User reviews

The Devil at 4 O'Clock is directed by Mervin LeRoy and adapted to screenplay by Liam O'Brien from the novel of the same name written by Max Catto. It stars Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Kerwin Mathews, Jean- Pierre Aumont, Grégoire Aslan, Bernie Hamilton, Barbara Luna and Cathy Lewis. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc.

Pleasantly old fashioned film making, a disaster movie from the early 60s that boasts star appeal and nifty effects for the era. Plot finds Tracy as Father Doonan, a cleric who has lost his faith and likes a tipple or two. Ensconsed on a pacific island that houses a children's leper hospital, Father Doonan is to be relieved of his duties by Father Joseph Perreau (Mathews).

Enter three convicts who have to stop by the island, fronted by angry agnostic Harry (Sinatra), the cons are put to work in the leper hospital just as the island volcano decides it is time to erupt and level the island post haste.

What transpires sees a race against time formula adhered to, with added slices of sacrifice and redemption unfurled for our emotionally tickled enjoyment. It's undeniably too long at over two hours, really stretching the premise to breaking point, but such is the fine work of cast, photographer and director, it rounds out as spiffing entertainment. Great ending as well! 7/10

Turner Classic Movies is my favorite cable channel. I have worked in the production industry for twenty years, and have picked up a few film degrees. TCM is a goldmine. I was not familiar with this film, and am pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is a precursor to the 70s disaster films, in a way, but still a worthy film for Tracy and Sinatra.

Today, the film would be saddled with an obligatory happy ending, so the realism, per se, of this script is welcomed. The heroism is earned, not dictated.

All in all, worth the two hours. And since IMDb now requires ten lines in order for a comment to post, I will continue typing. If ONLY most "posters" could LIMIT themselves to ten lines.

THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK is a disaster film about inhabitants of a remote Caribbean island struggling to escape from the volcano which has begun to erupt on the island. Although I'm a fan of the disaster film genre, I'd never heard of this film before watching, so perhaps it sank without trace. In any case it's a solid enough piece of entertainment with much in common with the likes of KRAKATOA - EAST OF JAVA and WHEN TIME RAN OUT.

One of the most interesting things about DEVIL is the cast. Frank Sinatra headlines as another likable rogue of the kind he did so well. Old-timer Spencer Tracy is a delight as the hard-headed priest who essentially runs the island while the French bores in charge look on. Sinbad star Kerwin Mathews is here too as the young priest sent to replace a retiring Tracy. The supporting cast includes Barbara Luna, a truly exotic-looking beauty, and Bernie Hamilton as one of Sinatra's fellow cons. Hamilton would later go on to TV stardom in STARSKY & HUTCH.

I think it's fair to say that THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK is a dated film and the special effects haven't held up particularly well, the back projection being a stand out. The first hour is a little slow too. However, once the disaster scenario kicks in, it becomes exciting and often gripping entertainment, and the ending is unexpectedly emotional. Solid Hollywood entertainment, in other words.

A star-packed disaster soap opera that's sort of a precursor to such 70s disaster films as "Earthquake". Fortunately, the characters are three-dimensional enough to hold our interest even in the non-action parts, while the big disaster scenes are technically good and hold up well. The film overdoes the religious and messianic angle a bit, but is certainly a pleasant time-filler. (**1/2)

I've always been of the firm belief that it is not possible to do a bad film in the South Pacific. Just the cinematography alone is a guarantee for me to enjoy it and you will enjoy The Devil at 4 O'Clock for that reason alone if nothing else.

It's entirely possible that Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra agreed to do the film for a vacation to Hawaii and who could blame them. But in fact with Mervyn Leroy directing, the two of them starred in a very nice story about a priest losing and regaining his faith.

Spencer Tracy is in his fourth and final film as a priest. He was sent many years ago to this tropical paradise under French colonial administration. It's a lush green place with a very large volcano.

Tracy also saw a need for a children's hospital for lepers which was still prevalent among the population. The other islanders didn't share his vision to put it mildly. Their own callousness drove him from his faith and started him drinking and doing other sins.

Anyway he's being recalled and a new priest, Kerwin Matthews, is being sent to replace him on the island and in the hospital which is located halfway up the volcano slope. Arriving on the same plane for layover are three convicts, Frank Sinatra, Bernie Hamilton, and Gregoire Aslan, who are bound for prison in Tahiti.

