Johnny Lingo

On the first big day of shooting, the crew arose to find the sky had a peculiar orange cast. This caused concern because some of the major action of the film was about to be shot, and the effect of the orangish sky on the color balance of the picture was unknown. The crew was informed that a volcanic eruption had just started on The Big Island. Smoke and ash from the eruption of Kilauea in October, 1969 drifted over to the island of Oahu (which is not typical of such eruptions). Big, black clouds of soot filled the sky for a couple of days, with ash even landing at the filming location. Production ceased, with the film company waiting for the skies to clear. When filming resumed, tighter shots were used to exclude as much of the sky as possible. Production was then delayed by rain which came as a fine mist. The valley where the principal action (in the village) was to be shot turned out to be located just below a mountain where the heaviest rainfall on the island occurred. The production was on a tight schedule so filming continued in the rain, which was accompanied with a washed-out sky. Once again shots were framed to avoid showing the sky. Fortunately the drizzle-like rain did not show up on film, and shots with it matched those filmed when it was not raining. The color balance turned out to be acceptable as well, in spite of the unusually colored skies. However, the use of the lovely vistas in the background had been partially limited by the problems associated with atmospheric conditions.

Referenced in The Singles Ward (2002)