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USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington

Volcanoes in Historical and Popular Culture -
"In The Movies"


  • Ice Age
    -- 2002, Director, Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge
    Animation. During the Ice Age, a sabertooth tiger, a sloth, and a wooly mammoth (Ray Romano, voice) find a lost human infant and they try to return him to his tribe. Volcanoes erupt, rivers of lava, and an early ancestor of "Old Faithful" geyser.

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King
    -- 2001, 2002, 2003, Director, Peter Jackson
    The Tongariro National Park, located in the central North Island region just south of Lake Taupo, was used for the scenes of Mordor and Mount Doom. Most of the filming was shot on the Tongariro volcanic complex, and Mount Ngauruhoe was depicted as Mount Doom. The Whakapapa ski-field on Mount Ruapehu was used for additional filming. (information courtesy Matthew Carrier)

  • Volcano
    -- 1997, a thriller produced by Donner/Schuler-Donner Productions and Fox 2000 Pictures. Starring Jennifer Bill, Tommy Lee Jones, and Michael Rispoli. Filmed in Torrance, California. A volcano (Mount Wilshire) erupts along an earthquake fault near the La Brea Tar Pits, sending lava flows through the streets and subway tunnels of Los Angeles.

  • Volcano - Fire on the Mountain
    -- 1997, made-for-TV movie, starring Dan Cortese and Cynthia Gibb, a scientist attempts to convince his boss and the residents of a California town that a nearby volcano is about to erupt.

  • Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
    -- 1997, a childrens action movie by 20th Century Fox, Sabin Entertainment, and Toei Company, Ltd. Rated PG. The Power Rangers must stop the release of an evil space pilot from his imprisonment on a volcanic island.

  • Dante's Peak
    -- 1997, starring Pierce Brosnan as Harry Dalton, a vulcanologist, and Linda Hamilton as Rachael Wando, the town mayor. The two manage to convince the town that a long-dormant peak is about to explode, meanwhile they must rescue her kids who have gone up the mountain to get their grandmother. -- (MORE)

  • Eruption
    -- 1997, a.k.a. "Volcano Run", starring F. Murray Abraham, Carlos Carrasco, Cyril O'Reilly, and Patricia Velazquez. An American photojournalist faces a revolution and erupting volcano in the South American country of San Pedro.

  • Austin Powers--International Man of Mystery
    -- to be released in 1997, with Mike Myers (from Wayne's World) as the film's hero who saves Earth from volcanic destruction.

  • DNA
    -- 1997, staring Mark Dacascos. In a tropical rain forest, a DNA expert and a CIA agent try to stop a scientist and the monster he created. In one scene there is a "perfectly symmetrical" volcano "smoking" in the background.

  • Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Volcano Mystery
    -- 1997, a 30-minutes video starring the Olsen twins.

  • Congo
    -- 1995, an adventure, directed by Frank Marshall, starring Bruce Campbell, Tim Curry, Grant Heslov, Ernie Hudson, Laura Linney, and Dylan Walsh. The plot includes mutant apes, lost diamonds, and jungle safaris, with great scenes of a volcano (shot at Mt. Arenal in Costa Rica) erupting during an earthquake.

  • Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
    -- 1993, Disney-adventure movie where two dogs and a cat trek across the Sierra Nevadas in search of their family. Outdoor scenics were actually shot in the Oregon Cascades. One scene has a great view of South Sister volcano.

  • Nemesis
    -- 1992, starring Tim Thomerson and Deborah Shelton. The movie was shot in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

  • Sliver
    -- 1992, staring Sharon Stone. Filmed at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

  • Joe Versus the Volcano
    -- 1990, an adventure/comedy, rated PG, with Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Abe Vigoda. Joe Banks must jump willingly into a live volcano.

  • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
    -- 1987, staring Christopher Reeve (Superman/Clark Kent), Gene Hackman (Lex Luther), and Margot Kidder (Lois Lane). Inbetween fighting Nuclear Man, "Superman helps rebuild the Great Wall of China, save a crew of Soviet cosmonauts and stop up an erupting volcano." (The Washington Post, July 25, 1985)

  • Warrior Queen
    -- 1987, a color film also known as "Pompeii".

  • Black Widow
    -- 1986 (1987?), a thriller, with Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, Theresa Russell, Sami Frey, and Dennis Hopper. Shot in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - has scenes of Pu'u O'o erupting.

  • King Solomon's Mines
    -- 1985, with Sharon Stone and Richard Chanberlain. The characters search for a legendary African treasure and encounter cannibals, soldiers, and an erupting volcano.

