Earthquake (1974)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 123m
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, George Kennedy
Synopsis:
A construction engineer, an LAPD officer and a daredevil motorcycle rider and his sister are all affected when seismographic readings suddenly spike into the worst earthquake to hit Los Angeles in over a hundred years.
Review:
Just as Fox and Warners were collaborating on The Towering Inferno, Universal were working on this inevitable entry into the disaster movie mini-season begun by The Poseidon Adventure. Put another way, this is the one Irwin Allen had nothing to do with. Dramatically, however, it is the usual mix of soap operatic subplots, particularly banal in the present case, all the while building tensions among the experts in the field towards the cataclysm that will occupy the second half of the movie. Some of the earthquake effects are pretty effective, with roads splitting and the ground lifting near Bujold's home, while the producers also employ good old-fashioned matte paintings and a rather obvious miniature for the climactic dam break. A fairly big movie for its day, but spoilt by the Sensurround gimmick, whereby cinemas without the necessary funds to rig theatrical seating simply turned up the volume to deafening levels.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 123m
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, George Kennedy
Synopsis:
A construction engineer, an LAPD officer and a daredevil motorcycle rider and his sister are all affected when seismographic readings suddenly spike into the worst earthquake to hit Los Angeles in over a hundred years.
Review:
Just as Fox and Warners were collaborating on The Towering Inferno, Universal were working on this inevitable entry into the disaster movie mini-season begun by The Poseidon Adventure. Put another way, this is the one Irwin Allen had nothing to do with. Dramatically, however, it is the usual mix of soap operatic subplots, particularly banal in the present case, all the while building tensions among the experts in the field towards the cataclysm that will occupy the second half of the movie. Some of the earthquake effects are pretty effective, with roads splitting and the ground lifting near Bujold's home, while the producers also employ good old-fashioned matte paintings and a rather obvious miniature for the climactic dam break. A fairly big movie for its day, but spoilt by the Sensurround gimmick, whereby cinemas without the necessary funds to rig theatrical seating simply turned up the volume to deafening levels.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 123m
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, Geneviève Bujold, George Kennedy
Synopsis:
A construction engineer, an LAPD officer and a daredevil motorcycle rider and his sister are all affected when seismographic readings suddenly spike into the worst earthquake to hit Los Angeles in over a hundred years.
Review:
Just as Fox and Warners were collaborating on The Towering Inferno, Universal were working on this inevitable entry into the disaster movie mini-season begun by The Poseidon Adventure. Put another way, this is the one Irwin Allen had nothing to do with. Dramatically, however, it is the usual mix of soap operatic subplots, particularly banal in the present case, all the while building tensions among the experts in the field towards the cataclysm that will occupy the second half of the movie. Some of the earthquake effects are pretty effective, with roads splitting and the ground lifting near Bujold's home, while the producers also employ good old-fashioned matte paintings and a rather obvious miniature for the climactic dam break. A fairly big movie for its day, but spoilt by the Sensurround gimmick, whereby cinemas without the necessary funds to rig theatrical seating simply turned up the volume to deafening levels.