Let’s look at Irwin Allen: Master of Disaster. After a successful run in TV in the mid-1960’s with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968), Lost in Space (1965-1968), The Time Tunnel (1966-1967) and Land of the Giants (1968-1970), producer and filmmaker Irwin Allen – whose debut directorial film The Sea Around Us (1953) won an Oscar for Best Documentary – returned to feature filmmaking with a bang, as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was a huge box office success. More success awaited the “Master of Disaster” as The Towering Inferno (1974) was even more successful at the box office and even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Following that success, Allen shifted his productions to Warner Bros. – following a change in the guard of management at 20th Century Fox – where he would continue to churn out more all-star disaster productions on the big screen and small. Shout Factory has gathered 7 of those productions and given them their Blu-ray debuts in this set dedicated to Allen’s work.
The Production: 3/5
Flood! (1976; 3 out of 5)
Brownsville, Oregon has become a popular tourist destination due to the large freshwater lake that provides the town with the majority of its income. However, the Brownsville Dam – a large earthen dam – is starting to spring leaks due to the heavy rains that have the water level near overflow stage. While Paul Burke (Martin Milner) wants to open up the floodgates to relieve some of the pressure building up on the dam, mayor John Cutler (Richard Basehart) is obstreperously refusing to do so, believing – as it becomes apparent – that the town’s financial future is more important than the safety of the citizens; John’s personal pride of never being wrong about anything certainly is a factor here. With friend and helicopter pilot Steve Brannigan (Robert Culp), Paul has to find a way to open up the gates before the dam bursts and floods Brownsville off the map.
The first of the Irwin Allen productions to be released by Warner Bros., Flood! certainly delivers what it promises on a small scale. Veteran TV writer Don Ingalls – who had some disaster film bona fides with his only Hollywood feature film credit, Airport 1975 (1974) – lays out a plausible scenario of how lives can be endangered through a combination of environmental forces beyond our control and simple human error. Director Earl Bellamy – the first of two TV features he would direct for Allen – executes this premise solidly and decently, allowing for character development in the first half before the dam burst and its aftermath occupying the second half of the movie; the special effects – while certainly a step down from the likes of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno – are decently well done for this TV production (the movie did get a theatrical release overseas). Bellamy also manages to get solid performances from his cast of all-stars and familiar faces, notable Robert Culp, Martin Milner, Barbara Hershey, Richard Basehart, Carol Lynley, Cameron Mitchell, Whit Bissell, Teresa Wright, Ann Doran and Gloria Stuart; only complaint here: Roddy McDowall is wasted in what is essentially a walk-on part as a rich vacationer who disappears shortly after he appears in the story. While it’s certainly no masterpiece, Flood! is still a decently made little disaster film whose premise is certainly not farfetched by any means.
Fire! (1977; 3 out of 5)
In the Cascade Mountains near Silverton, Oregon, convict Larry Durant (Neville Brand) carelessly starts a brush fire from a cigarette during a work break. His fellow convicts manage to extinguish the fire, but an ember reignites the flames and the combination of the dried-out vegetation and the unpredictable winds turn this brush fire into a raging inferno that threatens not just the town, but also a mountain lodge. Now, lumber mill owner Sam Brisbane (Ernest Borgnine), the lodge’s owner Martha Wagner (Vera Miles), and married doctors the Wilsons (Patty Duke & Alex Cord) must work together to help save as many lives caught in the crosshairs of this out-of-control wildfire.
For his second TV movie for Warner Bros., Irwin Allen again chose to stay grounded in the real life possibilities of disaster shown in Fire! Once again, Earl Bellamy takes the directorial reins of this disaster film, but unlike Flood!, Bellamy wastes no time in getting to the action; once the blaze reignites, the tension slowly builds. This time, Bellamy allows for the wildfire to also act as a catalyst for character development in the story (penned by Norman Katkov and Arthur Weiss); this is especially apparent in the story arc involving the Wilsons, who go from talking about divorce to finding their bonds of marriage renewed once the wildfire forces them to set aside their differences for the greater good. And once again Bellamy has a solid cast of familiar faces to bring the disaster – both natural and human – including Ernest Borgnine, Vera Miles, Patty Duke, Alex Cord, Donna Mills, Lloyd Nolan, Neville Brand, Erik Estrada, Gene Evans and Ty Hardin. Like Flood!, Fire! delivers what it promises in terms of small-screen calamity and is also one of Irwin Allen’s better ventures into TV films in the 1970’s; it feels even more prescient now given what’s been going on during wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest and Canada in the last few years.
