Krakatoa, East of Java

Quaility is very good.

BOTTOM LINE: Harmless, family-friendly big budget disaster film with just enough danger & devastation sprinkled throughout to hopefully keep you from nodding off during the soapy operatic stretches in-between. A strapping young Maximilian Schell and a grizzled self-loathing turn by Brian Keith make this one worth watching. The rest of the cast & the damsels in distress... not so much. Fine practical F/X footage from that sadly bygone era when detailed miniatures & optical slights of hand were the rule of the day. Not great, not bad. I give this volcanic variant of The Poseidon Adventure a modest but honest 3 STARS.THOUGHTS: If you've ever seen any of the myriad of star-studded disaster films that flooded theaters in the 1970's, then you'll have this potboiler plotted from start-to-finish before the opening credits are over with. Lots of melodramatic shenanigans pad out the film until we finally get to the big whoopteedo at the climax, wherein the infamous volcano on the South Seas island of Krakatoa blows its fiery top. The meager C-level roster of stars gives it their best shot, but whether you'll care one way or the other will depend on how big a fan you are of any of the cast, and/or the genre in general. This one's inoffensive enough, and at least it's no where near as hammy as, say, METEOR or AVALANCHE. But then again, these flicks are all pretty interchangeable. It's figuring who's gonna get it (and how) that makes 'em fun to watch.THE BLU-RAY: A respectable though minimalist effort from Kino-Lorber. The transfer is mostly clean, with a smattering of dirt & debris, primarily confined to the opening title sequence. Little in the way of crush, artifacting, pixelation, edge enhancement or other video tomfoolery, and thankfully no overuse of DNR! The film's audio portion is clear and the soundmix is level. Nothing in the way of extras, save a handful of theatrical trailers for other similarly-themed titles in the KL library. The movie's busy but gorgeous poster art (courtesy of the legendary Frank McCarthy) is nicely reproduced as a splashy background for the disc's main menu screen.

Many years ago I had seen a movie about KRAKATOA. Thinking back in hindsight I'm thinking it may have been a "made for TV" movie. But that being said, I remembered I liked it very much. It's said that the KRAKATOA Volcano eruption the sound was heard half a world away. The loudest sound ever heard on Earth. The movie then did a good job with the exploding Volcano and the resulting Tidel Wave that covered the Village. I shall continue my quest to find this movie. Now for the movie KRAKATOA, East of Java, it takes place almost entirely on a ship. With plot twists and turns while they tried to keep your interest while they look for a sunken ship. I watched it, it was entertaining but it's now on a shelf where it will collect dust with the other movies I've watched and probably will never watch again.

This movie has always been one of my favorite disaster flicks though it was made in the sixties and before Irwin Allen set up shop in Hollywood and cranked out his own brand of disaster films (in the 70's). The movie boasts some big-name actors and actresses, Brian Keith and Sal Mineo being just a couple, and they're put through their paces for what is mostly a pretty standard and fairly predictable movie.What set's this film apart are the special effects, which are quite spectacular even by today's standards. In fact the tsunami scenes are the most terrifying (and best) I've seen in ANY movie, including the obviously digitalized wave in the George Clooney flick 'The Perfect Storm'. It's a testament to the creative geniuses in the 60's that their work can go toe-to-toe - and outpunch, the high tech gadgetry of our times.All in all this is an escapist flick replete with excellent actors given mediocre dialogue and a formulaic plot. The real stars of the film, and the reason to watch, are the volcano and tsunami.

You'd think a picture this bad would at least get the title right (Krakatoa is WEST of Java). High production values keep this one a notch above the rest; it is somewhat of a pioneer in the disaster genre. A contrived plot about greed, sunken treasure, young love, old love, etc. seem to only be here to waste our time. I recommend that you skip to #13 in the scene selection and revel in the magnificent Oscar-nominated special effects (it lost to "Marooned"). There's another huge, all-star cast to create implausible histrionics; I'm regularly amazed that the inept Diane Baker's career lasted as long as it did. (22years later she had a small role in "Silence of the Lambs") I still watch the film to be entertained by the bad acting and great effects. Not bad for the price. The Anchor Bay edition is 131 minutes in a widescreen that is clean and clear. Check it out...

Stickers for historical (rather, geographical) accuracy will note that Krakatoa is West of Java. The island was the site of the most powerful explosion in record, a volcanic eruption that for a year altered the world's climate, turning the sky red over London. The film is a little bit of everything--special effects extravaganza, treasure hunt, suspense film, disaster film, and even a bit of a musical. It doesn't slavishly adhere to history, but it does portray some of the key events reasonably accurately (e.g., the lighthouse scene). I pondered what I would have done if, like the main characters, I was faced with the life of death choice of seeking refuge ashore or riding out the tidal wave at sea. (Won't give it away, but I would have been a goner.). I loved the movie but if you are looking for a documentary, this isn't it.

Not the best volcano picture, but one that at least tracks an historical even, mainly limited by the period in which it was created. But all in all a good movie for those who like the genre and the period as I do.

Even, I, a self confessed disaster movie fan had a difficult time enjoying this. It’s not nearly as diabolical as The Avengers with Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes but it’s also nowhere near as good a picture as Earthquake/Towering Inferno. One star goes to the surprisingly effective sfx, no CGI here. And the other star goes to the lead guy, he played Tea Leoni’s pa pa in Deep Impact. And for Diane Baker, Sandy B’s mom in The Net. Both aforementioned films are better than this one. There are subtitles for English. And the film runs for a fairly lengthy 2 hours and 11 minutes. No extras aside from ‘cast & crew’ not even a trailer. But the thing that lets the dvd down the most is the presentation. It’s not widescreen, but it’s not full screen either. It’s a combination of the two, and boy, does it affect ones enjoyment of the movie.

There are probably deeper meanings to the talk, yet for some reason the sudden singing is lost on me, I don't think much of this as even a movie of the disaster movie genre, unless the somewhat unreal filming of the volcanic explosions and high seas at the end. The English in Singapore and as ruling class is outdated anyways. The children and the nuns are terrible, distracting, African Queen, this is Knot. The main characters were unbelievably un-similar but implausibly got along. The Captain, an actor named Maximillian Schell, seemed alone possible in his role. I would not wish to watch this, despite it being of a little interest for one viewing. Is there any meaning or political intrigue I did not catch, because I cannot tell.

My wife purchased this DVD in Widescreen format as our old VHS had the tape damaged. Unfortunately this Widescreen version appears to have 20 minutes worth of footage missing. This included Barbara Kerne's "Old Fashioned Girl" sequence the Search for "Peter" the dead fish/pumice scene and others. The 'Amazon' Disc (just purchased) in 16:9 format has all of the missing footage. Including the songs missing on this version. I would say that if you want the full film then be careful what you buy!

I purchased this film as it stars Brian Keith, one of my fave actors. It came from Korea post, arrived early, maybe i misread when i made my selection, but in the film, the actors speak English, but has foreign subtitles along the bottom of the screen, so that is a little distracting when viewing.

This movie is about the adventures about the voyage by the sail ship in the far East at Krakatoa. The passengers are faced with the pirates while an vulcano outburst will take on which occurs a very great nature disaster with many human casualties amongst the aboriginal of East Java.This movie is based on the true story on East of Java in 1883.