One can only imagine that the Todd-AO and Cinerama formats appeared spectacularly on the huge movie theater screens of 1969, because it doesn't translate very well to even a 50+ inch home theater screen today. The movie contains several aerial scenes (and others featuring back-and-forth camera pans), designed to immerse the audience into the action, which just don't work for a TV viewer. Hence, without delivering the intended experience, these sequences feel much too long. But it was obviously impressive enough back then to earn this adventure drama an Academy Award nomination for its Special Effects (Best Visual Effects), though the only other nominee that year (Marooned) won, earning Robie Robinson an Oscar for his only work in film. Obviously it was a weak year for the category. Additionally, the DVD version I watched didn't take advantage of surround sound; my sub-woofer sat silent during the plethora of explosions and volcano eruptions, which made the 131 minutes seem even longer.
As for the rest of it, the disaster-adventure's story is fairly typical, and largely of secondary importance; contrived subplots slog towards the climactic historical event. Unfortunately, the dialog is dismal and the acting is laughable at times (Diane Baker's character is hysterically hysterical); thankfully Oscar winner Maximilian Schell was able to redeem himself and his career in later films. There's a painful-to-watch scene in which Barbara Werle sings while performing a G-rated striptease to Brian Keith, and Rossano Brazzi looks much more weathered than his 52 years should have indicated. Sal Mineo, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon and Marc Lawrence also have shallow roles. Then there's a trio of female pearl divers (who appear only to provide cheesecake) that can swim nearly as deep and stay underwater the same length of time as Schell and Keith can, yet the men are wearing oxygen-supplied diving suits! More nonsense follows: the captain fights a mutiny using a high pressure water hose, probably not available in 1883, yet no one thinks to use it just minutes later to put out the fires caused by the flaming lava rocks falling from the sky. Even the much lauded special effects are repetitious and some were done very cheaply (e.g. the balloon's propeller is made from a movie reel).
As for the rest of it, the disaster-adventure's story is fairly typical, and largely of secondary importance; contrived subplots slog towards the climactic historical event. Unfortunately, the dialog is dismal and the acting is laughable at times (Diane Baker's character is hysterically hysterical); thankfully Oscar winner Maximilian Schell was able to redeem himself and his career in later films. There's a painful-to-watch scene in which Barbara Werle sings while performing a G-rated striptease to Brian Keith, and Rossano Brazzi looks much more weathered than his 52 years should have indicated. Sal Mineo, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon and Marc Lawrence also have shallow roles. Then there's a trio of female pearl divers (who appear only to provide cheesecake) that can swim nearly as deep and stay underwater the same length of time as Schell and Keith can, yet the men are wearing oxygen-supplied diving suits! More nonsense follows: the captain fights a mutiny using a high pressure water hose, probably not available in 1883, yet no one thinks to use it just minutes later to put out the fires caused by the flaming lava rocks falling from the sky. Even the much lauded special effects are repetitious and some were done very cheaply (e.g. the balloon's propeller is made from a movie reel).