Hanging by a Thread (1979; 2 out of 5)
On what appears to be a pleasant Summer’s Day, a group of friends – led by Alan Durant (Bert Convy) – plan to take a tram ride up Mt. Durant for a picnic. At the last minute, they’re joined by Paul Craig (Sam Groom), who’s there to meet his son after his separation from his soon to be ex-wife Ellen (Donna Mills). However, the trip takes a turn for the worse as lightning from a summer storm disables the tram car, leaving the group hanging precariously over the ravine. As time ticks by waiting for rescue, tension and secrets amongst the group rise to the surface, involving a love triangle and Paul’s involvement in being a witness to a criminal case brought against his old boss Lawton (Cameron Mitchell).
Following on the heels of the box office failure of The Swarm, the two-part TV movie Hanging by a Thread doesn’t fare any better than its big screen predecessor. Clocking in at over three hours, director Georg Fenady has the unenviable task of stretching what is essentially an hour – or hour and a half – long story (by Adrian Spies) to fit the epic runtime. Any sense of suspense is bogged down by clumsy dialogue and the shuttling back and forth between past and present – while filling us in on why the characters are where they are – often takes the viewer out of the story. The cast here – led by familiar faces Patty Duke, Joyce Bulifant, Bert Convy, Burr DeBenning, Paul Fix, Cameron Mitchell, Donna Mills, Roger Perry and Lonny Chapman – are left hanging in the breeze by the routine and plodding story, much like the tram car some the characters are stuck in. If Hanging by a Thread was meant to be Irwin Allen’s attempt to bounce back from the failure of The Swarm, it certainly fails at that regard, likely making it the worst of the TV movies he produced during the 1970’s.
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979; 2.5 out of 5)
Shortly after the initial survivors of the S.S. Poseidon‘s capsizing are flown away to safety by the French Coast Guard, the salvage tugboat Jenny – captained by Mike Turner (Michael Caine), with second mate Wilbur (Karl Malden) and Celeste Whitman (Sally Field) in tow – comes across the ship in hope of claiming salvage. Turner and his crew also come across Dr. Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas), whose claim as to be there as paramedics to look for additional survivors is really a cover for him to recover his shipment of weapons and plutonium. While Turner, Celeste and Wilbur do recover money from the purser’s office as part of their salvage, the salvage mission turns into a rescue mission when they do indeed find more survivors of the Poseidon’s passengers and crew. With their only means of escape collapsed and with Svevo and his henchman also on deck, Turner must find a way to escape the still sinking ship before he, his crew, and the remaining survivors go down to a watery grave.
For his final film as a director, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure was an attempt on Irwin Allen’s part to recapture some of the glory he had the first time around with The Poseidon Adventure. Originally planned to be initiated at 20th Century Fox, the project was moved to Warner Bros. and Paul Gallico was commissioned to write a sequel novel to the first film, which in turn would be used as the basis for the sequel; however, Gallico passed away in 1976 before it could be completed, and the film here – adapted by Nelson Gidding – bears little in semblance to Gallico’s posthumously published 1978 novel (much like the first film bore little semblance to Gallico’s 1969 novel). Allen does a good job in establishing the claustrophobic nature of the sinking ship and he has the talents of cinematographer Joseph Biroc, production designer Preston Ames and composer Jerry Fielding for this go-around. The major downside here is that one does get of sense of deja vu when watching, knowing that Ronald Neame got better mileage out of the premise the first time around; the all-star cast here – Michael Caine, Sally Field, Peter Boyle, Slim Pickens, Shirley Jones, Karl Malden, Jack Warden, Shirley Knight, Angela Cartwright, Veronica Hamel and a young Mark Harmon – are mostly competent, but Telly Savalas is a standout here as the villainous Dr. Svevo. While it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to its predecessor, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is still a competently made sequel that was an improvement in quality compared to The Swarm but did next to little in terms of reviving Irwin Allen’s stock at the box office.
