YMMV / Reap the Wild Wind

• Angst? What Angst?: The last scene of the film shows Loxi and Steve happily getting married, not apparently caring about the horrible deaths of Drusilla and Jack.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Loxi establishes herself as both a Plucky Girl and able to be diplomatic when Cutler tries to insult her in her own house. She calmly says the door is right over there.
  Maume Maria: And it's open!
  • The below-mentioned "Nellie Bee" performance for pure Refuge in Audacity. And Loxi manages to charm Steve through it all.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Captain Phil is a real scene stealer, from his Casual Danger Dialogue to his endless snarking at the other characters.
• Ethnic Scrappy: Pretty much every non-white character (except maybe Maume Maria) is portrayed as dumb, slow talking or silly.
• Fair for Its Day: Even though Loxi's storyline is essentially a love triangle, she's quite a proactive character who takes charge and gets involved in the plot. She's introduced saving Jack's life when his ship is wrecked, and she helps out in fighting off the crew trying to shanghai Steve. She's shown to have a tomboyish streak without affecting her femininity at all.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Loxi and Jack have far more chemistry than Loxi/Steve (helped by the fact that he doesn't spank her!) that many wish Steve had drowned so Jack and Loxi could end up together.
• Funny Moments:
  • Loxi performing the "Nellie Bee" at a party of high society ladies - who were expecting a "sweet, moonlight on the sea" song. The guests are either scandalised or trying not to laugh. When Aunt Henrietta stops the performance, one man starts clapping and then realises he's the only one. Loxi doesn't bat an eye and says "there's still twenty more verses", and her aunt looks ready to faint.
  "But Loxi, how could you know such a song?"
  • Steve is introduced making his dog Romulus appear to talk with ventriloquy. Loxi establishes it as Snark-to-Snark Combat by remarking on the "wonderful pair of performing dogs."
  • The entirety of Loxi and Jack's attempt to get married at sea. The captain is trying to read the vows while also giving orders to his crew - so he shouts at Loxi and Jack, while asking his crew to take each other's hands. One poor guy gets confused and is launched all the way into the crow's nest by a stray rope.
  • Captain Phil in the shanghai attempt gets a cutlass embedded in his sleeve, pinning his arm to the deck. When he's told to put his hands up, he does not hesitate to point out the logic behind that request.
  • The Running Gag of Maume Maria being constantly one-upped by the monkey from Jack's ship.
  • Maria also gets a good one when she's forced to carry all of Loxi and Drusilla's luggage from the ship. The two girls are obliviously Squeeing over Drusilla's new shawl.
  "That's the only thing I ain't been asked to carry!"
  • Jack tries to flirt with Loxi after she asks if he was okay being in a lady's bedroom.
  Jack: It took me a long time to be sure I wasn't in heaven.
  Maume Maria: She ain't no angel!
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Aunt Henrietta being scandalised at Loxi's song is amusing when you learn she's played by Hedda Hopper - the notorious gossip columnist.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Captain Jack Phillips has an ambitious streak and badmouths Steve more than Steve deserves. However, it's hard to deny that things just keep going wrong for him. He's unjustly blamed for wrecking his own ship, is harshly denied the opportunity to command the shipping line's first steamship, and demoted to second mate of an old wreck. His attempts to marry Loxi are repeatedly interrupted and just when his future looks secure, he's left thinking that he'll lose his career and his chance at a future with Loxi. This drives him to join forces with the wreckers and sink the ship he's spent the movie dreaming of commanding. He's immediately exposed put on trial, and forced to see that Loxi is disillusioned with him even before it turns out that her cousin died in the wreck. The Internal Reveal of Drusilla's death causes Jack to face the possibility of being executed, and also leaves him remorseful on a personal level. By the last few scenes, he's utterly aware of how far he's fallen, and has no hope that things will turn out better. The best ending he can get is a Redemption Equals Death fate.
  • Dan Cutler takes part in his brother's shady and destructive wrecking operations and shares a smile with him when they talk about having a witness killed. However, he's very affectionate toward his fiancée Drusilla, and when he finds out that the wreckers' actions killed Drusilla, his heartbreak, remorse, implied Death Seeker tendencies, and murder at the hands of his own brother turn him into a very tragic character.
  • Downplayed with Steve. He's a kind and honorable man for the most part, but his spanking of Loxi and sabotage of her and Jack's attempt to get Married at Sea cost him some likability. Still, it's easy to pity him when Loxi rejects his marriage proposal by saying she's been leading him on to help the man she really loves, then publicly humiliates him at a party. The way that people constantly accuse him of villainous actions while he's striving to do the right thing adds to how pitiable he can be.
  • Downplayed with Ivy. She has several passive Alpha Bitch moments toward Loxi, but her father is dying and the long-time acquaintance she's romantically interested in is ignoring her in favor of a girl he just met.
• Signature Scene: Loxi's Refuge in Audacity at the party where - instead of singing a sweet ladylike song - she performs a sea shanty about rats on board a ship.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Ivy and Drusilla, neither of whom get that much character development. Ivy's position as the strong-willed, but not entirely likable daughter of the dying owner of the shipping line that Jack and Steve work for barely gets any attention. The beginning of Drusilla and Dan's Star-Crossed Lovers relationship is also unexplained.
• Values Dissonance: Although in keeping with the time period the film is set in, the scene where Steve gives Loxi a spanking and is still presented as her 'right' love interest just makes him look abusive to a modern audience.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Giant Squid that appears in the final act of the film. It is a Cecil B De Mille film after all.