The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Max Catto (novel)
Liam O'Brien (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 October 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

48 HOURS OF TERRIFIC SUSPENSE AS NATURE GOES ON A RELENTLESS RAMPAGE OF DESTRUCTION !

Plot:

A crusty, eccentric priest recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Convict | Priest | Volcano | Leper Colony

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Father Matthew Doonan
Frank Sinatra	...	Harry
Kerwin Mathews	...	Father Joseph Perreau
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Jacques (as Jean Pierre Aumont)
Grégoire Aslan	...	Marcel (as Gregoire Aslan)
Alexander Scourby	...	The Governor
Barbara Luna	...	Camille
Cathy Lewis	...	Matron
Bernie Hamilton	...	Charlie
Martin Brandt	...	Doctor Wexler
Louis Merrill	...	Aristide Giraud
Marcel Dalio	...	Gaston
Tom Middleton	...	Paul, Co-pilot
Ann Duggan	...	Clarisse
Louis Mercier	...	Corporal

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Approved (Certificate #19964, original rating) | USA:PG (re - rating DVD) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Fallbrook, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The volcano in this film was built from scratch in farmland outside Fallbrook, California. Each shot required packing with hundreds of pounds of explosives and a carefully-orchestrated "eruption" to be filmed by the cameraman seated on the front skids of a helicopter. One eruption went off a little early and nearly took out the chopper, burning off the cameraman's eyebrows and some of his hair. Because the eruptions looked so good, this ersatz volcano provided stock footage for decades of other films, commercials, etc.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A volcano eruption of this size (destroying an entire island) would create huge tidal waves that would swamp the boat, but it is shown sailing away in calm seas.

Quotes:

Father Joseph Perreau: God go with you.
Harry: God? Who is he?
Charlie: I've never heard of him.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Missionary: Impossible (#11.15)" (2000)

The Island Went Krakatoa On Them

I've always been of the firm belief that it is not possible to do a bad film in the South Pacific. Just the cinematography alone is a guarantee for me to enjoy it and you will enjoy The Devil at 4 O'Clock for that reason alone if nothing else.

It's entirely possible that Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra agreed to do the film for a vacation to Hawaii and who could blame them. But in fact with Mervyn Leroy directing, the two of them starred in a very nice story about a priest losing and regaining his faith.

Spencer Tracy is in his fourth and final film as a priest. He was sent many years ago to this tropical paradise under French colonial administration. It's a lush green place with a very large volcano.

Tracy also saw a need for a children's hospital for lepers which was still prevalent among the population. The other islanders didn't share his vision to put it mildly. Their own callousness drove him from his faith and started him drinking and doing other sins.

Anyway he's being recalled and a new priest, Kerwin Matthews, is being sent to replace him on the island and in the hospital which is located halfway up the volcano slope. Arriving on the same plane for layover are three convicts, Frank Sinatra, Bernie Hamilton, and Gregoire Aslan, who are bound for prison in Tahiti.

Wouldn't you know it, the volcano erupts and the only men who are able to help Tracy with the hospital patients and staff getting them down the mountain and evacuated are the three convicts.

It's quite a journey, all of the people involved discover hidden wellsprings of character.

Of course the two stars have great roles. There's enough of the hipster Sinatra there to recognize, but he too is transformed by the experience. This maybe the only film where he plays someone who is actually from where old Blue Eyes was born in real life, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Spencer Tracy had stopped playing traditional leading men long before this. He had an aversion to make up in general and was the least vain of leading male stars about growing old. Tracy's face and the sincerity with which he speaks his lines keep his performance from becoming maudlin. He has a powerful moving scene comforting the dying Bernie Hamilton and renewing his own lapsed Catholicism.

The only thing I fault The Devil at 4 O'Clock for is that Humphrey Bogart did not live long enough to do the part Sinatra did. Tracy and Bogey were a great mutual admiration society and way back in 1931 they did a film for John Ford, Up the River, which was Tracy's screen debut and Bogey's second film. They never got to work together again, but became great friends and Tracy was a frequent visitor along with Katharine Hepburn to Bogart when he was dying.

As good as Sinatra was, this part was made for Humphrey Bogart. I have a feeling had he lived with a bit of rewriting, this could have been their joint co-starring vehicle.

What a classic that would have been.