This film, starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra, is about a priest on an island that has essentially lost his faith. The island has a volcano that starts to erupt and the priest is concerned about evacuating the children's Hospital that he founded. The movie is titled for the fact that after the volcano starts erupting, Father Doonan only has until 4pm to rescue the children before the last boat leaves the island.
The film starts slow and never really recovers from the slow pace. The one high spot of the film is the location shooting in Hawaii which is gorgeous. But this hardly saves the movie. The biggest flaw I found was with the script. The dialogue and action were for the most part dull and uninteresting. I think they could have done a much better job creating and maintaining tension given the extent of the looming disaster.
I thought the special effects were very good for the era. It's amazing that they actually "constructed" the volcano on farmland in California. It looked very realistic. The earthquakes and destruction of the town's buildings were also fairly realistic. I thought some of the studio sets were pretty fake though - like most of the film as they are escaping down the mountain from the volcano. All the rocks, cliffs and vegetation were obviously fake. Especially the rocks, they looked "shiny".
So far as the acting performances, there's a reason no one won, or even got nominated, for awards. There are no intense performances like you would expect when people are in the midst of an apocalyptic disaster. But it mostly comes across as exaggerated acting. There is one tender moment of fine acting near the end from Tracy when he is saying his goodbyes to Charlie and praying to God. I suddenly felt like I was watching an entirely different film, it stood out so much from the rest of the performances. Tracy only appeared in 4 more movies after this one before dying in 1967. Barbara Luna plays the exotic beauty Camille, the blind nurse. You may remember her from Star Trek, or "One Life to live" (Maria Roberts - "the bitch everyone loves to hate). I have never seen eyes so dark.
I must say for a film made by Hollywood, where they usually laugh at spiritual matters - there is a pretty good message of redemption and forgiveness here. The theme of a disillusioned priest rediscovering his faith reminds of a similar message in "Signs". But unlike the latter, this film didn't enjoy the same box office success. Now, I see why. Too bad.
The film starts slow and never really recovers from the slow pace. The one high spot of the film is the location shooting in Hawaii which is gorgeous. But this hardly saves the movie. The biggest flaw I found was with the script. The dialogue and action were for the most part dull and uninteresting. I think they could have done a much better job creating and maintaining tension given the extent of the looming disaster.
I thought the special effects were very good for the era. It's amazing that they actually "constructed" the volcano on farmland in California. It looked very realistic. The earthquakes and destruction of the town's buildings were also fairly realistic. I thought some of the studio sets were pretty fake though - like most of the film as they are escaping down the mountain from the volcano. All the rocks, cliffs and vegetation were obviously fake. Especially the rocks, they looked "shiny".
So far as the acting performances, there's a reason no one won, or even got nominated, for awards. There are no intense performances like you would expect when people are in the midst of an apocalyptic disaster. But it mostly comes across as exaggerated acting. There is one tender moment of fine acting near the end from Tracy when he is saying his goodbyes to Charlie and praying to God. I suddenly felt like I was watching an entirely different film, it stood out so much from the rest of the performances. Tracy only appeared in 4 more movies after this one before dying in 1967. Barbara Luna plays the exotic beauty Camille, the blind nurse. You may remember her from Star Trek, or "One Life to live" (Maria Roberts - "the bitch everyone loves to hate). I have never seen eyes so dark.
I must say for a film made by Hollywood, where they usually laugh at spiritual matters - there is a pretty good message of redemption and forgiveness here. The theme of a disillusioned priest rediscovering his faith reminds of a similar message in "Signs". But unlike the latter, this film didn't enjoy the same box office success. Now, I see why. Too bad.