This cinematic oddity from 1969 is actually interesting in many ways. It was one of the last movies to be filmed in Cinerama (a widescreen process similar to today’s IMAX) and one of the first to use stereo Surroundsound. It’s also a precursor to the many Irwin Allen disaster flicks of the 1970s such as THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and WHEN TIME RAN OUT not to mention such volcano epics such as DANTE’S PEAK and VOLCANO. It is also has a script that a B movie producer would have turned his nose up at but when you get performers like Maximillian Schell, Brian Keith, Sal Mineo, and SOUTH PACIFIC’s Rosanno Brazzi to appear in it along with singing Asian children, female pearl divers, and a Jules Verne style scenario…how can you resist?
There appears to be something for everyone in the overall mix within the limits of a G rating. KRAKATOA is Hollywood hokum meets new technology for the special effects were awesome for the time especially if you got to see it on a giant screen as I first did with pre-Dolby Surroundsound. If it could be refitted for today’s IMAX theaters it would still be impressive. As it is on this restored MGM DVD it’s still worth seeing although there will be black bars on the top and bottom as it has not been anamorphically enhanced. It will bring back memories for many while still being capable of enthralling young children if they see it before they get too exposed to newer stuff.
The time is August 1883, the setting is Krakatoa, an island in the Dutch East Indies (which was actually WEST of Java). A cargo ship named the BATAVIA QUEEN is hoping to recover a cargo of pearls from a recent shipwreck. On board are a variety of characters including the stalwart ship’s captain (Schell), a laudanum addicted diver (Keith) and his female entertainer companion, a widow attracted to the captain, an Italian father (Brazzi) and his rebellious son (Mineo) along with a devious convict with plans of his own. The Jules Verne angle comes in with the use of an experimental diving bell that will allow them to go to the ocean floor to recover the pearls (remember this is 1883). Naturally things do not go smoothly as the convicts take over the ship and the celebrated volcano is getting ready to blow.
The original running time was to have been 147 minutes but it was cut to 131 minutes for the film’s release. This may explain some of the choppy quality of the narrative although nothing could have saved the script which makes Cecil B. DeMille sound like Shakespeare. Still when it’s time for the effects, they do not disappoint especially on today’s huge flatscreens with impressive sound reproductions. Speaking of DeMille, it’s the sort of movie he would have made had he still be around and that should tell you everything you need to know. Good, old fashioned fun from a different era of moviemaking.
The Capsule Critic 