El diablo a las cuatro

I've always thought this would be a good film to show problem kids in a group home: the film presents great values of friendship, loyalty, love and self-sacrifice (among a group of convicts) and the possibility of "redemption" through these values. The story is melodramatic (bordering on operatic!) but, if you accept the old-fashioned style of movie-making, it really works. As with all classic films, this is one you can watch over and over for the aesthetics as well as for the story. The acting is fine. The ONLY thing in the film that doesn't hold up, in my opinion, is the scene through the jungle with Frank Sinatra carrying the blind girl on his back: it looks a bit comical to a modern viewer.

This film has been firmly entrenched in my mind since i first saw it in 1974 at the age of seven. I have often thought about it, sometimes forgetting the title, but never forgetting the horror i felt at seeing the explosions and the flowing lava, and feeling the panic of the characters. Man's insignificance and helplessness against mother nature is portrayed with a sense of evil; Not unlike lord of the Flies. Every now and then, it has been replayed on TV, so i have watched it again and refreshed my memory. Even though older now, and more Desensitised to that type of stuff i have enjoyed reflecting as i watch it again. I feel that it set a standard for others to come, with a mixture of suspense, heroism and tragedy that certainly leaves no punches pulled.

I have watched The Devil at 4 O'Clock several times on Turner Classic Movies, the BEST channel on television. It is a spiritual movie without being syrupy or preachy. The acting is superb, especially Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. It is not the type of movie that would be produced today... no violence, filthy language, or sex. What is does have is the redemption of the main characters and their rediscovered or newly acquired faith.

The music complements the movie's theme. I am going to purchase this film because it has a timeless story and is entertaining at the same time. Spencer Tracy was able to convey so much with facial expressions and gestures that seem completely realistic unlike the stilted Method Acting technique ( which seems to me so patently artificial). I rate this film an eight out of ten.

I've always been of the firm belief that it is not possible to do a bad film in the South Pacific. Just the cinematography alone is a guarantee for me to enjoy it and you will enjoy The Devil at 4 O'Clock for that reason alone if nothing else.

It's entirely possible that Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra agreed to do the film for a vacation to Hawaii and who could blame them. But in fact with Mervyn Leroy directing, the two of them starred in a very nice story about a priest losing and regaining his faith.

Spencer Tracy is in his fourth and final film as a priest. He was sent many years ago to this tropical paradise under French colonial administration. It's a lush green place with a very large volcano.

Tracy also saw a need for a children's hospital for lepers which was still prevalent among the population. The other islanders didn't share his vision to put it mildly. Their own callousness drove him from his faith and started him drinking and doing other sins.

Anyway he's being recalled and a new priest, Kerwin Matthews, is being sent to replace him on the island and in the hospital which is located halfway up the volcano slope. Arriving on the same plane for layover are three convicts, Frank Sinatra, Bernie Hamilton, and Gregoire Aslan, who are bound for prison in Tahiti.

Wouldn't you know it, the volcano erupts and the only men who are able to help Tracy with the hospital patients and staff getting them down the mountain and evacuated are the three convicts.

It's quite a journey, all of the people involved discover hidden wellsprings of character.

Of course the two stars have great roles. There's enough of the hipster Sinatra there to recognize, but he too is transformed by the experience. This maybe the only film where he plays someone who is actually from where old Blue Eyes was born in real life, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Spencer Tracy had stopped playing traditional leading men long before this. He had an aversion to make up in general and was the least vain of leading male stars about growing old. Tracy's face and the sincerity with which he speaks his lines keep his performance from becoming maudlin. He has a powerful moving scene comforting the dying Bernie Hamilton and renewing his own lapsed Catholicism.

The only thing I fault The Devil at 4 O'Clock for is that Humphrey Bogart did not live long enough to do the part Sinatra did. Tracy and Bogey were a great mutual admiration society and way back in 1931 they did a film for John Ford, Up the River, which was Tracy's screen debut and Bogey's second film. They never got to work together again, but became great friends and Tracy was a frequent visitor along with Katharine Hepburn to Bogart when he was dying.

As good as Sinatra was, this part was made for Humphrey Bogart. I have a feeling had he lived with a bit of rewriting, this could have been their joint co-starring vehicle.

What a classic that would have been.

A crusty, eccentric priest (Spencer Tracy) recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.

Some say the film was a precursor to the disaster films of the 1970s, such as The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno. I can see that, although I never would have made that connection myself.

Because of Tracy's demand of top billing in any movie he starred in, Sinatra ceded top-billing in order to secure Tracy for the film. The film was the most expensive that Columbia Pictures had ever made. This was a wise move on Sinatra's part, because Tracy really makes the picture. Although the convicts are great, this is one of Tracy's better roles (and it helps that Hepburn is not around to slow him down).