A sea-plane bound for Tahiti, carrying three prisoners and a young priest, stops for the night on a small tropical island where tempers--and an angry volcano!--are flaring. Embarrassingly overacted adventure yarn pits salty priest Spencer Tracy with smart-mouthed convict Frank Sinatra in their attempt to save a leper colony of adults and children from the spewing lava. This may be the worst movie ever directed by veteran Mervyn LeRoy, who must have been so overwhelmed with the location shooting in Hawaii and California, the pyrotechnics involved, and the ill health of top-billed Tracy that he allowed the picture to get away from him. Liam O'Brien adapted his weak screenplay from the novel by Max Catto. Once the agonizing preliminaries and character conflicts are out of the way, moments of the perilous escape are worthwhile, and the volcano looks good. ** from ****

I saw this movie while in high school, it was recommended. I always liked watching movies in school because then we didn't have to do school work.This movie is a fantastic movie, with great cinematography and a depth of characters that makes you root for the ones less likely to be someone you would call friend.Spencer Tracy plays a priest who lost his faith, while Frank Sinatra plays a man who never had faith. Brought together during a disaster and I couldn't imagine two better actors to portray these men.The supporting actors combined with the stars turn this movie into a powerful choice about doing the right thing or living.

I'm astounded at the generally good reviews this film has received. The farther along you get in this movie, the worse the writing becomes. I'm a huge Frank Sinatra fan, and an even bigger Spencer Tracy fan, but neither of them can save this cliché-ridden mess. The idea of this old man parachuting into the jungle is absurd enough, but what was the point of it? Logically, they should have found the leper colony abandoned. There were plenty of adults there. Why were they just sitting around, meekly awaiting death? Why didn't they pack up their charges and try to get out of there? Then, of course, all the rescuers have to die, in order that their sacrifice appears noble. The convict who dies in the quicksand is the silliest. I've always seen people die in quicksand in movies by sinking downwards. In this case the poor man encounters quicksand with a current, and he's swept away from his would-be rescuer at an absurd speed. The worst writing is saved for the very end, when Sinatra throws his life away, for no reason whatsoever. Noble? He's committing suicide! The nobility escapes me.

This pretty much the way to make a movie, and a movie that is 8/10 is a film, so this is pretty much the way to make a film as well.It is one of those that is best seen without a spoiler, without knowing what will happen, because there are some surprises in store, as a drama becomes a high octane action adventure.In order not to spoil it, I will say it is the story of three convicts on an island, who establish a working relationship with a priest and his young replacement. Like most "cult" films, the characters appear to us as clichés at first, and then emerge into multiple dimensions, pretty much the way people appear to do so if you meet them in real life, so this is very fair.Tracy and Sinatra are gigantic names, and easily recognizable. But while they do superb jobs, they wouldn't be enough to make a movie great. This movie is well written, with many great characters. The situations are believable, and all of the action is believable.In fact, it is probably too realistic to be made today. It is a ride to be taken and not spoiled.