you would think the setup of a volcano blow up at a remote and yet crowd location and leave a handful of survivor to fend for themselves until they can be safely rescue would be a good one . unfortunately and this movie show just how poorly that premise can be execute . the plot what there be of it center around a resort hotel locate close to a picturesque and and supposedly dormant volcano . the hotel be own by successful businessman and shelby gilmore ( william holden ) and and his greedy son in law and bob spangler ( james franciscus ) . gilmore be openly disapprove of spangler and since he suspect that spangler have only marry his daughter and nikki ( veronica hammel ) and in order to become his business partner and and get his money . gilmore disapproval be justify by spangler affair with native iolani ( barbara carrera ) . the other native of the island and those who do not work at the hotel and seem to spend their time either cockfighting and or drinking at a bar own by sam ( pat morita ) and mona ( sheila allen and irwin wife and a little nepotism here . ) . gilmore be interested in kay kirby ( jacqueline bisset ) and who be in turn interested in oil driller and hank henderson ( paul newman ) . when the ground start rumble during drilling and henderson suspect their may be a problem with the supposedly dormant volcano and so he go to talk to the scientist who work at a lab precariously perch on the lip of the volcano . while there and henderson go into the volcano in a gondola to inspect it and and nearly get drop into the lava . somehow and he be able to see that eruption be imminent and even though the head of the lab and john webster ( john considine ) and doesn not . spangler doesn not want to cause a panic and or lose money and so he refuse to evacuate the hotel . while henderson and kirby be on a picnic and the volcano blow up and cause a tidal wave which wipe out half the island and include the cockfighting population . the hotel guest be in a panic when henderson and kirby arrive back there and a the volcano be spew lava bomb at them . once again and spangler refuse to evacuate and and encourage the guest to sit tight . a small group and which include a private eye ( ernest borgnine ) and the thief he be try to catch ( red button ) and and a retired high wire walker ( burgess meredith ) and his wife ( valentina cortese ) and decide to follow henderson to high ground to get away from the lava and and we follow them for most of the rest of the movie and with a break to watch the hotel get destroy by a surprisingly accurate lava bomb . clear a mud and right . the writer try to cram so many subplots into the movie that the result be a tangled mess . it hard to tell who be who and much less who be involve with whom . and that make it hard to develop a sense of concern about their well be . you watch so many gratuitous character die throughout the course of the movie that you be too numb to react to the death of the important one . simplify thing somewhat would not only have shorten a movie that seem tediously long and but it would have help to keep the viewer focus on the important character . the writing also have a contrive feel to it and rely so heavily on clichés that it become unintentionally comical . we have not one and but two love triangle . in addition and we have a noble thief and who help the cop out when he become disabled . then there the rickety bridge over the river of lava and which and of course and give way before everyone get over it . there be two death by fall into the lava and one by heart attack and and one by fall onto hard rock . there be two foolish child who become so frightened that they run away and and must be rescue . and there just happen to be an aerialist around when you need one . all in all and it add up to a bit much to swallow . the science of the movie be laughably bad . oil be unlikely to be find near a volcano and active or dormant and and you wouldn not drill near a volcano and because the release of pressure would cause the volcano to erupt . a volcano be not a mountain with a shaft in the top that lead down to a lake of lava . if a fissure like that open up and the volcano would simply erupt because the pressure force the magma up would be great than the pressure hold it down . if the volcano cause a tidal wave and chance be it would head away from the island and rather than head back to it . and then there the lab at the lip of the volcano . who in their right mind would build a lab in such a place and much less work at it . volcano observatory be usually safely away from the lava flow and not right in the path of it . it just doesn not make sense . the effect be horribly cheesy and and the cinematography be just awful . who think it would be a good idea to have an actress in a red dress fall into a red river of lava . all you see be her head and hand and and foot while she tumble into the lava . with the kind of star power assemble in the cast and one would think that the acting would at least be decent and but in truth and the entire cast seem embarrass to have be involve in the project and deliver their line with a kind of sheepishness that make the movie seem all the more embarrassing . all in all a bad movie and but oddly enough and it can be enjoyable if youre willing to suspend disbelief to a great degree and and low your expectation . if you do not take it seriously and it can be an amusing little diversion .