen and stretched well beyond its limit, just as it was the case with director Albert Pyun's "The Sword And the Sorcerer". This movie stands up to repeated viewing. 7/10


Having only been previously exposed to Albert Pyun's 90s-era direct-to-video low-budget action garbage, I picked up "Radioactive Dream" expecting a futuristic crapfest like "Nemesis" or "Omega Doom". I was surprised to discover this movie is not only original, but extremely funny and entertaining.

Michael Dudikoff (in an effectively humorous role the same year he kicked off his B-action career with "American Ninja") and John Stockwell ("Christine", "My Science Project", and now a director of motion pictures) play Marlowe Chandler and Phillip Hammer - a couple of real dicks! Having been raised on 50s pulp detective novels (hence their names) while confined to an underground bomb shelter, they emerge 15 years after a nuclear war has turned the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. All these guys want is dames and to become the world's biggest private dicks. The first person they meet is a revolutionary rebel by the name of Miles Archer (Lisa Blount, who I also remember from another of my favorite guilty-pleasure 80s flicks, "Nightflyers", as well as "Blind Fury" and "Prince of Darkness"). Purely by accident, our two heroes end up in possession of the two keys that can launch the last nuclear missile in existence, and when this fact is discovered after they reach the last outpost of civilization - Edge City - they find themselves on the run from every mutant gang in town.

This movie's pluses include a colorful variety of characters, many based on specific stereotypes from different eras (pulp detectives, disco mutants, greasers) as well as cannibals and giant rats; general goofiness in both the action sequences and the heroes' trying to get acquainted to the changed world; a most excellent 80s soundtrack; and George Kennedy to boot. As expected, the movie is a comedic satire for most of the first hour, but then suddenly turns serious in the last 20 minutes. But this movie does end with the coolest two-man song and dance number ever.

In short, don't let the Pyun credit fool you. "Radioactive Dreams" is a good rental for those who wish to see something completely different. (Especially suggest a double billing of this with "Six-String Samurai") 7/10


Gosh golly, Marlowe, i surely do love this film. All right, so it's another tidbit of trashy 80s post-apocalyptic fluff, but it's really the cream of the crop and has a great soundtrack, fun sets and costumes, tongue-in-cheek writing and acting, cannibalism, swing dancing, love, innocence, mayhem, violence, and plenty of silly 50s references... Philip and Marlowe (ha, ha) leave the bomb shelter after basically their whole entire lives, and emerge into a radioactive wasteland, to search for their fathers. This ranks right up there with "Rockula," "Bill and Ted," and "Pretty in Pink" as the cutest 80s kitsch films. Okay, so maybe i'm a little hung up on Raymond Chandler and Humphrey Bogart and that whole genre, so i enjoyed this a little more than someone who didn't grow up in the 80s and who never saw "The Big Sleep" more than 20 times. But i still recommend this as rollicking fun for everyone who loves mutant new wave girlies on motorcycles etc.


This is that rarity amongst post-apocalyptic cinema - a film that dares to show people trying to enjoy life in the ruins of civilization. Although it's eighties heritage shows through in an overzealous use of neon, tacky dance-rock and the frankly dodgy nightclub scenes, any film that can combine a nuclear war with disco has to be applauded.

Our heroes emerge after a childhood in a bomb shelter. Their only guide to the 'real' world has been the work of crime writers such as Raymond Chandler. Convinced, therefore, that everyone wears sharp suits, talks like a hipster and goes down after one swift punch to the jaw, they embark on their journey back to civilization.

Although the film starts by gently mocking the conventions of post-apocalyptic cinema (disco dancing midgets in white suits for instance (no, I'm not making this up!)), the bravery of the script dwindles, and about half way through it degenerates into the very generic twaddle that it sets out to mock. Still, as generic twaddle goes, it is enjoyable and entertaining, and hey, love that disco dancing...


The eighties, some of my favorite movies have come from this time and most of them failed to find an audience. Such films as Buckaroo Banzai, Streets of Fire and Radioactive Dreams found new ways to tell classic stories and over the years Streets and Banzai have both developed cult followings but sadly Radioactive Dreams has never been able to find its fan base. It may be because it has never been released on DVD, it could be the terrible music number that grinds the movie to a halt just when the excitement should be building but perhaps it is just too odd.

The story is the standard hard boiled detective yarn with the dick trying to play several sides against each other and discovering the danger of putting their trust in the wrong person. At least it would be standard if not for the Post-Apocalyptic setting and the fact that our heroes have spent almost their entire lives locked up in a bomb shelter and have picked up all they know about the world from reading detective novels. These changes allows the characters to actually grow from kids playing a game to two guys trying not to become cynics in the face of a world were everyone only consider their own best interests and everyone is expendable.

One of the problems with the film for first time viewers is the way that the tone changes from a pretty light hearted beginning to a much darker conclusion. When watching it the second time the shift does not take you off guard and you can just appreciate the film.

If I have made it sound more serious than it is I apologize. It is a fun, very entertaining entry in the Post-Apoc genre and needs a DVD release so it has a chance at building new fans.


