This review DEFINITELY contains spoilers, because in order to justify my criticism, I have to make this point: it seems to me - and call me crazy if you will - but doesn't a disaster film have to have a disaster in it somewhere?
This film does begin by leading you through the typical formula for latter day films of the genre. We are introduced to numerous characters. We are introduced to the minutia of their troubles and hang ups, which is Hollywood's way of fleshing out their humanity. The idea is that when the terrible calamity eventually occurs, we are suppose to really care about what is happening to these folks. Unfortunately, the characters are as dreary and forgettable as their mountain-out-of-mole hill, soap opera-ish problems, and the calamity never occurs.
And that is what is unique about this "disaster" film: that it is lacking any kind of disaster! The viewer sits through hours of character melodrama and "buildup"of the plane running out of gas just to see the plane safely land on an airport runway (with thirty gallons of fuel to spare, we are told)! And to the strains of Dimitri Tiomkin's heavenly choirs, no less!
Speaking of which, this is a hideous soundtrack (as usual) by the vastly overrated Tiomkin whose great strength was to make a melodramatic film seem even more so with his lack of subtlety. Unlike a Rozsa, Newman, or even a Korngold, Dimitri's soundtracks have not aged gracefully.
Tremendous waste of the Duke as well, especially with the embarrassingly woeful gimmick of him perfectly whistling - with the help of all-too obvious dubbing - the main theme throughout the film.
This film is not ABOUT a disaster, it IS a disaster.
This film does begin by leading you through the typical formula for latter day films of the genre. We are introduced to numerous characters. We are introduced to the minutia of their troubles and hang ups, which is Hollywood's way of fleshing out their humanity. The idea is that when the terrible calamity eventually occurs, we are suppose to really care about what is happening to these folks. Unfortunately, the characters are as dreary and forgettable as their mountain-out-of-mole hill, soap opera-ish problems, and the calamity never occurs.
And that is what is unique about this "disaster" film: that it is lacking any kind of disaster! The viewer sits through hours of character melodrama and "buildup"of the plane running out of gas just to see the plane safely land on an airport runway (with thirty gallons of fuel to spare, we are told)! And to the strains of Dimitri Tiomkin's heavenly choirs, no less!
Speaking of which, this is a hideous soundtrack (as usual) by the vastly overrated Tiomkin whose great strength was to make a melodramatic film seem even more so with his lack of subtlety. Unlike a Rozsa, Newman, or even a Korngold, Dimitri's soundtracks have not aged gracefully.
Tremendous waste of the Duke as well, especially with the embarrassingly woeful gimmick of him perfectly whistling - with the help of all-too obvious dubbing - the main theme throughout the film.
This film is not ABOUT a disaster, it IS a disaster.