Slattery's Hurricane(1949)

André de Toth's (HOUSE OF WAX) action-adventure film, coscripted by novelist Herman Wouk (THE WINDS OF WAR), stars Richard Widmark as Will Slattery, a former hot shot Navy pilot forced to reevaluate his past during a dangerous flight into a hurricane. Told with a sweaty, self-castigating voice over, Slattery reflects on how a chance meeting with former Navy buddy, Lieutenant Hobson (John Russell) alters the course of several lives. Slattery smugly denounces Hobson's straitlaced post-war job flying for the Navy weather squadron, while he and girlfriend, Dolores--played by a plain-Jane Veronica Lake (then De Toth's wife) minus her famed "peek-a-boo" locks--both choose to ignore the dangerous dealings of their wealthy and crooked Miami employer. Slattery begins another risky game when he discovers that Hobson's wife, the coldly beautiful Aggie (Linda Darnell), is his former lover. Selfish and willful, Slattery racks up various betrayals with little hope of emerging unscathed. Featuring an edgy performance by Widmark, a noirish, rain-drenched atmosphere, and exciting flying sequences, de Toth delivers another interesting rumination on the consequences of treachery.