The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, destructive fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, double-lashed awnings blown away, bridge sweptclean, weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, light-screens smashed and two of the boats had gone already.
The actors sport hand-sewn satin gowns and rugged leather coats against a realistic backdrop of swampy, methane stench-ridden Five Points and the clean-swept cream-colored sidewalks of Fifth Avenue on a 212, 500 square-foot studio lot.