The Devil at 4 O'Clock

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The Devil at 4 O'Clock
The Devil at 4 O'Clock poster.jpg
Theatrical poster by Howard Terpning
Directed byMervyn LeRoy
Screenplay byLiam O'Brien
Based onThe Devil at 4 O'Clock
1958 novel
by Max Catto
Produced byFred Kohlmar
StarringSpencer Tracy
Frank Sinatra
CinematographyJoseph F. Biroc
Edited byCharles Nelson
Music byGeorge Duning
Color processEastmancolor
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 18, 1961 (1961-10-18) (New York City)
Running time
126 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5,721,786[1]
Box office$4,550,000[1]

The Devil at 4 O'Clock is a 1961 American adventure film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. Based on a 1958 novel with the same title by British writer Max Catto, the film was a precursor to Krakatoa, East of Java and the disaster films of the 1970s, such as The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno.

The film deals with multiple issues of prejudice, against: age, blindness, disease, and alcoholism. It also considers issues of the moral compass: a priest who drinks to excess; and criminals who are capable of acts of self-sacrifice.

Plot[]

A small plane approaches the fictional Pacific island of Talua in French Polynesia, some 500 miles from Tahiti (the planes destination). The plane and its cargo of half a dozen manacled prisoners makes an overnight stop on the island, planning to fly onward the next day.

On the island, Father Doonan has been relieved of his duties by Father Perreau. Father Doonan has fallen out of favor with the island's residents. This is partly because he is an alcoholic, and also because he stumbled on the island's carefully hidden secret: Hansen's Disease (leprosy) among the children of the islands. He built a hospital for the children by the island's volcano. Doonan regularly goes from door to door on the island, trying to persuade the islanders to donate money or goods to the leper colony. However, the inhabitants have grown tired of Doonan's demands for donations and view him as an irritation.

Three convicts from the plane – Harry, Charlie, and Marcel – are put to work at the leper hospital. All is seemingly normal until the island's volcano begins to erupt and the governor orders an evacuation. The governor cannot communicate with the freighter that has just left 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 finds it impossible to find any townspeople willing to help the leper children. He convinces the governor to drop some men to rescue the children. The schooner will wait until 4:00 pm the next day for them before it has to leave because of the tides.

The three criminals try to go on a looting spree while the townspeople are distracted but when they enter the church Father Doonan thinks they have come to volunteer. He says he might be able to convince the authorities to reduce their sentence, so the convicts agree to parachute to the leper hospital with Father Doonan to rescue the children and staff. The children and staff at the hospital cheer as they see the four parachutes come down. They go to find them in the jungle. Marcel has never jumped before and is caught in a tree.

At the hospital they tie the children together in a line, crocodile fashion. The hospital collapses minutes after they leave. They make their way down rocky paths on the mountain-side. En route lava flows in front of and behind them. They have to climb to safety - each adult carrying a child and Harry carrying the blind girl.

On the second day they tire on the long walk down. Harry now carrying a child realises he has been carrying a dead child for miles. He feels personally responsible. They bury her and have a Christian burial service.

They shelter in a cave and pray for rain. Father Doonan confesses that he married Harry and Camille on the way down, as he realises he is a good man. It starts raining so they go out. Marcel is getting on well with Marguerite but steps into a mud-pool and disappears. They reach the timber bridge which they had feared would burn. It is in very bad condition and has a river of lava below. Harry goes first. Father Doonan and Charlie go underneath to manually prop the structure. Charlie takes the whole weight on his back as they all cross. The volcano erupts and the movement breaks the bridge crushing Charlie. Father Doonan is left on the wrong side but the others continue.

Harry escorts to group to the town and get them boarded on the ship. He tells Camille to get on the boat and says "I missed the boat a long time ago". He takes a truck and drives back to the broken bridge.

Father Doonan is comforting the dying Charlie, who is clearly going to die. Harry appears on the opposite side. With the bridge gone neither can reach other but Harry still has a chance to live. He chooses not to use that option. for the end with his friends. Charlie dies and Father Doonan gives him the last rites. Father Doonan and Harry talk and are aware of the silence which precedes a big explosion. They wait on opposite sides of the chasm as the volcano begins to explode and destroy the mountain.

At sea the survivors watch the sky turn red as the whole island explodes.

Cast[]

Production[]

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 helicopter pilot and camera man who were filming it. The effects were considered so good that they have been reused as stock footage over the years.

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.[1]

The film's hazardous walk to the other side of the island, by a group of people trapped by the volcano, was largely copied in the volcano disaster film When Time Ran Out (1980).

Critical reception[]

Among mostly good, if not glowing reviews,[citation needed] 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."[2]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Curtis, James (October 18, 2011). Spencer Tracy: A Biography (1st ed.). Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 797–798. ISBN 978-0307262899.
  2. ^ "Variety Reviews - The Devil at 4 O'Clock - Film Reviews - - Review by Variety Staff". Variety. Vol. 284 no. 5. December 31, 1960. p. 6. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012.

External links[]

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