When Time Ran Out… (1980; 2.5 out of 5)
On a remote island in the South Pacific, the impending eruption of Mauna Lani – the island’s volcano – breaks open some stark tensions between oil rigger Hank Anderson (Paul Newman) and Bob Spangler (James Franciscus), a partner in the luxury resort hotel on the island. Also simmering beneath the surface are tensions between hotel magnate Shelby Gilmore (William Holden) and Spangler – the latter a business partner with Shelby while also cheating on his wife Nikki (Veronica Hamel) with hotel executive Iolani (Barbara Carrera), who’s engaged to be married to the hotel’s general manager Brian (Edward Albert) – a budding and rekindled romance between Hank and Shelby’s secretary Kay Kirby (Jacqueline Bisset) and New York private investigator Tom Conte (Ernest Borgnine) tailing Francis Fendly (Red Buttons), suspected of smuggling bonds. All private matters have to be set aside when Mauna Lani erupts, trigging a cascade of destruction in the form of earthquakes, tidal waves, and fireballs raining down from the volcano. When the hotel becomes endangered, Hank has to lead a small group of people to safety – Spangler arrogantly refuses and convinces the rest of the hotel’s guests who don’t follow Hank to stay – on the other side of the island, but not everyone will survive the journey…
Irwin Allen’s theatrical film career – and the 1970’s disaster film cycle – came to an end with a blast from Mother Nature with When Time Ran Out… Allen gave way to James Goldstone in the director’s chair – Goldstone did have some disaster film bona fides with Rollercoaster (1977) – who turns in a competent production, but one does have disappointment in the final product, given what might have been. The film – based on the non-fiction book The Day The World Ended by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts – initially started off in pre-production to be a dramatization of the Mount Pelée eruption in Monserrat in 1902 before screenwriters Carl Foreman and Stirling Silliphant turned into a modern day volcano eruption story (though Shelby does mention the Mount Pelée eruption at one point in the story). Another big problem here is the varying quality of special effects, not helped by the fact that Warner Bros. drastically slashed the $20 million budget during production, resulting in key scenes having to be scrapped due to lack of money; special effects supervisor L.D. Abbott had planned a more elaborate model of Mauna Lani as well as additional matte paintings and a model of the hotel complex being destroyed in the climax of the movie – which is the most notable example of the uneven quality of special effects in the final product – that never made it past the planning stage. However, the film does provide one genuinely thrilling moment – the perilous crossing of the group across the rickety wooden bridge over the lava flow – and the all-star cast of Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Edward Albert, Barbara Carrera, Veronica Hamel, Burgess Meredith, Valentina Cortesa, James Franciscus and Alex Carras (to name a few) manage to play their parts with a straight face, even though a few of them were not particularly fond of the script; Newman was particularly – and most notably – not thrilled with the movie, although the salary he earned here was reputedly used to start up the Newman’s Own company. In the end, When Time Ran Out… brought the curtain down on Irwin Allen’s time producing movies on the big screen ignominiously, falling far short of the early expectations the project had during pre-production. But the TV world was not yet finished with Allen…
The Night The Bridge Fell Down (1982; 3 out of 5)
In the Los Angeles area, another fatal car crash on the Madison Bridge has engineer Cal Miller (James MacArthur) concerned about the bridge’s stability after an initial inspection. It turns out he has every right to be worried: a deeper inspection by him reveals that the bridge is about to completely collapse. As he tries – on his own – to get the bridge and the road leading to it shut down, complications arise when bank robber Johnny Pyle (Desi Arnaz Jr.) is pursued by the police and ends up causing a multi-car accident at the heart of the bridge. Now as the bridge starts falling apart, Cal must find a way to rescue those stuck on the bridge – including a wounded policeman and Johnny, who is armed and dangerous – before they all plunge into the river and permanently drown their sorrows.
Though produced in 1979, The Night The Bridge Fell Down didn’t premiere on TV until 1983, three years after Irwin Allen’s last big screen production bombed at the box office. This time, the two-part three-hour saga of a bridge collapse hearkens back to the earlier Allen-produced TV movies at Warner Bros. rooted in the plausible possibility of real life disaster; given the news the last few years over the state of some of the bridges here in America, the story here – interwoven with different subplots of people with their own troubles, legal and illegal – seems even more relevant today than when it was first broadcast. Director Georg Fenady has better success here – in comparison to his previous two-part three-hour long disaster effort for Allen – due to a much better script and the solid work of his cast, with James MacArthur, Desi Arnaz Jr., Leslie Nielsen, Barbara Rush and Philip Baker Hall notably standing out amongst the ensemble cast. However, prospects for success with TV proved to be hampered, not just due to Allen’s diminished standing, but for the fact that the movie premiered on TV the same night as the final episode of the long running TV series M*A*S*H. So, while it failed to win the ratings war with M*A*S*H, The Night the Bridge Fell Down was still a moderately successful return to TV for Irwin Allen, whose return to the plausible disasters of the real world gave him a final chance for success; one final note: the bridge used here to depict the fictional Madison Bridge is the Astoria-Megler Bridge linking Oregon and Washington over the Columbia River, and that location looks in no way like Southern California.