Wouldn't you know it, the volcano erupts and the only men who are able to help Tracy with the hospital patients and staff getting them down the mountain and evacuated are the three convicts.

It's quite a journey, all of the people involved discover hidden wellsprings of character.

Of course the two stars have great roles. There's enough of the hipster Sinatra there to recognize, but he too is transformed by the experience. This maybe the only film where he plays someone who is actually from where old Blue Eyes was born in real life, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Spencer Tracy had stopped playing traditional leading men long before this. He had an aversion to make up in general and was the least vain of leading male stars about growing old. Tracy's face and the sincerity with which he speaks his lines keep his performance from becoming maudlin. He has a powerful moving scene comforting the dying Bernie Hamilton and renewing his own lapsed Catholicism.

The only thing I fault The Devil at 4 O'Clock for is that Humphrey Bogart did not live long enough to do the part Sinatra did. Tracy and Bogey were a great mutual admiration society and way back in 1931 they did a film for John Ford, Up the River, which was Tracy's screen debut and Bogey's second film. They never got to work together again, but became great friends and Tracy was a frequent visitor along with Katharine Hepburn to Bogart when he was dying.

As good as Sinatra was, this part was made for Humphrey Bogart. I have a feeling had he lived with a bit of rewriting, this could have been their joint co-starring vehicle.

What a classic that would have been.

This pretty much the way to make a movie, and a movie that is 8/10 is a film, so this is pretty much the way to make a film as well.

It is one of those that is best seen without a spoiler, without knowing what will happen, because there are some surprises in store, as a drama becomes a high octane action adventure.

In order not to spoil it, I will say it is the story of three convicts on an island, who establish a working relationship with a priest and his young replacement. Like most "cult" films, the characters appear to us as clichés at first, and then emerge into multiple dimensions, pretty much the way people appear to do so if you meet them in real life, so this is very fair.

Tracy and Sinatra are gigantic names, and easily recognizable. But while they do superb jobs, they wouldn't be enough to make a movie great. This movie is well written, with many great characters. The situations are believable, and all of the action is believable.

In fact, it is probably too realistic to be made today. It is a ride to be taken and not spoiled.

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.

This film has been firmly entrenched in my mind since i first saw it in 1974 at the age of seven. I have often thought about it, sometimes forgetting the title, but never forgetting the horror i felt at seeing the explosions and the flowing lava, and feeling the panic of the characters. Man's insignificance and helplessness against mother nature is portrayed with a sense of evil; Not unlike lord of the Flies. Every now and then, it has been replayed on TV, so i have watched it again and refreshed my memory. Even though older now, and more Desensitised to that type of stuff i have enjoyed reflecting as i watch it again. I feel that it set a standard for others to come, with a mixture of suspense, heroism and tragedy that certainly leaves no punches pulled.

A crusty, eccentric priest (Spencer Tracy) recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.

Some say the film was a precursor to the disaster films of the 1970s, such as The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno. I can see that, although I never would have made that connection myself.

Because of Tracy's demand of top billing in any movie he starred in, Sinatra ceded top-billing in order to secure Tracy for the film. The film was the most expensive that Columbia Pictures had ever made. This was a wise move on Sinatra's part, because Tracy really makes the picture. Although the convicts are great, this is one of Tracy's better roles (and it helps that Hepburn is not around to slow him down).

I have watched The Devil at 4 O'Clock several times on Turner Classic Movies, the BEST channel on television. It is a spiritual movie without being syrupy or preachy. The acting is superb, especially Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. It is not the type of movie that would be produced today... no violence, filthy language, or sex. What is does have is the redemption of the main characters and their rediscovered or newly acquired faith.

The music complements the movie's theme. I am going to purchase this film because it has a timeless story and is entertaining at the same time. Spencer Tracy was able to convey so much with facial expressions and gestures that seem completely realistic unlike the stilted Method Acting technique ( which seems to me so patently artificial). I rate this film an eight out of ten.

