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Krakatoa, East of Java (1968)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
So many things wrong, and where to begin?
Java is an island that's part of Indonesia, and to the left of it is Krakatoa. So...why is the film called
Krakatoa, East of Java? Perhaps Hollywood is in the business of reading maps upside down? Lack of
intelligence can't be ruled out, either.
To save face, the film is renamed Volcano, but the damage is already done, not to mention that it only
takes a few hours instead of days to reach Krakatoa from Anjer since they're thirty miles apart. Let's not get
into Palembang, where the missionary school is at the beginning, which is 220 miles away from Krakatoa.
One of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurred on Krakatoa from May 20 to October 21 of
1883, killing over 36,000 people. But most of the facts related to it won't be part of the show in
Krakatoa, East of Java. It's rather concerned with a shipwreck treasure hunter, a laudanum addict, a
saloon singer, four Japanese female divers, a couple of Italian balloonists, pearls, some lost kid named Peter,
and a whole bunch of others. You see what I mean about the lack of intelligence, eh?
When the steamer Batavia Queen was en route to the coast off Krakatoa, everybody saw and heard the
explosion yet thought nothing of it. That's because Hollywood failed to show the aftereffect: the falling of
ashes which stretched for 300 miles in radius. As for the sound, it also failed to mention that was probably
the loudest ever, reaching at least 300 decibels close by, enough to render everybody totally deaf for life,
and was still reverberating 3,000 miles away.
Did the initial warnings dissuade anyone from going further? Nope, they pressed on and even witnessed dead
fish which had to be the result of sulfuric acid. Given this fact, to save the children and adults
from a sinking boat, many on Batavia Queen dove into the water to begin a massive rescue. And everything
is A-OK. Of course, Hollywood shan't go into the acid rain stuff to keep things real.
Remember the two Italians? They went up in the air and floated away in their defective balloon, causing them to
go through a fjord for miles before entering the crater of Krakatoa and getting pushed back to the air again. The
next shot is of them being close to where they started...right next to the Batavia Queen!
Later on, Sal Mineo's character is shown to have died in a fire on the boat. Imagine my reaction in the final
thirty minutes of the film when he appeared to be fine and very much alive. How about the laudanum addict who
said he's better off on Krakatoa or an island nearby than the steamer while the tsunami is coming? In
reality, everybody on the obviously toy model ship should've died as well. And the natives were living on
Krakatoa, next to a very, very active volcano? Uh, right...carry on.
Speaking of people jumping off the steamer to rescue kids and adults on a sinking boat, I didn't see most of
the crew during the film. Sure, they were there on the quay at the beginning including one black man (that's
Geoffrey Holder of The Wiz fame on Broadway). Once the steamer took
off, they disappeared like rats. As many of them as there were, healthy and strong dudes mind you, they got
overpowered by these weak prisoners shackled in the hold for a long time? Hardly likely. And the crew hears no
talk or gets any share of the pearls which are only legally owned by the boy? That's uh...an interesting form
of slavery going on there.
While the volcano is erupting, the Batavia Queen is seen navigating through the rocks and pieces of land.
Um...why? All it had to do was get away from there straight ahead. Actually, that was the most frustrating part
of watching the film when the camera just refused to pull back, so I could see the background. Instead, it's
either the sky or the painted wall of a water tank.
All in all, the good news is Peter was found and the pearls were recovered, and that's all Hollywood cares
about in Krakatoa, East of Java.