Writer/director Albert Pyun's first foray into post-nuke sci-fi/action cinema remains to this very day his single most novel and idiosyncratic entry in that sub-genre. It's a wickedly wacked-out black comic tongue-in-cheek end-of-the-world oddity which fuses vintage 40's film noir conventions -- morally upright gumshoes with a strong personal code of honor that's constantly being challenged by every twisted turn of the convoluted jigsaw plot, fetching femme fatales, evil criminal underground figures, hard-boiled introspective narration, assorted just-looking-out-for-themselves opportunistic low-life dirtbags double and triple crossing our amiably guileless heroes, dense, smoky, shadowy lighting, a gritty urban setting teeming with violence, corruption, treachery, and unremitting moral blackness, a fiery big gun-blasting shoot-out ending -- with a raucous, spiky, nose-thumbing 80's funk-punk sensibility.

John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff are utterly engaging as Phillip and Marlowe, a pair of cloddish, wet-behind-the-ears, pork-pie hat and trenchcoat-wearing innocents who pattern themselves after laconically cool private eyes after spending most of their lives reading pulpy crime thriller books in a subterranean nuclear fall-out shelter. Coming above ground on April 1st, 2010, the bumbling pair, unaware that they possess the two keys for the last functional MX missile in existence, are totally unprepared for the harrowing experiences they have when they finally venture into the brutish, bombed-out post-apocalyptic world. The endearingly dumb duo have perilous run-ins with rot-faced hippie cannibals, red-haired hog-riding biker chicks, belligerent greasers, foul-mouthed white-suited disco mutant kids (!), decadent punks, and gigantic carnivorous sewer rats when they arrive in Edge City, a grimy, amoral metropolis populated by all kinds of freakish subhuman filth. The key folks who mercilessly chase after our boys are lethally enticing, cold-blooded fugitive dame Miles Archer (marvelously played to the nasty, "don't mess with me Buster!" nines by imposing, statuesque tall drink of luscious blonde water Lisa Blount), feisty tart with a heart Rusty Mars (tasty brunette dish Michele Little), and vicious mob kingpins Dash Hammer (a superbly steely Don Murray) and Spade Chandler (the always invigorating George Kennedy), who are the two dastardly dudes who dumped the guys in the shelter back in 1996.

Loaded to the vibrant, head-bursting brim with grungy clothes fashions, equally grotty set designs, gnarly make-up f/x by Greg ("Vamp") Cannom, stylishly dim cinematography by Charles Minsky, a first-rate wild'n'wailing New Wave soundtrack (the groovy theme song especially smokes), a generous sprinkling of thrilling frantic action, a very dark sense of warped brash humor, dynamic direction, wittily right-on homages to classic 40's literary fiction and film noir movies, spirited performances, punchy pacing, colorfully quirky characters, and enough inspired oddball ideas for at least a dozen pictures, "Radioactive Dreams" cooks with a maniacally stoked, hopped-up vitality that's both funny and enjoyable in equal measure, therefor making this welcome change-of-pace lampoon a refreshingly offbeat delight.


Made in 1985 when the whole world lived under the shadow of the bomb and the Cold War looked like it would never end. Its quite ironic that this film and others before it echoed the fears of the whole planet but not long after its release the political climate started to change and it seemed the threat of nuclear war would finally be gone.

Starting on April 1st 1986, No, its not a joke. In fact not only is it not a joke its the day the world ends with Nukes aplenty going off. Fast forward 15 years from that nightmare to April 1st, 2001 and we are introduced to a couple of people living underground who survived the bombs.

Mainly the story is about Phillip and Marlowe, however that pun is intended as they are 2 guys who dreamt of become Private Investigators so its a post apocalyptic film noir. It's so noir the movie even starts in black & white but it immediately changes to colour once the guys leave their shelter and drive into the outside world.

I knew I recognised the face of Phillip (John Stockwell) and it was because I remembered him playing the role of best friend Dennis in the horror movie Christine, the guy playing Marlowe (Michael Dudikoff) appears to be the worlds greatest bit part actor having been in nothing of any importance.

The helpful trawl tells you the guys are Phillip Hammer and Marlowe Chandler (ignore how their billed in IMDb.com, its wrong) and they'd grown up in a shelter full of 40's memorabilia and sleazy detective novels hence the stupid noir style names.

We also learn about a power struggle over 2 keys that could fire the last nuke left on Earth. The PI's rescue a damsel in distress (who also happens to have one of those keys) from some mutants and agree to get her to the closest phonebooth (like the telephone infrastructure will have survived WW3 or been rebuilt in 15 years?) but as those mutants are dealt with by some unseen force it appears the damsel may have both of the keys. We discover her name is Miles Archer (isn't Miles a mans name?) and a radio bulletin lets us know she was being chased by criminals.

She makes her phone call and bails on her rescuers having seen something that scared her but not before robbing Marlowe and dropping the keys in their car. The film then pretty much degrades into Mad Max meets the Keystone Cops and pretty much stays there. The guys discover the keys and the name on the case that contains them is Dash Hammer - Phillips father, so they set off to discover if he is alive or not.

