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.
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.