Krakatoa: East of Java

As his debut motion picture, director Bernard Kowalski has done a great job by filming and editing this movie. This movie still holds water and attracts audience to a spell binding show of volcanic eruption, terrific tsunami and the human gall and fighting spirit in the face of death and disaster. Taking into consideration, the time when it was filmed i.e. in late sixties, when filming techniques were not as refined and advanced as now and the special effects department lacked the present cutting edge computer graphic technology, it is, by far a great effort and thrilling experience that re-creates and re livens the colossal natural calamity of the late nineteenth century.

Being a big Krakatoa buff, and a lover of disaster movies in general, I had great expectations for this film, especially given that it had a decent cast of capable, well-known 60's actors. However, this movie is an absolutely stunning (as in, being hit with a blunt object) example of why films need editors who know what they are doing. The scenes just seem to be thrown together and change so abruptly that you sometimes wonder if you are still watching the same movie. An example: a scene where Krakatoa is spewing cinders and lava, darkening the sky to almost black, as the passengers of the Battavia Princess look on solemnly - suddenly changes to clear blue sky, with happy people cavorting on the deck while the insipidly upbeat theme song plays cheerfully in the background. There are glaring incongruities, such as scantily clad girls diving happily into an ocean which in a previous scene was littered with dead fish and birds killed by the volcano. Many of the plot elements are ridiculous because they were poorly researched (among them the glaring fact that Krakatoa is actually west of Java), and others which were researched are skimmed over so as to be rendered almost insignificant (such as the piercing whistle created by steam escaping from Krakatoa's vent - an occurrence which must have been truly terrifying but which is treated as "Well, that was weird, what's for dinner?"). Way too much time is spent on silly subplots, such as a search for sunken treasure. In the opening scenes, we see a group of school children, frightened by the loud explosions. In a later scene, they are rescued from a dingy - but we never find out how they came to be there (never mind the fact that in reality, they would have been doomed no matter where they were). The saddest thing is, in the hands of a capable editor and research department, this could have been an excellent film, at least in the same category as Titanic. Instead, we get dull action, contrived plot devices, an absolutely horrendous musical score, and very little of what was likely the most spectacular natural disaster in recorded history. I agree with the commentator who suggested that this movie would make a great candidate for a remake. With the right director, a better script, a competent editor and a dash of CGI, the eruption of Krakatoa could be the back drop for some very impressive storytelling.

Director Bernard L. Kowalski's resume reveals that he was more suited to television than movies, and that's apparent in the distinct lack of grandeur that accompanies this movie. It's a historical adventure film based on the real-life eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883 and like later, modern-era disaster epics such as THE TOWERING INFERNO the storyline gives us a bunch of characters in a single location forced to deal with the ensuing disaster staples. Unfortunately, for those of us hoping for mucho destruction, it's not until the last half hour or so that things begin to (literally) hot up, with a plethora of miniature effects used to simulate the eruption. It doesn't disappoint but it comes far too late. The first hour is s-l-o-w in the extreme. The supporting characters are numerous and not drawn very well, so they end up feeling like clichés: the group of inmates you just know are going to escape at some point; the square-jawed captain with the Steve Reeves beard; the drug-addicted diver and the heroic young Italian. The movie has an episodic feel to it, with one incident following another: there's the bit with the hot air balloon, the bit with the diving bell, the scene with the divers, then the volcano eruption at the end. When there's stuff going on it's enjoyable, but in-between you'll be chomping at the bit for the next occurrence. Casting could have been better, not that the actors have much to do. Brian Keith bags the most interesting role as the laudanum-swigging diver while Maxmilian Schell plays little more than a clean-cut one-dimensional hero type. Diane Baker is shrill and irrelevant, but Barbara Werle does better, especially in an amusing impromptu song-and-dance/striptease sequence. Other actors, like father/son team Rossano Brazzi and Sal Mineo, barely register. For instance, there just isn't enough time to develop the latter's romantic sub-plot with too much time spent on Baker's uninteresting histrionics.

One can only imagine that the Todd-AO and Cinerama formats appeared spectacularly on the huge movie theater screens of 1969, because it doesn't translate very well to even a 50+ inch home theater screen today. The movie contains several aerial scenes (and others featuring back-and-forth camera pans), designed to immerse the audience into the action, which just don't work for a TV viewer. Hence, without delivering the intended experience, these sequences feel much too long. But it was obviously impressive enough back then to earn this adventure drama an Academy Award nomination for its Special Effects (Best Visual Effects), though the only other nominee that year (Marooned) won, earning Robie Robinson an Oscar for his only work in film. Obviously it was a weak year for the category. Additionally, the DVD version I watched didn't take advantage of surround sound; my sub-woofer sat silent during the plethora of explosions and volcano eruptions, which made the 131 minutes seem even longer. As for the rest of it, the disaster-adventure's story is fairly typical, and largely of secondary importance; contrived subplots slog towards the climactic historical event. Unfortunately, the dialog is dismal and the acting is laughable at times (Diane Baker's character is hysterically hysterical); thankfully Oscar winner Maximilian Schell was able to redeem himself and his career in later films. There's a painful-to-watch scene in which Barbara Werle sings while performing a G-rated striptease to Brian Keith, and Rossano Brazzi looks much more weathered than his 52 years should have indicated. Sal Mineo, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon and Marc Lawrence also have shallow roles. Then there's a trio of female pearl divers (who appear only to provide cheesecake) that can swim nearly as deep and stay underwater the same length of time as Schell and Keith can, yet the men are wearing oxygen-supplied diving suits! More nonsense follows: the captain fights a mutiny using a high pressure water hose, probably not available in 1883, yet no one thinks to use it just minutes later to put out the fires caused by the flaming lava rocks falling from the sky. Even the much lauded special effects are repetitious and some were done very cheaply (e.g. the balloon's propeller is made from a movie reel).