  • St. Helens
    -- 1981, with Art Carney, David Huffman, Tim Thomerson, and Cassie Yates. 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens.

  • The Shining
    -- 1980, with Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, Oregon, was used for the exterior shots, with the interior scenes being shot on a specially built soundstage in London, England. According to the "Internet Movie Database" website (2004) "The management of the Timberline Lodge requested that Kubrick not use room 217 (as specified in the book), fearing that nobody would want to stay in that room ever again. Kubrick changed the script to use the nonexistent room number 237."

  • When Time Ran Out
    -- 1980, with Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, and James Franciscus. An oil driller leads a dash for high ground when time runs out on a resort island's dormant volcano. Includes scenes of Halemaumau.

  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    -- 1977, staring Richard Dryfuss and Teri Garr, movie was filmed at Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

  • Volcano
    -- 1976, directed and narrated by Donald Brittain.

  • The Godfather, Part II
    -- 1974, In a scene flashback to 1917, there is a play going on about immigration to America. The backdrop for one scene has the Statue of Liberty and New York City on the left, a large body of water in the center (Atlantic Ocean), and an erupting volcano on the right. Assuming this is depicting Sicily, could it possibly be Mount Etna ??? ... According to Simkin & Sieber, 1994, Volcanoes of the World, Mount Etna was erupting in 1912, 1913, and 1917.

  • Nippon chinbotsu
    -- 1973, a Japanese Thriller involving earthquakes and volcanoes.

  • Volcano
    -- 1973, a documentary

  • Idaho Transfer
    -- 1972, staring Peter Fonda. Filmed at Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

  • Easy Rider
    -- 1969, with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. The movie was shot in Wupatki/Sunset Crater Volcano, Arizona.

  • Krakatoa, East of Java
    -- 1968-69, a disaster film, a.k.a. Volcano, with Maximilian Shell, Diane Baker, Barbara Werle, John Leyton, Rossano Brazzi, Sal Mineo, and Victoria Young Received Academy Award Nomination (1969) for "Special Visual Effects". Interesting note - Krakatoa is actually WEST of Java.

  • The Fear Chamber
    -- 1968, Sci-Fi/Horror movie featuring Brois Karloff as Dr. Carl Mandel. Theplot involves a living rock underneath a volcano

  • Dr. Doolittle
    -- 1967, staring Rex Harrison. "Floating Island" has its very own smoking volcano.

  • You Only Live Twice
    -- 1967, a James Bond movie staring Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, and Donald Pleasence. There is a secret rocket-launching base hidden inside an extinct volcano off Southern Japan.

  • Monster of the Volcano
    -- 1962, a Mexican black and white film, in Spanish. A yeti-like monster roams the mountains of rural Mexico.

  • Mysterious Island
    -- 1961, a Sci-Fi/adventure film by Columbia Pictures. Based on a novel by Jules Verne, with Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Michael Callan, Gary Merrill, and Herbert Lom as Captain Nemo. A volcano erupts destroying the island.

  • The Devil at 4 O'Clock
    -- 1961, a black/white film by Columbia Pictures, starring Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracey. Two priests and 3 convicts try to evacuate a doomed volcanic island in the South Seas.

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
    -- 1959, starring James Mason, Pat Boone, and Diane Baker. by 20th Century Fox and High Productions. Scientists use a volcano in Iceland as their route for an expedition to the center of the earth. Also includes monsters and other hazards.

  • Strategic Air Command
    -- 1955, starring James Steward and June Allyson. Great footage of Mount Shasta in-the-background while in-air refueling.

  • Drums of Tahiti
    -- 1954, starring Dennis O'Keefe and Patricia Medina. Taking place in 1877, plot contains gun-runners, sailing ships, hurricanes, restless natives, and restless volcanoes.

  • Track of the Cat
    -- 1954, filmed at Mount Rainier, altho movie setting is California. A family, trapped by snow, is up against a panther. Starring Theresa Wright, Beulah Bondi, Robert Mitchum and Tab Hunter.

  • Fair Wind to Java
    -- 1953, starring Virginia Brissac and Fred MacMurray. Set in the Dutch East Indies at the end of the 19th century, an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 diamonds, while on the nearby island of Krakatau, the volcano is preparing to erupt.

  • Volcano
    -- 1953, a.k.a. Vulcano, an Italian film in black and white.

  • Bend of the River
    -- 1952, starring James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, and Julia Adams, directed by Anthony Mann. Filmed in Oregon, with NUMEROUS views of Mount Hood.

