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USA 1969
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Cast: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi
Rating: G
Release Date: 14 May 1969
Running Time: 2 hours 12 minutes
The Movie Review
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KRAKATOA:
EAST Of JAVA |
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The year is 1883, at a port where a ship named Batavia Queen docks, Captain Chris Hanson (Maximilian Schell), is shocked to know that he's forced to carry 30 convicts chained in their ankles and wrists to the Island of Madura with a price of four pounds a head. Chris greatly refuses this order from the government but he's then threatened to have his ship impounded. And so without other options, Batavia Queen is sailing to Madura where (Supposibly) where Krakatoa Volcano is located.
[in this scene you can quaintly hear street hawkers shouting "Pisang Goreng...Pisang Goreng!" and "Ubi Goreng" or "Nasi Goreng" and even "Kacang" in a very weird Indonesian accent! Pisang Goreng etc are the name of Indonesian snacks, Pisang Goreng means Fried Banana].
Chris Hanson's mission is to find the sinking ship which carried pearls. But Chris and his lover, Laura Travers' (Diane Baker), true purpose is to look for Laura's lost son, Peter. And for this matter, he hires Harry Connerly (Brian Keith), a burly man who excels in deep-diving and salvage business. Harry's girlfriend, a beautiful and cheerful singer, Charley (Barbara Werle), is also on board. The rest of the passengers are father and son Borgheses who carry their hot air balloon and an inventor, Douglas Rigby, who carry his own-invention, some kind of a mini sub. And finally 4 Japanese women who also good in swimming led by Toshi.
Of course the ship is sailing just fine with the passengers and the captain are starting to get to know each other quite well and only ruined by some minor incidents, but afterwards in their sea journey they do notice and experience loud deafening sounds and even a huge explosion and weird yellow smoke surrounding the ship that are seemingly coming out of nowhere. The brainy inventor Douglas realizes this as a bad omen of Volcanic activity coming from Mountain Krakatoa, but not until they experience first hand the eruption of Krakatoa that the captain and the passengers start to realize that they are getting closer to danger and death! What will happen in their treasure hunt adventure? Will they experience the devastating eruption of Krakatoa? Will they ever get their hands of the pearls in the Java sea?
Ok... Before I say anything else, let me just shout out one thing please... Krakatoa is one the WEST of JAVA! It's on the WEST! Seriously this is a very basic and stupid mistake from the filmmakers. In the time of this review, which is December 2010, many volcanoes in Indonesia are showing their ugly sides! Especially Mount Merapi near Yogyakarta which has torn apart the lives of many people living nearby and the recent awareness of Mt. Krakatoa (Gunung Krakatau) on the WEST of JAVA and also Mt. Bromo on the EAST JAVA, and The Island of Madura is also located in EAST JAVA. I feel obliged to inform just to eradicate any further misunderstanding since I was also rather confused hearing the dialogues about the destinations of Captain Hanson that seem to live in his own version of Indonesian archipelago.
But as stupid as the premise is, this movie is actually entertaining. I mean yeah I know nowadays any good disaster film requires hi-tech CGI to give the illusion of a real disaster, and the visual effects of this movie is outdated compared famous disaster films like Dante's Peak (1997) or Volcano (1997), but I'm being serious to say the eruption of Krakatoa in Krakatoa: East of Java is much more convincing or amusing compared to many many low-budget disaster flicks with crappy CGI. Academy Awards even nominated this movie for Best Visual Effects but lost to Marooned (1969).
Krakatoa: East of Java combines many interesting elements that's sadly rarely employed by other natural disaster films. You see, this movie isn't the ordinary disaster films which focuses (Only) on how the characters trying to survive the disaster like in The Day after Tomorrow (2004), but it also gives us comedy, the drama, the seafaring adventure, the thrill of their journey and the interesting characters and their relationship on board. The convicts even played some parts too in the storyline. What I'm saying is that there's always something happen that will keep you interested. Although yes, 2 hours and 10 minutes running length need a bit of trimming. The credits should go mainly to Barbara Werle for giving us the most interesting character and the one that really gives different touch and tone to the usual diaster flick, in one scene, she sings and flirts with her loved one, Harry, with such captivating voice and song that I almost thought "Is this going to be a musical movie?"
And so fellow movie lovers, Krakatoa: East of Java is not your choice to see a pure disaster film ala Millennium era but this movie would still give you a fun viewing experience with all the explosions and the chaos and the flying burning rocks coming from the mountain and even the 100 feet Tsunami! In the 80's this film was still a great one, and in 2010, Krakatoa: East of Java is still enjoyable but to those who can appreciate classic movies.
> Learn more about Krakatoa and have fun viewing time with this BBC docudrama Krakatoa: The Last Days (2006).
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
Twitter: @movielogy
posted: Dec 30th 2010 11:02 pm
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