CATASTROPHE is one of those clip compilation documentaries that gather together shocking footage, add in a famous narrator, and let rip. The previous one I saw was DAYS OF FURY, starring Vincent Price, and CATASTROPHE is much the same.

This isn’t the sort of mondo movie that gorehounds will enjoy. There are a few clips of dead bodies, but this is ‘safe’ viewing for the most part, albeit still extremely shocking given the loss of life involved in the clips. There are old standbys which play out once again (such as the Hindenburg disaster), alongside new-to-me scenes such as the incredible events at the Indy 500.

The narrator of choice is the ubiquitous William Conrad, star of TV’s CANNON, who must have been one of the hardest-working voice-over artists of his era. Inevitably, given that this is a low budget 1970s production, the quality of the clips is somewhat grainy, but this gives the documentary a grindhouse feel. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s never boring.