The Devil At 4 O'Clock (1960)

On a small French island in the South Pacific, a failed priest (Spencer Tracy) is being relieved of his duties by a younger priest (Kerwin Mathews, 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD). But when the island's volcano shows signs of erupting, the priest is determined to save the residents of a children's hospital built in the path of the volcano. It's a race against time, as the last boat departs the island at 4 o'clock. An early entry in the disaster movie sweepstakes, most of the film is well done with decent special effects but one gets restless during the film's last minutes when it goes all religious faith on us as various characters prepare to meet their maker. Most of it was obviously shot on a Hollywood sound stage with some actual exterior shooting in Hawaii. Tracy, by this point in his career, had played enough priest parts that it's second nature to him. But Frank Sinatra, as a convict who assists Tracy in evacuating the hospital, does some nice character work. The first rate score is by George Duning (PICNIC). Directed by Mervyn LeRoy (MISTER ROBERTS). With Jean Pierre Aumont, Alexander Scourby, Bernie Hamilton, Barbara Luna, Gregoire Aslan, Marcel Dalio and Cathy Lewis.