After a bizarre encounter with Disco Mutants & a girl called Rusty Mars they finally enter Edge City, the closest thing to civilization. They walk around like a complete of complete rubes and you can tell they are going to either be constantly getting in or out of danger. It appears Rusty betrays Phillip to Sternwood, the leader of a local gang for the keys and he is told he will be sold for meat as the residents of Edge City are all cannibals.

There are a great deal of escapes, rescues, captures and betrayals to the point where it just gets plain annoying. We have mutant sewer monsters and more Disco Mutants which get Phillip and Marlowe separated (for no real good reason other than to allow Marlowe a brief moment of glory as he rescues Phillip from the Disco Mutants before they meet back up with Miles who takes them back to her place.

Phillip discovers a book on warhead arming & launch codes and finally realizes exactly what the keys are for and why they are in such high demand. (His flashback to his childhood is extremely inaccurate as its a very well known fact that looking directly into a nuclear blast burns out your retinas so he should actually be blind).

Setting off in 40's outfits that fit them perfectly (stolen from the Disco Mutants, thats what was inside the 2 packages they were carrying) Phillip & Marlowe sucker the gangs following them into a trap in the hope they will all kill each other in the confusion.

There's a nice twist about the identities of 2 of the Mutant leaders which is followed by an extremely pointless battle scene (why bother fighting for something you already have?) which ends up with the keys in Miles' possession. There's an even more pointless Mexican stand off and an unusual outcome with a very weak and incredibly open ending.

I assume it was left so open to allow a sequel if this had been any kind of success so judging from the lack of sequel it probably wasn't. The film is pretty boring, there are lots of periods of nothing happening interspersed with rapid paced action that doesn't last long then a bit of dialogue to following and the cycle continues from start to finish. It's a pretty good example of how not to make a movie and its only real redeeming feature is its 80's soft rock sound track full of artists no-one has ever heard of.


This movie was great. It had good performance and good concept. The concept is 2 guys who have locked up in a bomb shelter for twenty years or something reading Noir detective books from the forties.

They come out of the bomb shelter in post nuclear world with Humphrey Bogart attitudes and clothes. All you do is imagine Bogart in Mad Max.

Sometime you have montage with 80 music that are laughable, I don't know if it was intentional, but it adds to movie. filled with great jokes.

The director has a fan base so do the actors I don't know what is the old up of the DVD.


I'm doing a very, very slow John Stockwell Film Festival, and of course, I had to see one as part of the process.

I think liked his "My Science Project" a WHOLE lot better.

This is barely even digestible. More than a little bit too stupid than not. The detective motif didn't really make much sense. If they were locked away in a bomb shelter as little itty-bitty kids, just precisely how was it that they were able to read the books that they got their detective kitsch from? Who taught them to read if there was no one else but them in the shelter? Just being nitpicky here.

Apparently, money was saved by using the very, very, very, very cheapest film stock available at the time. Jeez, shooting it on video tape would have yielded a far superior quality visual. And even more money was saved by not bothering to use proper lighting. So much is so dark, i wasn't really too sure what was going on.

It verges almost slightly on the edge of being almost entertaining. But it was done so klunkily, it sort of flops around.

I'm impressed how Stockwell always talks out of the corner of his mouth. Not many actors do that. And he has his own unique style of enunciation that makes you wonder if he ever had to go to remedial speech classes and luckily the lessons didn't stick.

I can't truthfully say i recommend this "movie" to anyone who isn't doing a very leisurely John Stockwell Film Festival like i am. It's VERY klunky.


The action unfolds in 2010, almost 15 years after the world has blown itself up, Only one missile born nuclear weapon is left, and whatever mutant survivor holds the Keys to its launch controls will have the power of ultimate obliteration. The world is threatened again!, Phillip and Marlowe  two guys trapped in a bomb shelter for more then a decade with nothing else but canned food and 1940's detective books  are the only hope. They've got the keys, they've also got the whole Punk District of Edge City after them! Life after the bomb is just one big blast! Loved the film, and great music Starring John Stockwell from "Christine" also with Michael Dudikoff from "Bachelor Party" , Michele Little From "My Demon Lover" and George Kennedy from "the Naked Gun films", All up I give it 8 out of 10


I purchased this as an old rental VHS tape from an Amazon third party vendor, hoping that it would be a gem in the rough. More rough than gem, that's for sure. The two leads provide breathtakingly awful acting. There's enough molasses-slow pacing here to make one those lethargic 50's era B-movies seem like an amphetamine commercial directed by Tony Scott. Of course that's only when new-wave punk 80's band members aren't blowing each other across the screen. Blowing up. I meant to say blowing each other up.

If you are a cult film fan, then all the pain you have to endure with a movie like this is just part of the fun. For the rest of us... well, bring one of those bags the airlines keep in the back of every seat. You'll need it for scenes with lines such as, "...that was our first encounter with disco mutants. I was sure it wouldn't be our last."

I would only recommend this if you and your friends get high every day and enjoy watching popcorn pop. Just don't take anything too strange or you may end up gnawing off your own hand.