Cave-In! (1983; 3 out of 5)
During a tour of the Five Mile Caves, a group of tourists becomes trapped when the cave is sealed off from the surface due to the collapse of the cave ceiling at the cave’s entrance. Now park ranger Gene Pearson (Dennis Cole) must lead his group – including a US Senator (Susan Sullivan), an ex-cop and his wife (Leslie Nielsen & Julie Sommars) and a retired college professor and his daughter (Ray Milland & Sheila Larken) – to safety through the unstable cavern. While traversing through the dangerous terrain, Pearson has to contend with another danger hiding in plain sight: armed and dangerous escaped convict Tom Arlen (James Olson), whose desperation to avoid going back to jail may just end up endangering everyone!
For his final disaster film overall – and last production, theatrical or TV, at Warner Bros. – Irwin Allen’s production of Cave-In! was his final crack at the formula that had served him so well in the 1970’s. Like The Night The Bridge Fell Down, the movie was produced in 1979, but had to wait until 1983 before TV audiences could get a look. The last of the three films Georg Fenady directed for Allen, this one’s a step below The Night The Bridge Fell Down, yet still hems to the real-life plausibly of calamity in its scenario here. Hampering this one is the fact that the use of flashbacks to tell backstories for each character tends to diminish suspense and tension at the cost of character development; however, a game ensemble cast – including Dennis Cole, Susan Sullivan, Leslie Nielsen, Julie Sommars, Ray Milland, Sheila Larken, James Olson and Allen favorite Lonny Chapman – do help to enliven the proceedings. In the end, Cave-In! is a decent albeit hokey film that brought the curtain down on the era of the Irwin Allen disaster picture, one where the producer could be counted on to bring calamities of nature to the screen with a kind of scale and spectacle that could – when he was successfully firing on all cylinders – rival Cecil B. DeMille.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Flood, Fire, Hanging by a Thread, The Night The Bridge Fell Down and Cave-In are all presented in their original 1:33:1 TV aspect ratios, while Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out… are both presented in their original 2:39:1 theatrical aspect ratios. With the exception of Fire! – which has brand new HD transfer created from a 4K scan of the original camera negative – the remaining six films have brand new HD transfers created from 2K scans of their respective interpositives for this release. Film grain, color palette and fine details – like skin tones and shadows – are all presented faithfully on all seven films with minor cases of scratches, tears and dirt present on the transfers; the transfers for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out… open with the Saul Bass designed WB logo for the first time in the DVD/Blu-ray era. Overall, this Blu-ray collection is likely the best all seven films will ever look on home video and surpasses their previous DVD incarnations.
Audio: 5/5
The mono soundtracks for all seven films are presented on DTS-HD Master Audio tracks for this release. Dialogue, sound mixes and music scores for all seven films – Jerry Fielding for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, Lalo Schifrin for When Time Ran Out… and Richard LaSalle for Flood!, Fire!, Hanging by a Thread, The Night The Bridge Fell Down and Cave-In! – are all presented faithfully with minimal cases of distortion, crackling, popping and hissing present on each track. Again, this Blu-ray collection is likely the best each movie will ever sound on home video and surpasses their previous DVD incarnations.
Special Features: 3/5
Flood!
International Theatrical Trailer (2:46)
Still Gallery (23 stills) (1:38)
Fire!
International Theatrical Trailer (1:07)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Extended TV Cut (2:25:04) – Presented in full-frame standard definition.
Theatrical Trailer (2:06) – Interestingly, the trailer uses Lee Holdridge’s music from The Pack (1977) rather than a selection of Jerry Fielding’s score.
ABC Sunday Night Movie Promo (1:03)
Sweepstakes Promo (1:24) – Presented without audio.
Still Gallery (117 stills) (8:14)
When Time Ran Out…
Extended Home Video Cut from 1986 (2:23:18) – Presented in full-frame standard definition.
Additional Scenes from the Extended Cut (35 scenes) (53:41) – Presented in full-frame standard definition.
Still Gallery (44 stills) (3:06)
Overall: 4/5
For better or worse, Irwin Allen truly deserved his nickname as the “Master of Disaster”, as he had a lock on producing the kind of picture that had temporarily rode the crest of the wave in the 1970’s. Shout Factory has done a decent job of bringing Allen’s movies from his Warner Bros. period – minus The Swarm – to Blu-ray with this set with solid HD transfers of all seven movies; the major selling point here is the inclusion of the extended cuts of Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out… as special features. Highly recommended for fans of the disaster movie craze of the 70’s.
Mychal has been on the Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2018, with reviews numbering close to 300. During this time, he has also been working as an assistant manager at The Cotton Patch – his family’s fabric and quilting supplies business in Keizer, Oregon. When not working at reviewing movies or working at the family business, he enjoys exploring the Oregon Coast, playing video games and watching baseball in addition to his expansive collection of movies on DVD, Blu-ray and UHD, totalling over 3,000 movies.
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