Konterr Brilliant and touching

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Art Vandelay I'm starting to think Mervyn LeRoy wasn't a very good director. Sinatra and Tracy give their worst performances I've ever seen, and I've seen countless films by both men. Everybody else is an amateur-hour ham barely competent by TV standards. The special effects are shamefully bad. The plot? Well, it's basically a disaster flick before that term was applied to star-bloated films in the 70s and beyond. When the enormous styrofoam bridge post got dislodged and crushed one of the characters - though not so quickly that Tracy wasn't able to speechify about the guy's bravery - I just burst out laughing. This is a career low for Tracy and Sinatra. Their careers were lucky to survive this garbage.

Edgar Soberon Torchia If we had a Catholic western as "The Bravados" with a big star (Gregory Peck) in 1958, why not a Catholic adventure drama with two stars three years later? It is a pity that the drama becomes a melodrama, and the adventure turns into an endless "mano a mano" between Tracy and Sinatra. The fun and the excitement of the perils the cast has to face vanish in the last 30 minutes, which is the time when all the dramatic and adventure elements reach their peaks, but they are all knocked down with the silly dialogues and situations that plague the final act (most concerning Grégoire Aslan's fear of leprosy, and Bernie Hamilton's sudden spiritual enlightenment). I spent most of that time spotting "dramatic" stretches that could have easily been cut without affecting the central plot and effectiveness of the film. It also becomes too predictable, as the characters begin to disappear, and --what is worse-- after being announced that they will be soon out of the action (for example, the flower that falls before Fleur's death). Still it is not terribly bad, it is entertaining for the most part and the cast makes it work.

MartinHafer It's amazing that the amount of money that was spent getting these high profile actors for the movie STILL resulted in a dull and unconvincing film. Part of the problem may have been the genre itself. This is at heart a disaster movie, and although some may disagree, almost all the disaster movies made were cheesy messes with terrible scripts and HUGE explosions! This film is certainly not an exception to this rule. Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy, among others, have pretty ill-defined parts--playing more characters than people. And, once the volcano starts to blow, the movie becomes predictable and clichéd. This is down deep just a time-passer--a mediocre film with no lasting impact.

Ripshin Turner Classic Movies is my favorite cable channel. I have worked in the production industry for twenty years, and have picked up a few film degrees. TCM is a goldmine. I was not familiar with this film, and am pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is a precursor to the 70s disaster films, in a way, but still a worthy film for Tracy and Sinatra.Today, the film would be saddled with an obligatory happy ending, so the realism, per se, of this script is welcomed. The heroism is earned, not dictated.All in all, worth the two hours. And since IMDb now requires ten lines in order for a comment to post, I will continue typing. If ONLY most "posters" could LIMIT themselves to ten lines.