Radioactive Dreams is comparable to both 'My Science Project' and 'City Limits,' two dirt-budget science fiction films with great ideas and a decent cast unfortunately trampled by a nickle-shooting budget. Ironically, they all starred or co-starred John Stockwell.

Granted, Radioactive Dreams, was at least an interesting plot (which is the only reason I gave it a 2-star rating). Two idyllic young men not coincidentally named Phillip and Marlowe (Stockwell and Dudikoff) abandoned by their fathers grow up in a bomb shelter following the nuclear destruction of their planet, decide it's time to leave the shelter and live out their 1950s comic-book inspired fantasy of being two of the greatest private detectives (which of course, lends to a running gag). Only, when they get outside, their idealism is quickly floundered when their chivalrous assistance of a young girl chased by nuclear mutants inadvertently leads to dangerous and disastrous flirtations with the 'darkside.' The girl, as it turns out, leaves them custody of a pair of highly-sought keys that control a nuclear missile (ironically) and thus, like Sam and Frodo in Lord of the Rings, they've got to keep these keys from getting in the wrong hands. And that sure ain't easy.

Unfortunately, for the most part, the execution is crap. It involves a lot of warehouse footage, bad acting (especially an abundance of girlish screams from Dudikoff), cheap effects, a sappy ending involving a little-expected parental reunion, and a longer-than-necessary finale. The mid-80s atmosphere could have provided all the necessary spunk and attitude that would have provided the perfect touch to a unique story as this (Phillip and Marlowe are not the only ones trapped in a cultural generation of their own...I particularly love the deadly disco kids a penchant for cursing), but once again, a scrap shooting budget posed lots of limitations not to mention.

Worth it a shot at least for the story, but otherwise, it's about the same muddle film as City Limits (though certainly not as bad). Of the three films mentioned, however, I would recommend watching 'My Science Project,' instead.


His name is Albert Pyun and his movies are crap. The ideas for his movies sound cool in a B movie way, but they never deliver. Captain America, Cyborg, Mean Guns, Adrenalin, Brain Smasher, Dangerously Close, and Radioactive Dreams have all caused me pain more than any other director. I have not seen any Ed Wood movies, but I imagine that they will be similar. Radioactive Dreams is relentlessly annoying. If you thought that the word Focker was used too many times in Meet The Parents, wait until Marlowe repeats "we are slick dicks!" for the tenth time. I have always hated the use of period slang and this movie uses 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's slang in it's horde of cliched characters from four decades. Notice that movies that used a lot of slang that were made during these decades are now either unintentionally funny or unbelievably inferior. There was a hope in me during the movie that Michael Dudikoff would die a horrible death. He is honestly that annoying. John Stockwell appears to have no spine in both this and Dangerously Close. His voice is whinny. No matter what I say, you will see it if you want to, but I can not imagine an intelligent person that would consider this a good movie.


I bought Radioactive dreams because of Micheal Dudikof. I have liked American Ninja since I was a child and I wanted to see the lead actor in another role. In RD, Dudikof plays a Fool, bottom line. I was a little irritated by the annoying 80s music and singing, but I enjoyed being able to look back at the 80s art of B level crap. You don't see things like this anymore, this is unmistakable 80s and think that it is not a good movie, but a lot of movies aren't good movies. it is as many people say, if you go into it with the right mindset, a movie such as this can actually be entertaining. Basically, Two brothers are locked in a bomb shelter all their lives because a nuclear explosion occurred. The two brothers finally come outside into the world as teens / young men. What the want is to get with women but then they find themselves on a mission to save the world. There are many characters in this film, not great characters, but unique, one such as a gang of scary mutant biker chicks.


I've been hurt by movies before. Supernova, Ninth Gate,...Meet the Feebles pushed me down ten flights of stairs and then savagely kicked me in the groin. But all this pales before Radioactive Dreams. Where to begin...where to vent the HATE. The concept of this...for lack of a better word, Film is the story of two guys raised in a bomb shelter after being kidnapped by bank robbers Fat Guy from Cool Hand Luke, and Other Guy not in Cool Hand Luke. The kids are raised on detective novels and blah blah blah. If you're gonna try and do a take off on Film Noir, try and learn what Film Noir is. Don't just watch Guys and Dolls, sniff paint fumes, and decide to make a movie.

So these guys run around...and...ARRGHHHH...pains me...to...remember this film...must...struggle on...must warn society...The story isn't the only thing holding this flick back...it's a technical nightmare. Often times the camera is filming NOTHING...for several minutes, apparently while the director lights up another Doob and the cast and crew are flogging themselves for their involvement in this wretched wretched film. I was actually screaming out loud as this film dragged on. Like a traffic accident, I found I couldn't just turn away...as I was in the middle of it with a steering column through my chest. (author pauses for muted sobbing)

Fortunately, this movie is NOT available for sale on either video or DVD. However, much to my horror, I have seen it in several local video stores, and I can only assume this atrocity is repeated elsewhere in our fine nation. Do NOT watch this movie, do not ASSOCIATE with people who recommend this movie for anything other than to induce vomiting. It's bad, it'll hurt you. I know. Peace.


