Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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.

SimonJack "The Devil at 4 O'Clock" is based on a 1961 novel of the same title. Max Catto was an adventure novelist who had films made from nine of his novels. This story is set on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. Spencer Tracy plays a Catholic priest, Fr, Matthew Doonan who is being replaced by a younger priest, Fr. Joseph Perreau (played by Kerwin Mathews). The local volcano has been acting up, and the island needs to be evacuated. That includes children from a leprosy hospital. Three convicts en route to jail in Tahiti are pressed into service. They include Frank Sinatra as Harry. The island residents have turned on Fr. Doonan because he set up the leprosy hospital for kids. They think it deters tourism. In his rejection, Fr. Doonan has turned to alcohol. There aren't any graphic scenes of drunkenness or squabbles. Mostly, the film picks up with action as Fr. Doonan and Harry evacuate kids from the leprosy camp, and then go back to find a missing person as the volcano blows. The story is a good one, but this film version is melodramatic. Tracy's character is very good, but Sinatra sounds and acts more like a hoodlum kid off the streets of Newark, New Jersey. Some of the rest of the acting is quite good, but Sinatra and the other two criminals don't seem believable. The plot has some holes. We don't know how or why Harry, from America, winds up in France, or what crime he committed there for which he has been sentenced to a distant French penal facility.In the end, the priest and Harry redeem themselves by giving their lives trying to save others. The scene of the island exploding in the distance is gripping. The movie was filmed in California and Hawaii. Some of the scenic island shots are very beautiful. The special effects are very well done and interesting. The cracking of the street pavement, earthquake and others are excellent. The higher rating for this movie are due to the scenic shots and special effects.

vincentlynch-moonoi While not as great as two of Spencer Tracy's late-career films of about the same time ("Inherit The Wind" and "Judgment At Nuremberg"), this is still a darned good film which got very good reviews at the time...higher than the ratings here at IMDb would indicate.Spencer Tracy is excellent as the weathered old priest who founded a leper colony hospital. His acting is as good here as almost any of his other films...well, not as stunning as in "Inherit The Wind"...but still a lesson for any aspiring actor. Tracy was beginning to be ill at this point in his life, and there are a number of scenes here where he looks not well.Frank Sinatra does well as one of the convicts...but his behavior on the set was, according to the new Tracy biography, churlish.Other supporting roles are also excellent, although for the most part, the actors will not be particularly familiar to the American audience.The special effects -- the earthquakes and especially the volcano eruptions -- were quite advanced for 1960, and received a great deal of recognition at the time. However, there are also some stupid errors in the film. For example,when did you ever hear tires squealing on a sandy dirt road? This is a very good film, worth watching, and worth consideration for your DVD shelf.

edman59 This film is a somewhat entertaining way to spend 2 hours, but it isn't very good, especially considering the talent involved in it (particularly the two major Oscar-winning movie stars in the leads.)In some ways, it feels like two movies spliced together: the first half about the disheartened priest trying to minister to people who have grown to resent him for building a leper hospital on their island and the second half, a cheesy disaster film about that same priest attempting to rescue the patients before the hospital is engulfed by a volcano.Overall, the story is generally contrived and silly (especially once the volcano rescue begins.) The special effects are uneven with the volcano being somewhat unconvincing with various scenes alternating from noisy and smoky to clear and quiet even though only a few minutes have passed and the characters haven't walked but a few yards away. In fact, the volcano effects are akin to those you might see on "Gilligan's Island".In addition, the long line of people on a trek to escape danger was done much more effectively in movies like the "Poseidon Adventure".Generally, the film IS fun to watch; it just isn't particularly good.