Introduction: Disasters have been the subject of film-goers' fascination since the time of silent film epics, and this interest continues to exist up to the present time. Films have often depicted large-scale natural disasters (weather-related usually) or man-made calamities (a wreck at sea, an airplane crash), often accompanied by massive crowd scenes. Other disasters may be planetary-related, criminally-instigated, nuclear-related, millennial-related, or involving alien or mutant invasions of some kind. They can be either impending or ongoing, or they can exist locally or globally.

The focus of such films is on the spectacular calamity and a small group of people in imminent danger, and how they must cope or devise a method of escape. Tension is developed by concentrating on the miraculous means of rescue and whether all the characters (usually in an all-star cast) have the inner strength to survive the ordeal. Also see this site's writeup on the Greatest Disaster Films.

(See this site's Film Terms Glossary for definitions and examples, the History of Film by Decade, and an extensive timeline of other Milestones and Turning Points in Film History.)

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Typhoon (1940)

This was Paramount Studio's response to the popular film The Hurricane (1937) - see above, that also starred sarong-wearing Dorothy Lamour as its leading lady. The film was set on an island near Dutch Guinea, and featured a climactic typhoon and tidal wave in its final minutes - preceded by an island vegetational fire. Nominated for only one Academy Award: Best Visual Effects, which it lost to The Thief of Baghdad (1940).

The War of the Worlds (1953)

The classic and influential film adaptation of the H.G. Wells sci-fi classic (publicized by Orson Welles' infamous radio play of 1938 that scared the world) made by producer George Pal and Paramount Studios. It was set in 1950s Southern California (Linda Rosa, about 30 miles from L.A., and then within the city itself), and told of the invasion of hostile Martian spacecrafts shaped like green manta rays with cobra probes. The film starred Gene Barry as a heroic scientist and Ann Robinson as his obligatory love interest, amidst the devastation. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for its spectacular state-of-the-art visual fx, with two other nominations (Best Film Editing and Best Sound). Remade by Steven Spielberg as War of the Worlds (2005), and borrowed heavily for the plot of Independence Day (1996).

The High and the Mighty (1954)

This drawn-out, Cinemascopic William Wellman adventure/disaster film and melodramatic character study, adapted from pilot-turned-novelist Ernest K. Gann's novel, starred co-producer John Wayne as a veteran commercial airline co-pilot (with a haunted past) next to Captain Robert Stack aboard a San Francisco-bound flight from Honolulu. When the plane lost an engine and ran low on fuel at the point of no return, the passengers in the ensemble cast contemplated their lives and mortality. Like Zero Hour! (1957), it was one of the earliest airplane-disaster films and served as the blueprint for 70's airplane-related disaster films, such as Airport (1970). Nominated for six Oscars (including Best Director and two Best Supporting Actress nods for Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling), with one win for Best Score.

The Giant Mutated Monster and Giant People Films of Bert I. Gordon (1957-1977)

The famed schlockmeister B-director Bert Gordon (nicknamed Mr. Big, whose initials were B.I.G.) specialized in cheesy "giant mutated monster and giant people" films (often with disaster film elements) with cheap special effects, the most famous being The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), about Army Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Logan), who in a futile attempt to save a downed pilot, was blasted by a plutonium bomb, and grew to the height of 50 feet as a bald giant and then rampaged through Las Vegas, where he fell off Hoover/Boulder Dam to his apparent death. (It was followed by an inferior sequel War of the Colossal Beast (1958), notable only as a B/W film with a color finale when the Beast was electrocuted.) Other notable Gordon films included the giant grasshopper film Beginning of the End (1957) (that resembled Them! (1954)) starring Peter Graves, Earth Vs. the Spider (1958) (remade as a 2001 TV movie), a beach-party rock 'n' roll monster film Village of the Giants (1965) starring young Beau Bridges, Ron (as Ronny) Howard, Tommy Kirk and Johnny Crawford, The Food of the Gods (1976), and Empire of the Ants (1977) about giant marauding mutated ants in backwater Florida; most of Gordon's films were lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Zero Hour! (1957)

This relatively obscure disaster film would become famous as one of the first of the in-flight disaster films that would soon follow in the decade of the 70s. The author of this film's derivative teleplay, Arthur Hailey, would later write the novel and screenplay for Airport (1970). This film was also the basis for the classic gagfest spoof Airplane! (1980), and provided many of the cliches for future films.

In this routine, melodramatic air disaster film, the two pilots of a commercial Canadian passenger plane became incapacitated, with half of the crew, due to contaminated food (tainted fish). Shell-shocked ex-RAF pilot in WWII, Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews), was the only passenger with previous flight experience, who happened to be on board when he followed estranged wife Ellen (Linda Darnell) and son Joey (Raymond Ferrell) onto the plane as they were departing to start a new life in Vancouver.