The Devil at 4 O'Clock is a 1961 American adventure film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra.

It also considers moral issues, such as a priest who drinks to excess and criminals who commit acts of self-sacrifice.

The plane and its cargo of three manacled prisoners and a priest makes an overnight stop on the island, planning to fly onward the next day.

Doonan had built a hospital for the children by the island's volcano and he regularly visits homes soliciting funds or goods for the leper colony.

The three criminals embark on a looting spree while the townspeople are distracted, but when they enter the church, Doonan thinks that they have come to volunteer.

When he tells them that he might be able to convince the authorities to reduce their sentence, the convicts agree to parachute to the hospital with Doonan to rescue the children and staff.

Doonan and Harry, who are aware of the silence that precedes a large explosion, wait on opposite sides of the chasm as the volcano explodes and destroys the mountain.

A structure representing the volcano was specially built on farmland outside of Fallbrook, California, and it was detonated with almost one ton of explosives.

[citation needed] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "Moviemaking and religious faith are subject to an amazing amount of buffeting ... For this diffuse feature derived from the Max Catto novel has such apparent attributes as Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, color film, a plot literally as melodramatic as a volcanic eruption and dialogue that bandies about the name of the Almighty with enough abandon to give a cleric the shakes.

However, Weiler praised the film's special effects: "Especially commendable are the rumbling street cracking, devastating views of the town exposed to the earthquake resulting from the eruption.

"[4] Variety commented on the film's "exceptional special effects" and praised the acting, noting that "Tracy delivers one of his more colorful portrayals in his hard-drinking cleric who has lost faith in his God, walloping over a character which sparks entire action of film.

Sinatra's role, first-class but minor in comparison, is overshadowed in interest by Aslan, one of the convicts in a stealing part who lightens some of the more dramatic action.