Tornado

Tornado (1943)

A WIND FROM HELL!--blowing life...or DEATH!

The owner of an Illinois coal mine struggles to keep his business in operation, all the while unaware that among his employees is a saboteur planning destruction and chaos.

Date of release
1943-08-09
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 23m
Genres
Drama
Director
William Berke

Casting

Interesting facts

Tornado is a 1943 American drama film directed by William A. Berke and starring Chester Morris and Nancy Kelly.

Production

The film was based on the unpublished novel Black Tornado by John Guedel. (When Guedel was eight years old, his father's factory was destroyed by a tornado.)

In July 1942, Pine-Thomas announced they would make a film of the novel starring their regular male leads, Richard Arlen and Chester Morris, plus Sylvia Sidney. In September 1942 they said Arlen would make the film, which had the working title of Cyclone, after he finished Aerial Gunner. Then in March 1943 it was announced as a vehicle for Morris only, as Black Tornado.

Gail Russell was going to play the role of Sally but then was called in to replace Diana Lynn in a Harry Aldrich film, Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour (1943). Russell was replaced by Gwen Kenyon. Bill Henry was signed off the back of his performance in Pine-Thomas' Alaskan Highway. He later signed a long-term contract with Pine-Thomas.

Nancy Kelly was cast in the female lead. She sang two songs, "Who Done It" and "There Goes My Dream", with music by Frank Loesser and lyrics by Hoagy Carmichael and Frederick Hollander respectively.

Filming took place in April 1943. After the film, Morris signed a deal with Pine Thomas to make three more movies for the company.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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