‘Reap the Wild Wind’: High Seas Adventure

Legendary director Cecil B. DeMille delivers a fine swashbuckling adventure.

Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard) and Jack Stuart (John Wayne), in “Reap the Wild Wind.” Paramount Pictures

NR | 2h 3m | Action, Adventure, Drama | 1942

Films that open up in violent, dramatic fashion have the ability to capture viewer’s attention right away, especially today when, with ever-diminishing attention spans, people quickly grow bored. Although this method of filmmaking has been used quite a bit, a more unusual wrinkle on this tried-and-true technique is to show one of its main protagonists incapacitated in some dire way.