John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff star as two private dicks who emerge from a fallout shelter in the future after the bomb has dropped, once there we witness our two heroes fight mutants, midgets, cannibal hippies and a terrorist group, they've also grown up on 50's style literature and music so their whole "Gee whiz" attitude contradicts the mean world outside. Radioactive Dreams starts out on a promising note. The beginning which finds George Kennedy and Don Murray grabbing two kids and putting them in a fallout shelter while black and white footage of the atom bomb dropping is admittedly a stylish start. Unfortunately all of this goes sour when the premise kicks in and we witness Stockwell and Dudikoff adjust to the overblown horizons. Everything is over the top, things are somewhat pretentious (especially when Stockwell narrates) and worst of all everything is boring. Michael Dudikoff who would become a B.movie level star after American Ninja, really grates the nerves as his over the top shrieking never approaches the funny but always is annoying. Indeed you pick any Dudikoff movie on the video shelf and chances are you will not find a performance of his that reaches this level of bad. Stockwell is also very bad, but he's a veteran of terrible movies and his presence always guarantees badness. (See City Limits, which is even worse than this) Also there is no action which is the only way one can handle such a movie premise, after all it's about two sleuths who save the world, give us some action! Sadly Pyun treats this as a drama and induces slumber on the audience forced to witness this travesty.So what you have is Dudikoff's worst performance, Stockwell in his comfort zone and George Kennedy at his most embarrassed. The ending is somewhat diverting but once again this is a movie that has a great first act and nothing but sheer boredom after. The movie is somewhat bizarre but really this is strictly for die hard Dudikoff fans, who've watched American Ninja 4 too many times. While my advice to Dudikoff's most curious fans,is to stick with Avenging Force, American Ninja, The Silencer and American Ninja 2 after all those at least offer action.

* out of 4-(Bad)


Cecil B. DeMille, other than THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, produced and directed one of his best films, in this swashbuckler. Along with rough seas, sailing ships, beautiful southern ladies, sea wrecks [he always has to have that disasterous wreck] a giant squid in a spectacular underwater scene in the hull of a wrecked ship, villains and heroes, DeMille rounds up a stellar cast in the likes of Paulette Goddard, fresh from her almost getting the role of Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND, as Loxi Claiborne, who is in love with handsome Captain Jack, [John Wayne] who was just beginning to gain world wide fame and Steve Toliver, played by suave and sharp tongued Ray Milland, one of his best acting roles, along with a young Robert Preston and Susan Hayward as young lovers who become victims of the war over salvage rights of wrecked ships. Then there's Raymond Massey, as the villain, Cutler, Charles Bickford, Walter Hampden, famous for his stage performance of Cyrano, colorful Lynne Overman as Loxi's ship captain, Hedda Hopper [without a fancy hat] and Louise Beaver as a Mammy-type servant to Paulette [very Gone With Wind stuff]. The color of technicolor still holds up [not used that often in the 40s]. Goddard's performance alone is worth the admission. This was her second film for DeMille [the first being NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE] but not her last [ahead she was to play opposite Gary Cooper in UNCONQUERED]. In this film she shows why she came that close to getting Scarlett. Beautiful, oh, those green eyes, and feisty, like Scarlett, Paulette gives her best, including singing a rather salty sea chant at a social elite gathering of all of Savannah's fine ladies. This is available on VHS and worth getting a copy to view if you want to see the magical world of films of the forties. And the stars that made them.


After the financial flopping of THE CRUSADES, Cecil B. DeMille concentrated on films dealing with different aspects of American history from 1760 to 1942. THE PLAINSMAN dealt with Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, and even Custer. THE BUCCANEER dealt with the Battle of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte, and General Andy Jackson. UNION PACIFIC dealt with the transcontinental railroad (no really historic figure dominated the story here). Then came an exception to this trend, when DeMille turned to the Mounties v. Louis Riel in Manitoba in NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE. But he returned to the American History with REAP THE WILD WIND. The final two films were THE STORY OF DOCTOR WADDELL (DeMille's only World War II film, oddly enough), and THE UNCONQUERED (his only pre - 19th Century American history film).

REAP THE WILD WIND, at first sight, does not quite seem as understandable as the others. THE PLAINSMAN is about the threat to the frontier of the Indians (getting modern weapons via villainous Charles Bickford). THE BUCCANEER does deal with how Jackson and Lafitte won the defining victory of the War of 1812, and saved the Mississippi Valley. UNION PACIFIC was how, despite crooks like Brian Donleavy, the great railroad united the U.S. with a backbone of steel. Even NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE explained why there were two nations going west to the Pacific, not three (the third made of Frenchmen and Metis and Indians). But REAP THE WILD WIND did not deal with westward expansion, or with land. It dealt with the America's other 19th Century frontier: the seas.

We don't think of it (outside, perhaps, of New England), but from 1800 to 1865 our merchant marine was quite vigorous. Confederate raiders like C.S.S. Alabama destroyed much of it, but until that we were giving Great Britain serious competition. But the background of REAP THE WILD WIND is actually a little out of date in the film. The story takes place in 1840 or so. It should be in the 1820s to early 1830s.