having recently watched a science special on the eruption of krakatoa, i thought that this movie might be interesting. i may have seen it when it first came out, i'm not sure. anyway, i dvr'd it and ended up fast forwarding through a lot of it. poor story line, characters, and please, those special effects were pretty poor, when you think this is less than a decade before star wars. just obviously model ships and waves superimposed over people, structures etc. the only interesting parts happened when they focused on the science of the eruption itself--or rather the effects of that. for example, the strange sounds or the explosions in the water. in the science special there were so many eyewitnesses and true stories of survivors. marvelously told along with the true facts about this event. for example, it produced the loudest sound ever heard on earth, rendering the population temporarily deaf. so much could have been done with this movie, had they only stayed with the known facts and truth. so i have to say, if you want the excitement of one the greatest eruptions ever to happen on earth, and interesting personal stories of what happened that day, watch the science special instead. this movie was just plain bad.

This one's definitely a "mixed-bag"; a movie that wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be. Disaster epic? Musical? Psychological drama? Romance? Adventure? Comedy? The producers threw all these elements into "the old stew pot", gave it a brisk stir, and hoped for the best. For one thing, this movie was simply made at the wrong time -- this just wasn't "were it was at" for audiences in 1969; it looked badly dated and inconsequential. It would have fit far better among the B-picture adventure yarns that were being churned out in the 1950's. Yet unfortunately for the producers, it was too early to be part of the "disaster pic" cycle of the mid-Seventies (though they did re-release it under a new name at that time, maybe hoping to recoup their losses?). I don't know the whole story on the production, but it sounds like the producers were very anxious to get "into the can" all the special effects footage they could of volcano and tsunami, without any concept of how it was going to be pieced together. Apparently they started without anything approaching a finished script, and tried to tack together a story during the filming. Continuity is shaky, the subplots seem underdeveloped, so overall the movie has a sloppy, poorly-edited look. I have to wonder if much of it didn't end up on the cutting room floor. This slip-shod approach probably explains how a major motion picture release could contain in it's title such a glaring mistake in geography! The musical score, and especially Mack David's theme song, is lovely, but it's simply MUCH TOO "Sixties" for a movie set in the 1880's. On the whole, the acting is fairly solid. Diane Baker and Barbara Werle share duties in the romance department; unfortunately, Barbara's character "Charley" is a source of much unintended humor. Worst scene of the movie is where she sings and dances (and strips) around the stateroom she shares with Brian Keith. Was this supposed to be "seductive"? I recall being stupefied at this sudden and unexpected musical interlude; Brian Keith however just looks totally bored. The special effects are okay for their time, and there's enough adventure in this movie to at least make it watchable.

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!

I saw this movie when I was a kid. I remembered more dramatic scenes of the eruption and tidal wave then seemed to appear in the movie version of the film. It was the beginning of my interest in earth sciences and natural wonders.I was truly disappointed with the film when I finally received it. I'd put the movie on order and waited a year for it, regretfully so. While waiting for the film to arrive, PBS viewed a documentary on Krakatoa that held my interest for hours and became irritated that I'd not received my movie. I tried looking for special scenes that would contain what I felt was missing, but to no avail. Vote 1 because you don't have a zero.

If only for its Oscar-nominated special effects simulating the fireworks caused by a very active Krakatoa, the film has enough eye appeal to be worth a look. But it's a pity that with a cast of talented actors aboard ship, the script and characters are so one-dimensional that after awhile one's mind wanders to watching for the next special effects sequence--and there are plenty of them to watch. KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA almost looks as if it was designed for the 3D camera, with objects being tossed at the camera from above or below and must have looked even more spectacular on the big theater screen. The studio certainly has spared no expense in handsomely photographing this story of a salvage expedition that turns into a search for buried pearls on a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. It includes a bevy of convicts aboard ship (a plot device that really makes no sense), while Captain MAXIMILIAN SCHELL stays at the helm of his ship steering it into one perilous situation after another and comforting his distraught passengers, including DIANE BAKER as a worried mother whose son is at a convent school near Krakatoa. BRIAN KEITH, ROSSANO BRAZZI and SAL MINEO have cardboard supporting roles but go through their paces with conviction, never seeming to mind the one-dimensional aspect of their characters. Brazzi makes an ill-fated decision to leave the ship for shore when a tidal wave is about to approach and leaves his son (Mineo) aboard ship with the other characters who survive the storm. There's virtually no plot to really hook the viewer into caring about the fate of these wooden characters. Even Schell seems much too calm to be amidst such dire situations involving the safety of his ship but manages to look ruggedly handsome in torn shirt as he watches the fireworks that seem to bombard the ship at various intervals throughout. If the fireworks alone are enough to capture your interest, this is escapist adventure at best--but don't expect a plot that makes much sense. The characters all speak in modern phrases akin to 1969 rather than the late 19th century, an anachronism that gets lost in all the fiery explosions and fireworks of a raging volcano.

Not much to say. The film is awful. First, Krakatoa was WEST of Java, you'd think they could get that right. The story is non existant, the acting abysmal. There appears to be no direction and the editing, especially when the boat is trying to get away from the Island, is laughable. One moment the boat is heading away from the island and then towards it, then east, then west. Awful I gave it 1 because you don't have 0.