Reap The Wild Wind (1942)

Set in the 1840s along the Florida Keys, a headstrong young woman (Paulette Goddard) runs a salvaging company. She becomes involved with two men who fall in love with her: a sea captain (John Wayne) whose ship was purposely wrecked by a ruthless salvager (Raymond Massey) who planned the wreck in order to get the precious cargo and an arrogant dandy (Ray Milland) who runs a shipping company. A robust Technicolor seagoing yarn, Cecil B. DeMille manages to keep his usual pomposity out of the picture so it's quite entertaining on a grand scale, probably his best non-biblical movie. The story is absorbing, the characters colorful and the atmosphere is vivid. Milland's character is a bit off putting for most of the film but Goddard makes for a feisty junior Scarlett O'Hara while Wayne, instead of playing the upright hero, gets a chance at playing a morally ambivalent character. The cast also includes Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Raymond Massey, Charles Bickford, Louise Beavers, Barbara Britton and Martha O'Driscoll.