When Great Britain ceased being our rulers, our merchant ships suddenly were targeted by various predators. The best known was the Barbary Pirates (with whom we had two wars in 1804 and 1815). But in the Caribbean a number of freebooters and pirates sprung up to ravage our struggling merchant ships. Indeed, Jean Lafitte and his brother were suspected (possibly unfairly) of being among these - more likely the Lafittes were simply smugglers. In the late 1820s, Captain David Porter was sent with a small flotilla to clean out the worst pirate stations in the Caribbean. He did a good job. Actually, by 1840 our navy was doing a fine job protecting our ships.

But for some reason DeMille moved the story into the 1840s. It does not hurt the film, but it weakens it's historical accuracy.

Ray Milland represents a wealthy ship owner (Walter Hampden) whose ships are being lost to wreckers in a gang headed by Raymond Massey. Hampden's chief ship captain is John Wayne. As the film progresses he and Milland become rivals for Paulette Goddard. Her sister, Susan Hayward, becomes enamored with Massey's younger brother Robert Preston. Massey is not too keen on this, except if it gets him additional information of the movement of Hampden's ships. On the other hand, he uses the Wayne - Milland rivalry to get control (of a sort) over Wayne.

A shipwreck of the flagship of Hampden's line results, and this leads to Milland's attempts to bring Massey to book in court. But the latter is extremely clever, and he suggests that Milland's behavior may have led to the disaster. The court decides they need further evidence - and this leads to testing the testimony of a slave, who claims the ship was haunted, and there was a noisy ghost in the hold. Is it so, or was there a stowaway - possibly the missing Susan Hayward.

The conclusion, with three of the leads drowned or shot down on deck and Paulette Goddard averring that this was all her fault reminds one of the conclusion of say HAMLET, with corpses littering the stage. De Mille never tried that conclusion again, but it was a curious ending. It is also odd seeing Wayne (on his way to super-stardom after STAGECOACH, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, and DARK COMMAND) in a supporting role, as was Hayward. Yet a decade later, when it was re-released, they got top billing over the actual stars Milland and Goddard.


In 1840, America's line life is the sea, with an intense commerce. In Key West shore, two ship savage companies dispute the wrecked vessels. The honest one belongs to the impulsive Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard) and Capt. Phil Philpott (Lynne Overman) and the other one is owned by the unscrupulous pirate King Cutler (Raymond Massey). While rescuing the crew of the ship "Julliete", wrecked on the reeves by the First Mate Mathias Widgeon (Victor Kilian), Loxi falls in love for Captain Jack Stuart (John Wayne). She travels to Charleston to defend Jack and convince the ship owner to give the position of captain of the new steamship of the company, manipulating the powerful shipping company lawyer Steve Tolliver (Ray Milland), who also falls in love for her. This triangle of love leads Jack Stuart to bad and fatal choices.

"Reap the Wild Wind" is another great film of this great director and producer Cecil B. DeMille. The story is a triangle of love full of adventure, drama, suspense and romance. The use of the Technicolor is amazing, being this movie nominated for Best Cinematography, Color, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color. Awarded in Best Effects, Special Effects, shows a spectacular fight of Jack and Steve against an octopus in the end, in a wrecked vessel. The performances of the gorgeous and spontaneous Paulette Goddard, the intelligent Ray Milland, the naive and precipitated John Wayne, the villain Raymond Massey and the funny and smart captain Lynne Overman are outstanding and very well supported by a fantastic cast. The lines are also excellent, having right doses of humor. In my opinion, this movie is absolutely underrated in IMDb. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Vendaval das Paixões" ("Gale of the Passions")


Produced and directed by the legendary Cecil B. DeMille. A rough and ready sea drama with very good special effects. Salvagers compete for the cargo of ships wrecked in the reef off the coast of Georgia. Some of the ships go down not by nature, but by the hand of greedy men. An extraordinary finale with an attack of a giant squid. A star studded cast sustains the interest in this stormy and mobile movie. Notable cast members: Raymond Massey, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Susan Hayward, Robert Preston and a bland John Wayne. Yep, the "Duke" has an important role, but does not headline or carry this film. I've seen this at least six times since childhood and I still think it is great. See for yourself.


At the onset, I should point out that I am NOT a fan of the films of Cecil B. DeMille. I have always found that although his films are impressive visually, the dialog and acting is purely secondary at best. However, the acting here is a little better than usual for DeMille--Raymond Massey, John Wayne and Ray Milland are all fine. The only acting that really seemed poor was that of Paulette Goddard, but this isn't surprising because histrionic and over-the-top performances of leading ladies is a DeMille trademark (see Anne Baxter's performance in The Ten Commandments if you don't believe me).

Generally, this movie had a well-written plot and it was both unusual and compelling. So because of a decent plot and better than expected acting, this is already a pretty good DeMille film.