Bombs are interesting things. The really good ones, when they have done their work, leave as the only evidence they have ever existed the destruction that remains. THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK is not that kind of bomb. No long term damage appears to have been done to anyone's career. However, one would not expect so anticipated and expensive a movie to, like the island, disappear without a trace… In THE DEVIL AT 4'OCLOCK not one cliché is left unturned. Spencer Tracey plays a combative, faithless priest; Sinatra plays the wiseguy leader of trio of smarmy, `harmless' convicts; Kerwin Matthews (wasted) plays a idealistic young priest; Barbara Luna plays a `too good to be true' blind girl; we have a athiestic, Samaritan doctor, a reformed prostitute…and on and on. The performances are so good (especially the radiant Barbara Luna) and production so handsome and assured, one could forgive the excesses and melodrama except for the wretched ending. Even thought he writing has been so bad to that point, one still must wonder if the ending was changed to suit Frank Sinatra's ego.

At the risk of being disrespectful and sacrilegious, I still cannot help but ponder. When Sinatra and Tracey reached the pearly gates, and if St. Peter told them, `You must spend a [hopefully] brief time in Purgatory.' `What was it,' they asked, `The drinking,? The fighting? The swearing? The adultery?' `None of those,' St. Peter replied, `It was THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK.'

A disaster movie , a decade before the seventies craze ;"the devil at four o'clock " has a first par which does not make the viewer use the fast forward button to get to the erupting vulcano .A modern "the last days of Pompeii " , the first part deals with faith ;Spencer Tracy is a colorful grumpy priest ,whose flock deserted him,because of his hospital for lepers which spoils tourism and scares the inhabitants of this island ; a younger colleague (Kerwin Matthews) has almost nothing to say and his part is almost pointless ; there's a French atmosphere ,which pilot Jean-Pierre Aumont 's delightful Parisian accent reinforces.As for the convicts , their role is thoroughly passive ,and it's hard to believe that these criminals (should we believe the governor) will become heroes in the second part. Maybe they've got nothing to lose;or they have been inspired,after Tracy saved them from an inhuman treatment .Tracy completely outshines his co-star Sinatra.

The devil of the title ,unless one speaks of the volcano (Hell?), is irrelevant,for the message is Christian : if the old priest puts again his faith in God ,three convicts redeem their soul:"there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."(St Luke) ;That's why ,in spite of many implausibilities in the second part, the movie becomes more than the disaster movies of the following decade with their cardboard characters ."

An alcoholic missionary (Spencer Tracy) and three convicts (Frank Sinatra, Bernie Hamilton, Grégoire Aslan) work to save a colony of leper children from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano. In the high adventure tradition of "The Guns of Navarone"!. In the great high-adventure tradition of "The Guns of Navarone" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai"!. They jumped into hell to save part of heaven !. It was Father Perreau who arrived, Father Doonan who was to be replaced !.

The film is developed through 48 hours of terrific suspense as nature goes on a relentless rampage of destruction. Quality cast barely compensates for mediocre plot. Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra have a battle royal for performance honours in this Pacific island threatened by volcanic eruption. The characters are reminiscent of Graham Greene's. Spencer Tracy is very good , playing one of his ordinary kind roles, as the crusty, eccentric priest who recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony. And Frank Sinatra is pretty fine as the prisoner with a heart of gold who desires his redemption through love. Along with the always great Tracy and Sinatra, a number of pleasant secondary characters appear, lending their due support with their sympathetic performances, such as: Kerwin Mathews, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Grégoire Aslan, Alexander Scourby, Barbara Luna, Cathy Lewis, Bernie Hamilton and Marcel Dalio.

It displays a colorful cinematography by cameraman Joseph F. Biroc, most of the movie was made on location in Hawaii, but the volcanic explosion was shot in California. The island you see in the blast was realy a 200-foot long, 45-foot high pile of lanscaped mud, filled with explosive. Adding a thrilling and imaginative musical score by composer George Duning. This Grand scale catastrophe movie was professionally directed by Mervyn Leroy and it was successful enough. Mervyn was a Hollywood craftsman who earlier made the classic mobster movie : ¨Little Caesar¨ with Edward G. Robinson and furthermore , he produced and partly directed, without credit the studio's classic Wizard of Oz (1939) . He was a typical Hollywood filmmaker who directed a lot of lavish and usually successful movies, such as : ¨Gold Diggers 1933¨ , ¨I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang¨ , ¨Waterloo Bridge¨ , ¨Anthony Adverse¨ , ¨Gypsy¨ , ¨Million Dollar Mermaid, Without Reservations¨ , ¨Little Women¨ that won Academy Award : Oscar 1949 Art Direction/Set Decoration, ¨Thirty seconds over Tokyo¨ and his big hit : ¨Quo Vadis¨ . The picture will appeal to Sintara/Tracy fans and disaster genre enthusiasts. Devil at 4 O'Clock rating: 6.5/10. Well worth watching.

