The Devil at 4 O'Clock is a 1961 disaster film with elevated themes, starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Somewhat of a precursor to the disaster movies of the 1970s, such as The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno, the movie The Devil at 4 O'Clock was far from being the first of the genre - and certainly not the last - but it has become somewhat overshadowed in the light of later films of this sort and because other, more popular and renowned Sinatra films were released around the same time as this. At the time of release, Spencer Tracy said of Sinatra that " Nobody at Metro (MGM) ever had the financial power Sinatra had today."
Plot
Set on fictional tropical island of Talua (about 500 miles from Tahiti), Father Doonan (Spencer Tracy), has been relieved of his duties by Father Perreau (Kerwin Matthews). Father Doonan has fallen out of favor with the island's residents because he stumbled on the island's carefully hidden secret (Hansen's Disease or leprosy) among the children of the islands. He built a hospital for the children up the island's volcano. Meanwhile, three convicts Harry (Frank Sinatra), Charlie (Bernie Hamilton) and Marcel (Gregoire Aslan), enroute to Tahiti, make an unexpected stop on the island and they are put to work at leper hospital. All is seemingly normal, until the island's volcano begins to erupt and the Governor (Alexander Scourby) orders an evacuation. The governor can not reach the freighter that just left the island and plans to evacuate the island with one seaplane and a schooner. The children are still on the slope of the volcano in the hospital and Father Doonan is desperate to rescue them. When the freighter suddenly appears back at the island. Father Doonan convinces the island's governor to drop some men to rescue the children. The schooner agrees to wait until 4:00 PM the next day for them before he had to leave due to the tides.
The convicts agree to parachute to the hospital with Father Doonan to rescue the children and staff of the hospital in hopes of getting their sentences commuted by the authorities. They face fire, lava, earthquakes, and dwindling time to escape to safety. All must work together if any are to survive.
Eventually, most of the children and the staff are rescued and board the schooner. Prisoner Marcel drowns in a mud pit. Charlie is fatally hurt when the bridge he is holding up to reinforce, collapses and fatally injures him after everyone else is across. Father Doonan stays with him. Harry sees the children and staff to the schooner and goes back to wait with his friends. He is trapped on one side of the chasm while Father Doonan and Charlie are on the other side. Father Doonan gives Charlie the last rites when he dies and begins to ask for forgiveness for his sins as the entire island explodes (a la Krakatoa) in a volcanic paroxysm.
Special Effects
Shot on location in Hawaii and California, a "volcano" had to be specially built on farmland outside of Fallbrook, California, which was detonated using almost a ton of explosives. The explosion nearly killed the helicoptor pilot and camera man while filming the explosion. The effects were considered so good that they have been re-used as stock footage over the years.
Critical reception
Opening to mostly good, if not glowing reviews, Variety commented on the "exceptional special effects" and praised the acting, noting that "Tracy delivers one of his more colorful portrayals in his hard-drinking cleric who has lost faith in his God, walloping over a character which sparks entire action of film. Sinatra's role, first-class but minor in comparison, is overshadowed in interest by Aslan, one of the convicts in a stealing part who lightens some of the more dramatic action."
NME would say that "Although slightly sentimental, the films comes off well thanks to messrs Tracy and Sinatra."
Cast
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