However, when it comes to the action, some things leave a bit to be desired. While to today's audiences the ship scenes will no doubt look pretty fake, for 1942 they were pretty good AND you could not see the sides of the pool in the underwater shots (something all too common in underwater scenes of the day). So, my BIG argument about the movie visually is the terrible action scene at the end involving the most fake-looking giant squid ever seen on film. I can't imagine, even in 1942, that people would have seen and believed this segment at all. In fact, I would think they probably would have laughed themselves silly! So, the overall product is a mixed bag. It is definitely entertaining, reasonably well-acted (apart from some histrionics here and there) and has fair special effect. It certainly is far from great, but is worth your time.


Cecil Blount DeMille, CB. The original 'Name Above The Title'. No matter what Frank Capra stated it was DeMille who put the Director/Producer over the title. His was a name that brought in the public and their money when Capra was still a 'gag man' for Mack Sennett. From the first feature film in Hollywood, THE SQUAW MAN (1914) to his last production, THE BUCCANEER (1958) he represented HollyWoods commercial success.

With DeMille people fall into two (2) camps. We HATE that hack and his hokey movies or we love him for he put our dreams on the screen. We fall into that second group seeing our first DeMille film circa 1957 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956). My brother was four (4) and I was six (6) and we were enthralled with CB from then on. He dared to put BIG THINGS on the screen. They may not of always worked but he was unafraid to do them, stretching the envelope technically and did not give a damn what his critics thought and neither do we.

REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) was his second color film and we saw it in a re-release circa 1958. The plot is typical DeMille, obscure historical incident blown up for the big screen. Romance triangle punctuated by action sequences leading to a rousing conclusion. The film is well cast with Paramount Stars Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland. Not able to get Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power CB obtained John Wayne who turned in a credible and sincere performance. Milland stood up well to the 'Duke' and Ms. Goddard was a radiant love interest. A young Susan Hayward also showed her stuff with Robert Preston. Over shadowing all was Raymond Massey as the head villain with stooge Victor Kilian. Not to be forgotten was the CB stock company, from players who were with him during the silent era to Akim Tamiroff in a voice over for the 'Lamb'. Paramounts special visual effects wizard Gordon Jennings led that team and garnered a Oscar and Victor Young provide the score. Music being very important in carrying some of the fantastic goings on. Especially the Giant Squid scene that was directed underwater by CB himself.

The one (1) thing we never understood about CB is that he left many (BETTER) projects go fallow after investing money and time developing them. A few were THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, TITANIC and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. Two (2) were done by George Pal with CB as uncredited producer. It would have been very interesting to see how these would have turned out if made in the 1930s. Just thinking about the casting and how the special visual effects would have been done is a fascinating mind game.


I loved this movie. All the stars were at their peak. They looked so glamorous and young and vital in their careers. I loved Paulette Goddard.

In my personal opinion, she has been overlooked by so many. She was a wonderful beautiful star. Can't believe in the re-release they put Susan Hayward ahead of Paulette. Hayward had a very small part. Paulette was the star of the movie. It's not the first time they have put Goddard last. Too bad. I think she's terrific. She had the ability to do comedy as well as drama. And she was a very gorgeous woman. That wonderful laugh of hers.


I don't know of any other Wayne film before the forgettable '47 "Tycoon" that was filmed in color. All those classic '40s Republic westerns and war movies were filmed in B&W. After his epic B&W western "Union Pacific", DeMille had the clout to insist all his future works be filmed in Technocolor, a rare luxury treatment in the '40s. Color became much more common and eventually standard as the '50s rolled on. This was a very important edge Hollywood had over TV in the '50s, until color TVs became common in the '60s.

This film is perhaps my favorite Wayne flick(if we can consider it a Wayne film, as he didn't get top billing). I've seen it several times. The Technicolor treatment is certainly one reason, but I'm also hooked on DeMille's better films(In spite of several other fine '39 westerns, "Union Pacific" is my clear favorite for that year). The general style of the present film apes that of "Gone with the Wind", to which it is often disparagingly compared. I've never been a big fan of the latter. If given a choice, I would see DeMille's film again. It is also commonly compared to Wayne's latter film,"The Wake of the Red Witch", which I have not seen, but is said to be largely a reworked version of the present film.

Considering the age of this film, I thought the DVD transfer quality excellent, with vivid colors. From the included background extras, we learn that much of the shooting took place on location in Charleston and the Key West area. However, the under water scenes were done in a huge tank. Both Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward tried out for the role of Scarlett in "Gone with the Wind". It is speculated that Ms. Goddard lost out partly because of her uncertain official relationship with her lover of recent years, Charlie Chaplin. By the time the present film was begun, this relationship was over.

There are many complexities to this film and so many interesting, if sometimes stock, characters. I thought all the main characters and most of the supporting characters were well cast. Captain Jack and Steve Tolliver seemed destined to be at each other's throats throughout the story. Yet, occasionally they fought together against a common enemy and helped the other in a desperate situation. Captain Jack is a tragic character, sometimes in hot water through no fault of his own, yet performing a dastardly deed to help win his love that precipitates the demise of many of the main characters. Raymond Massey sheds his Lincoln and John Brown images to become an engaging masterful villain. I found his performance in the courtroom, as Captain Jack's lawyer, riveting. In fact, the whole courtroom scene was masterfully done. In one of the many convoluted relationships, Susan Hayward's character falls for Massey's handsome younger brother, who lives in his brother's shadow as a marginal villain. This romance, on the sneak, will become central to the tragic and redemptive events near the end of the story. I thought the talking dog and mischievous pet capuchin served well to provide some comic relief. I also enjoyed Lynne Overman's portrayal of Captain Phil, a classic old salt and grandfatherly figure. My main gripe is I didn't like the ending: the parting scene specifically. It just didn't ring plausible or just.