When l'd watched this picture on late night in old TV session called "Corujão" l had stayed stuck by this such greatness, now on DVD experience and matured by so many movies from that, I've no longer think as before, it starting as quite promising concept, great cast, even a foreseeable story, a bit weird, but had a finest well-crafted characters, a dubious and alcoholic Priest, Three scum of mankind as convicts, a former French prostitute who love peppery magazines, a substitute Priest who as a true believer, the iron hand bad temper Governor and at last on a highest mountain a Lepers hospital on Priest's charge, all little children there with that curable disease still understood by newcomers, so the angry Volcano is back, after this point the upcoming events crumbled for themselves, a lot of flaws in every frame, parachute jumps to nowhere, a fake volcanic lava flow, rains extinguish fire, a convict Marcel sank in the mug who actually was the most amuzing character on lousy lines, Sinatra in a sudden marriage at nearby cave, anyway all going mad, spoiling a gripping premise, without forget the bridge's final scenes, a true far-fetched ending, Krakatoa is back....but at least enjoyable neither!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1985 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.25

I've always thought this would be a good film to show problem kids in a group home: the film presents great values of friendship, loyalty, love and self-sacrifice (among a group of convicts) and the possibility of "redemption" through these values. The story is melodramatic (bordering on operatic!) but, if you accept the old-fashioned style of movie-making, it really works. As with all classic films, this is one you can watch over and over for the aesthetics as well as for the story. The acting is fine. The ONLY thing in the film that doesn't hold up, in my opinion, is the scene through the jungle with Frank Sinatra carrying the blind girl on his back: it looks a bit comical to a modern viewer.

A sea-plane bound for Tahiti, carrying three prisoners and a young priest, stops for the night on a small tropical island where tempers--and an angry volcano!--are flaring. Embarrassingly overacted adventure yarn pits salty priest Spencer Tracy with smart-mouthed convict Frank Sinatra in their attempt to save a leper colony of adults and children from the spewing lava. This may be the worst movie ever directed by veteran Mervyn LeRoy, who must have been so overwhelmed with the location shooting in Hawaii and California, the pyrotechnics involved, and the ill health of top-billed Tracy that he allowed the picture to get away from him. Liam O'Brien adapted his weak screenplay from the novel by Max Catto. Once the agonizing preliminaries and character conflicts are out of the way, moments of the perilous escape are worthwhile, and the volcano looks good. *1/2 from ****

This movie has a slow start, but stick with it. The Devil at 4 O'Clock is a great adventure drama. Like all disaster flicks, it has to show you the calm before the storm, so there's quite a bit of time dedicated to the regular island life before the volcano warning. There are lots of actors with thick accents, but if you're able to pay attention, you can hear a fascinating history of leprosy within the island. There's a shelter dedicated to leper children, headed by beloved priest Spencer Tracy. He's about to be replaced, though, because of his temper and unconventional ways (so why is he so beloved?) and on his last day, he oversees a few convicts (including Frank Sinatra) working construction.

When the volcano warning sounds, how many people will be able to make it off the island before it blows up? Incredible special effects mix with real footage of a volcanic explosion to create a very tense atmosphere. Before Dante's Inferno, there was this movie: a group of sick children, three convicts, and a priest all trying to outrun lava flow and make it to the dock by four o'clock. It's very exciting.

I'm sure you can guess my one criticism, since I make it often. Spencer Tracy was too grumpy and angry, without any real reason. Had a different actor been cast, it would have gone from a good movie to a great one. This is still very good, though, and I'll admit to tearing up at the end.

This was a very disappointing film. I sincerely wanted to see good in the film and then be in disbelief that it was such a dud at the box-office. It didn't take long to find out why. The scripts were horrible, and the acting was far from what you would expect from two wonderful talents like Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. Had I been a fly on the wall I believe I would have heard them berating themselves for accepting those roles. Their lackluster acting performances are what you would expect of good actors who are just not really into their characters. Tracy was just so-so, and Sinatra was dull. I could only muster a 5 vote. I am not inclined to upgrade a movie rating just because great actors have roles in it (many voters do).