Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Crappy film

Absolutely Brilliant!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

When I was a lad, in the Cutler Ridge Cinema, after having paid 10 cents, and spent a buck at the Rexall Candy aisle.. jeez, no wonder my teeth rotted by 14! Anyway, as I was saying, Id sit in the theater among other kids my age, in plush (to me) theater seats, looking at the most marvelous blue screen.. sweeping from side to side in a grand arc, the glory of CINERAMA. The reverse embossed edge of the screen spilled the color into the front 10 rows of the seats. I saw many a good 60'z s sci fi like The Lost World, with David Hedison and Claude Rains, the original Voyage to The Bottom of the Sea movie with Walter Pidgeon as Admiral Nelson.I saw Krakatoa, East of Java in such a theater. Then it was the quintessential volcano movie with spectacular fireworks, a monstrous tidal wave that wipes out all of Sumatra.. and Java and everything else, by the looks of it. The human story is a droll treasure hunt looking for a box full of sacs of large perfect pearls, lost when a woman loses track of her husband and now cast-a-way son. Maximillian Schell plays a crusty but benevolent captain of a steel boat called the Batavia Queen. He is money-whipped into taking a group of convicts that look like they just got up out of the pit at Devils Island.Also are a father son team of balloonists (Sal Mineo's last film I believe) A deep sea explorer who has brought along an experimental diving bell, and a laudanum junkie ex diver played by Brian Keith and his floozy wife.."and smokers!". Ooops, I forgot the Japanese pearl divers (Toshi et el), although Sal Mineo says Tushy.. I swear.The cheesy soundtrack is peppered with amateurish musical numbers, a pseudo-Beachboy tenor obbligato.piece.Java Girl.Even when I saw this movie the first time, I knew the plastic volcano mountain was hokey. Krakatoa was a gentle island volcano with a low slope, not the alpine Matter-cano in the film. Also it is located WEST, not EAST of Java, but that would have made a clumsy title.. Krakatoa, West of Java.. doesn't click does it? Anyway, I bought the DVD cause I collect sorry cheesy B movies like this. That it has such screen greats as Schell, Keith, Brazzi, Mineo and Baker among others, is a definite plus. Well worth the $5.99!

The film's title invites the irresistible observation, and convenient movie review, "Krakatoa is West of Java." The movie's story is likewise without direction. For what seems like an interminable length of time, the volcano Krakatoa spurts and sputters -- you are teased by the threatening eruption. During this time, the film should be providing its great characterizations; so, you really care about the people who are soon to be blanketed with volcanic lava and/or tsunami waters. That doesn't exactly happen.Some of the special effects are explosive. Stars Maximilian Schell (as Captain Hanson) and Diane Baker (as Laura) are fine performers, who seem to be trying their best with the material. Brian Keith (as Connerly) is wasted. Sal Mineo (as Leoncavallo) is the best supporting player; though the director cuts away from him a little too soon following a nice "goodbye" scene with father Rossano Brazzi, it shows the most unused potential. Mr. Mineo resembles Marlon Brando in pensive medium shots -- too bad he didn't get more Brando-caliber scripts. **** Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) Bernard L. Kowalski ~ Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Sal Mineo

Turnner Classic recently ran this in the early stages of it's Oscar Fest. It is not any more ready for an Oscar, even less now than when it was nominated.Brian Keith is the sole reason I watched the film. The plot seemed to be put together by a bunch of writers who wanted to get paid in 1969.The Special Effects nomination this film got was a gift. When you watch it & compare it with earlier films by George Pal, these effects look pretty cheesy. It seems like the volcano just keeps erupting all the way through the film but you can tell that the ship is nowhere near it when it is on screen because you never see the mountain & the ship in the same shot. Not the first time Oscar has erred in a nomination though it might have gotten it because special effects were not dominate in other 1969 releases.Overall, this film is for Brian Keith fans, but it is not a Family Affair.

Resolutely old-fashioned, corny yet undeniably entertaining sea-faring adventure set in 1883. Maximilian Schell is cast as the most polite, soft-spoken ship's captain I've ever seen; he's on a mission to find a sunken ship off the coast of Singapore and raid it of its treasures. He brings several passengers aboard (a divorcée looking for her young son, father and son thrill-seekers, a deep-sea diver with bad lungs, etc.), as well as thirty shackled prisons whom he keeps down in the ship's galley. Great-looking movie originally released in the widescreen, three-camera Cinerama process, though the narrative is shaky from the beginning and the second-half is overloaded with repetitive volcanic explosions. The opening multi-screen montage of skin-divers and sunsets is beautifully presented--until you realize it's actually made up of scenes from the film which have yet to occur! The large cast is alternately wooden and unhappy, though the cinematography and special effects are good and DeVol's music score is rousing. Not a classic from the disaster movie genre, and saddled with a geographically incorrect title, but one that hopes to provide something for everyone. It's silly, but still quite a thrilling ride. *** from ****