Top 10 Films About Extreme Weather!

With much of the east coast of America still in the grips of the worst storm in living memory with Hurricane Sandy causing devastation to anything that comes in its path, we sincerely hope you€™re all wrapped up warm (and most importantly safe) reading What Culture post by post! Whilst being unable to do practically anything because of the extreme weather can be incredibly frustrating €“ the below ten films will make you grateful that you weren't caught in one of these bad boys. Here's What Culture's top ten films about extreme weather!

10. Typhoon (1940)

This film may not be held together by a particularly solid plot, but what it lacks in narrative effectiveness it more than makes up for with fantastic special effects in the climactic scenes. When Johnny Potter (Robert Preston) and Skipper Joe (Lynne Overman) find themselves marooned on a tiny island they are searching for black pearls off, they meet Dea (Dorothy Lamour in all her sarong-wearing glory!) who was swept ashore in her childhood. The trio face attack from native inhabitants of the island, but could an enormous storm that€™s brewing prove their saviour? Typhoon was Paramount€™s answer to 1937's The Hurricane (see later in this list), which had proved a critical and financial success for the studio€™s rival, United Artists. Whilst Paramount€™s effort proved less successful than they had hoped, the film pioneers some tremendous special effects. When the native residents of the island decide to set fire to their homeland in order to oust the trio of protagonists, the imagery is striking as the wilderness is destroyed in ablaze. The typhoon is equally impressive, as it douses the flames of the burning wilds and disposes of the maniacal islanders. Whilst this may scream of politically incorrect ethnic cleansing, it provides an insight into Hollywood€™s turbulent history of ethnic minority representation. Typhoon suggests that the extreme weather is on the side of the good (Caucasian) characters and that it reprimands the evil (ethnic) characters: although this makes for particularly uncomfortable viewing today, it shouldn€™t stand in the way of viewing this film for its impressive visuals. Filmed in exquisite Technicolor, it was one of the first disaster films to capture its character€™s plight in a glorious array of colours. This makes the imagery even more impressive, if taking away from the reality slightly (due to that gaudy Hollywood gleam that early Technicolor features suffered from) and earned Typhoon a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Special Effects.
 
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