Krakatoa, East of Java

Krakatoa, East of Java
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bernard L. Kowalski
Produced by	William R. Forman Philip Yordan
Written by	Bernard Gordon Clifford Newton Gould
Starring	Maximilian Schell Diane Baker Brian Keith Sal Mineo Sumi Haru
Music by	Frank De Vol Mack David
Production company	Security Pictures
Distributed by	Cinerama Releasing Corporation (1968, original) MGM (2005, DVD)
Release date	May 14, 1969 (1969-05-14)
Running time	131 min
Language	English

Krakatoa, East of Java is a 1969 American disaster film starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. During the 1970s, the film was re-released under the title Volcano.

The story is loosely based on events surrounding the 1883 eruption of the volcano on the island of Krakatoa, west of Java. The characters are engaged in the recovery of a cargo of pearls from a shipwreck perilously close to the volcano.

In 1883, the volcano on the island of Krakatoa in the Netherlands East Indies begins to erupt, terrorizing the children at a mission school in Palembang on nearby Sumatra. Meanwhile, across the Sunda Strait at her home port of Anjer on the west coast of Java, the steamer Batavia Queen, under the command of Captain Chris Hanson (Maximilian Schell), takes aboard passengers and cargo, including a diving bell and a balloon. Among the passengers coming aboard are Douglas Rigby (John Leyton), the designer, owner, and operator of the diving bell; Giovanni Borghese (Rossano Brazzi) and his son Leoncavallo (Sal Mineo), who own and operate the balloon as "The Flying Borgheses;" Harry Connerly (Brian Keith), a diver; Connerly's mistress Charley Adams (Barbara Werle), who is a professional soprano and former saloon hostess; four female Japanese pearl divers led by Toshi (Jacqui Chan); and Laura Travis (Diane Baker), a married woman who had an extramarital affair with Hanson in Batavia.