Krakatoa East of Java – 1969
The special effects for this film were actually very good despite the strangeness of the script. It was a good movie, but it felt a little directionless at times, like it wasn’t sure what kind of movie it was trying to be. And there is a reason I’m commenting on the film as a whole in a review that is supposed to be focused on its special effects. According to my research, things were done backwards. The impressive special effects were all filmed before the script was written, and the script was then put together based on that footage.
There is no doubt that the effects were good. The volcanic eruption that destroyed an entire island was appropriately violent. The smoke and the lava, the fiery rocks, the flaming projectiles, and the massive explosions were staggering. The sequence where the little ship had to slowly escape to the open ocean while molten rock rained down on it was exciting and full of intense action. Then, having survived the escape, our heroes had to batten down the hatches as a super-massive tsunami wave is generated. The tidal wave submerges an entire coastal city where a few of our less fortunate characters flee for their lives.
It was all very cool to watch and but I noticed something strange. There were a few shots that were re-used several times in the film. In it, a spray of smoking rocks and fire shoot out of the mountain, and a small black rock is hurtled from the left side of the screen to the right. I saw that same black rock sail across the screen three, maybe four times. Did they think we wouldn’t notice?
Anyway, there were more effects than just the spectacular eruption and the tidal wave. There was a sequence in which a hot air balloon is blown into the volcano just before it explodes. First the carriage, and then the balloon itself catches fire. The two men have to leap from the burning basket into the ocean. Meanwhile, a man in a diving bell is lowered into the sea to search for a sunken ship. When his air hose is compromised, two men in old-fashioned diving suits are lowered into the water to save him. Four pearl divers also leap into the waves to help.
There were effects of all kinds on display, and as much as the movie tried to be a musical, a romance, a drama, and sometimes a comedy, all at the same time, there is no doubt that it was primarily an action/adventure film. The skillful use of miniature models, moderately passable blue-screening, seamless compositing, stunts, and practical effects, all combined to create some pretty impressive visuals.
Incidentally, this was right around the beginning of the era of the big-budget disaster film. Coming up in the list of nominated films are others such as The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Hindenburg. After that, we’ll arrive at the era of more modern science fiction movies like Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Aliens. I’m really looking forward to revisiting these films that entertained me so much when I was a child!