I was eight years old when I first saw this movie on the big screen in 1942. It was my first color movie and the scenes with the giant octopus gave me nightmares for a long time after. Today I still enjoy the film for its beautiful color photography, exciting sea scenes and fine performances from Ray Milland and John Wayne. Wayne is unjustly accused of causing his ship to sink for profit. The story unfolds as he tries to clear his name .Paulette Goddard provides the love interest. The film never drags,whether on land or at sea where some of the most exciting action takes place.The underwater scenes,especially the finale ,are memorable. Supporting cast, score and special effects are all top notch.DeMille directs in his usual showman style. A fine effort from all concerned.


People unfamiliar with John Wayne's vast filmography are often surprised to discover he actually starred in a Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza, although everybody seems to recall "The Film with the Octopus" that Wayne made (it was actually a giant squid, but that's really unimportant). In actuality, DeMille, who early-on saw Duke's potential, twice attempted to team him with Gary Cooper in his productions (he had been seriously considered for the role of Buffalo Bill in "The Plainsman", and as the Mountie Preston Foster ended up portraying in "North West Mounted Police"). Each time, scheduling conflicts and studio pressure curtailed the pairings, and one can only daydream about what might have been...

"Reap the Wild Wind", the one film Duke DID make with DeMille (one of SEVEN 1942 productions he starred in), while not 'top-drawer', is still a rousing Technicolor adventure, offering another of DeMille's 'American history lessons'. A nautical tale set in the Florida Keys in 1840, of salvage ships, their stalwart captains, and greedy profiteers (embodied by Raymond Massey and Robert Preston), the film works best when sticking to the 'physical' action, despite a sparkling performance by Paulette Goddard as the head of one of two rival salvage companies.

Wayne is a hard-headed, impatient skipper who Goddard rescues and falls for, but when lawyer Ray Milland arrives on the scene to investigate Wayne's lost ship, the inevitable 'triangle' develops, with Duke misreading things, and aligning with rival Massey. Milland, top-billed, is given the meatiest role (and is excellent), but Wayne, who eventually comes to his senses, is actually quite good, as well.

Expect little subtlety (this IS a DeMille film!), some 'over-the-top' performances (Massey's hiss-able villain, Lynne Overman's crusty sailor), a 'star-in-the-making' turn by young Susan Hayward (who, 14 years later, would again work with Wayne, in the infamous "The Conqueror"), and the unforgettable (if not quite realistic) climactic confrontation with the squid (which DeMille plays to the hilt, not letting audiences know WHO sacrificed his life until the last moment).

"Reap the Wild Wind", while certainly a career 'boost' for the Duke, is not generally listed among his best films (or DeMille's), but remains an entertaining time-passer from early in WWII, the heady days of John Wayne's meteoric rise to superstardom.


Reap the Wild Wind is Cecil B. DeMille's contribution to such sea-faring adventure classics as The Sea Hawk or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. John Wayne plays a ship captain, Ray Milland plays a lawyer, and Paulette Godard a feisty southern belle who comes between them. There's plenty of fights, a trial, and an entertaining squid. There's Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Louise Beavers, and Raymond Massey. There's a wonderful music score and beautiful Technicolor. There's a playful monkey and a talking dog (coutesy of Milland's ventriloquism). And it begins with DeMille's narration to set the tone for an action-packed, if occasionally talky, picture. This is good old-fashioned filmaking at its finest! For fans of all of the above, plus Hedda Hopper in her last role not playing herself, I highly recommend you definitely seek this one out!


A great movie about high adventure on the seas, with ships being wrecked, pirating, and two beautiful women vieing for the love of two handsome and bold sailors. John Wayne and Robert Preston plays two brothers in love with two cousins Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward. Action packed, even a scene of them going deep into the depths of the ocean. Scenes well done. Ray Miland plays a fop who is after Paulette Goddard who only has eyes for John Wayne. Susan Hayward plays a small part as the sweetheart of Robert Preston. Color is great, costumes very in tune with the period. This is another one of my favorites. One of John Wayne's best films.


This was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who was an overrated hack and most of his movies sucked except a few in the 1930's like Cleopatra and The Crusades. This movie has a great cast that includes Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey and also Susand Hayword and Charles Bickford in small roles. Wayne doesn't have the starring role and he and Milland are both in love with Goddard but she can't make up her mind. Massey is the villain who sinks other ships so he can get the cargo but Wayne and Milland don't trust each other and they strike up an uneasy partnership that doesn't go over too well. It's a decent movie but i couldn't help thinking that John Ford would of done a much better job of directing this movie.