  • Hello Aloha
    -- 1952, a short 6-minute color animation staring Goofy, the tropics, and a volcano

  • The Lost Volcano
    -- 1950, a black and white film produced by Monogram Pictures Corporation, with Johnny Sheffield, Donald Woods, and Marjorie Lord. There's a lost city hidden in the center of an active volcano, which is about to erupt.

  • Cobra Woman
    -- 1944, a color film, produced by Universal Pictures [aka MCA/Universal Pictures], with Jon Hall, Sabu, Edgar Barrier, Mary Nash, Lois Collier, Samuel S. Hinds, Moroni Olsen, and Lon Chaney Jr. Island inhabitants are frequently sacrificed to an angry volcano god.

  • Volcano
    -- 1942, an annimated short (8 min) color film produced by Fleischer Studies and Paramount Pictures, starring Bud Collyer as the voice of Clark Kent/Superman.

  • Alona on the Sarong Seas
    -- 1942, a 7-minute black and white short animation involving Popeye and Bluto, Olive Oyl, and a local volcano.

  • One Million B.C.
    -- 1940, a black and white film produced by Hal Roach Studios, with Victor Mature, Carole Landis, and Lon Chaney Jr. A volcano erupts.

  • Thin Ice
    -- 1937, "Thin Ice" was set in the Alps, but filming was done at Mount Rainier National Park. Starring Sonja Henie and Tyrone Power. Sonja plays a askating instructor at a Swiss hotel who falls in love with a guest, who is a secret, real life prince. Bad weather plagued "Thin Ice". The film people were stuck at Paradise for nine days before the weather cleared. But after a day it got stormy once more, and "the director sent everyone except a handful of cameramen back to Hollywood."

  • Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
    -- 1936, a black and white film produced by Republic Pictures, part of a 14-episode serial with George Chesebro, Mamo Clark, and George Cleveland. Includes spies, sabotage and an erupting volcano.

  • The Great Air Mystery
    -- 1935, a black and white film produced by Universal, part of a 12-episode serial with Clark Williams, Noah Beery Jr., and Helen Brown. Tailspin Tommy evades volcanoes, anti-aircraft shells, and time bombs.

  • The Last Days of Pompeii
    -- 1935, an RKO Radio Pictures black/white film, starring Preston Foster, Halan Hale, and Basil Rathbone. Gladiators and and erupting Mount Vesuvius.

  • Bird of Paradise
    -- 1932, Johnny Baker (Joel McCrae) falls overboard and is saved by Luana (Dolores Del Rio). Their love is thwarted when the local volcano erupts and local custom is to sacrifice a young woman to the volcano gods.

  • The Trail of '98
    -- 1928, The Mount Rainier National Park Centennial information says this movie, about the Klondike Gold Rush, was filmed at Mount Rainier. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) however, says it was filmed in Alaska and Colorado. Directed by Clarence Brown and starring Ralph Forbes and Doloris Del Rio. One of the last epic silent films, MGM spared no expense and filmed largely on location. Although almost forgotten today, this is a wonderful movie full of romance and adventure. Its most famous scenes involve the hideous climb over Chilkoot Pass, which separated the disembarkation point of Skagway from the Yukon River, where the gold seekers had to build their own boats and run the rapids down to Dawson.

  • Volcano
    -- 1926, a black and white film produced by Paramount Pictures, starring Bebe Daniels and Wallace Beery.

  • Balto's Race to Nome
    -- 1925, filmed in Mount Rainier National Park. About the original dyptheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska, and the Iditerod Trail. Hollywood movie producer Sol Lesser, 30-minute silent film, "Balto's Race to Nome."

  • The Golden Bed
    -- 1925, a silent, black and white film, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Filmed in Mount Rainier National Park. An October storm took the great director and his crew by surprise, and they had to be rescued. Femme fatale Flora marries a titled European to save the family planation. Her husband and a rival fall to their deaths in a glacier. Starring Lillian Rich.

  • Raw Country
    -- 1921, filmed in Mount Rainier National Park.

  • Adventures of Tarzan
    -- 1921, a black and white film produced by: Numa Picture Corporation, with Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan and Louise Lorraine as Jane. A volcano splits the ground, dropping Tarzan into a pit.

  • The Volcano
    -- 1919, a black and white silent movie directed by George Irving and starring Leah Baird.

  • Kilauea: The Hawaiian Volcano
    -- 1918, a silent-movie documentary on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, 35 mm film, released December 29, 1918.

  • The Last Days of Pompeii
    -- 1913, an Italian black/white silent film.






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04/07/04, Lyn Topinka