Underwater!

This was the first film seen in theaters as a widescreen presentation in Finland in the fifties. So much for the film history, because the video version I saw was in 1.33:1 format leaving a lot of the visual underwater spectaculars out of the picture. Not that it might have helped much the otherwise lackluster presentation. The underwater photography of scavenging a sunken treasure does look great and very well done for its time. But above the surface there are the all too static scenes made in a studio with painted skies and wind machines. The dialog and acting are stiff and more like posing instead of running smoothly along the story. Not that the plot is much of a help either. A bit more care for the script would have been needed for a working balance next to the well executed underwater scenes and such ambitious plans for marketing tricks like underwater screenings with aqualungs for the press. The whole story is very slow moving and largely without excitement until the final fifteen minutes. Only then is the movie finally able to fill some of the expectations that have been promised all along with claustrophobic mood, shark danger and Jane Russell stuck in a favorable position in open red swimming suit. John Sturges was usually a very capable director, but this time his skills have probably been too tied under the command of the producer Howard Hughes. I'm sure they didn't really mean the whole movie to sink like that.

Leonard Maltin got this one right, I'm afraid. It's standard fare all the way through. Richard Egan and Gilbert Roland searching for lost treasure don't create much excitement, even with Jane Russell and Lori Nelson along for the ride. Ms. Russell briefly displays a Latin accent which goes in and out, mostly out. If you could never get enough of the old TV series 'Sea Hunt' this might be your thing but otherwise it's strictly take it or leave it.

Screened recently in national television in Australia, and on a Saturday afternoon so all 19 million of us could goggle at it in the daytime, the press release for the TV week magazine exclaimed: No Sunken treasure for Gilbert Roland, but oh boy, check Jane's sea Chest!.....now how could anyone miss that. Not ever seen in 3D here we have had to make do with that. Snazzy cossies and bubbling romance, this sensational lung stretcher cost as much as A STAR IS BORN but hasn't endured like Judy did. Jane is as gorgeous as ever and the film is fish tank pretty. Watch it and love it. No wonder poor RKO went bust too.

...about 10 minutes before the end of this fun movie, the lead actors are struggling underwater, when all of a sudden Richard Egan (..or his stunt double) reaches across the front of Jane Russell (..or HER stunt double) to free her from some impeding disaster, and as he pulls away his hand he pulls down her bathing suit ever so briefly and exposes the right nipple... THIS is what HDTV wide screen technology can do..stuff that got by the editors years ago is now there for detailed and easy to see review.....DVDs make it even easier, but you have to catch UNDERWATER on cable..(..of course you can Tivo it and freeze frame whatever...)

I taped this film one day recently when I came across it on TV. The interesting thing is that the version I saw was b&w, and when I looked at the intro credits it said 'color by Technicolor'! Then I looked it up on this site, and I found that it was released in colour, but no mention of a b&w version! I enjoyed the film, but I was thinking all the time how much better it would be in colour. The underwater scenery would be even more fantastic! Love the music, it's really catchy with a great beat, and the storyline isn't bad. I always enjoy the films from this era, and this is no disappointment. Now I'm looking out for the colour version!

Skin-divers Richard Egan and Gilbert Roland scour the depths of the Caribbean looking for treasure; they eventually find it buried under the sea with the wreck of a sunken ship (teetering on the edge of an underwater cliff). Howard Hughes-produced adventure from R.K.O. unevenly divides its time between on-location footage and studio shots (occasionally occupying the same scene) for a strangely dislocating visual experience. Jane Russell received top billing playing Egan's wife, and she's not bad except that her accent (perhaps laid on for a colorful, comical effect) slips in and out of Frito Bandito territory. The cast looks great in their swim-wear, but the story is without much suspense. *1/2 from ****

SYNOPSIS: Two couples search for sunken gold in the Caribbean in the mid-1950s CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Escapism. I suppose that once you graduated from Beach Blanket Bingo and started drinking rum and coke instead of Soda Pop Ricky's, you started watching films such as this. More of a travelogue for snow bound Midwesterners in Detroit and Minot, it shows a lot of tropical settings and Jane Russell. PROS AND CONS: This isn't a great film, but it is an interesting window into the past. The primary reason for watching is Jane Russell. One of those actresses that could ooze a lot of sex appeal without taking off a lot of clothes. She captures the audience in any scene she is in. Richard Egan as her husband, is one of those 1950s stereotype leading men, chiseled jaw, deep voice, good looking, rugged (probably gay). American virtue is on full display in this film. Love, honor, sharing, fairness, and no heavy plot twists or dark secrets. Everything is pretty much superficial. By today's standards this isn't good film making. Whenever there is a real change, there is noticeable fading at the ends and beginning of the reels (bad film to digital transfer?). Often times there are tint or lighting changes in the same scene when there is an edit. I loved the yacht that serves as their base for scuba diving in the film. On the outside it is a small slope that could probably sleep four adults. But the interior shots of the boat show it to be as big as the Queen Mary with 10 foot high ceilings. There is a lot of travelogue footage of sailboats at sunset, and underwater scenes with bubbles and sharks, which take up about 1/4 of the film. An obligatory dance scene in a dance bar with a smokin hot Latin band. All the usual stuff to make the folks in Peoria wish they were somewhere else in November 1958. An interesting look back to a simpler time, when things weren't to complex.

Underwater was allegedly set in Cuba, but actually photographed on the Kona Coast of Hawaii, was the last time that Jane Russell worked for Howard Hughes. The mysterious industrialist would shortly be getting rid of RKO Studios and RKO itself would shortly go Underwater after that. The site of Jane Russell even in a conservative one piece bathing suit was enough to delight the male members of the audience with those twin weapons of mass destruction Jane sported. But if you got around to listening to Jane she drifted in and out of an atrocious Spanish accent. There was no reason to cast her as Hispanic so why she was will remain a mystery. Like his aerial films Howard Hughes took some really good care with the lavish Underwater photography and it remains the best feature of Underwater, even though the stuff photographed on Kona was supplemented by scenes done in a large tank. All that though just to tell a rather routine tale of four treasure hunters, Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Gilbert Roland, and Lori Nelson who hunt for and discover an ancient Spanish Galleon loaded with gold bars. But also on board is a solid gold larger than life size statue of Jesus also adorned in jewels that was lost at sea to the Roman Catholic Church. Along for the ride is Jesuit scholar Robert Keith. The four and Keith also run afoul of shark hunters/smugglers/pirates led by Joseph Calleia. How the plot resolves itself frankly borders on the ridiculous. But the Underwater photography and the Jane photography make Underwater worthwhile viewing.

Why is this film never shown --even on Turner Classics-- in its original aspect ratio? I believe it was the first RKO widescreen film. The pan and scan version makes all the underwater photography look murky and that had been the movie's big allure, along with Jane Russell of course. But I have noticed, especially on Fox Movie Channel, that some widescreen films are never shown in widescreen. Others are. Perhaps the original prints are rotting in a can somewhere. SKY DIVERS, a movie with James Coburn and filmed in Greece is another example of one never shown in all its original glory. Both of these films' experience would be greatly enhanced by full view of the scenery.

This is Jane Russell's best film. Her chemistry with Richard Egan is excellent and this being a John Sturges film it is made with his usual eye for relevant detail. The scene where Russell pours a drink over Egan's hair is as good as any scene out of a Howard Hawk's battle of the sexes scene, with comedy and drama mixing plus that extra naturalness that only Hawks could achieve. But Sturges comes a close second. The story would be banal without the foursome of Gilbert Roland, Russell, Egan and Lori Nelson. They all gel and it works and any clichés in the underwater story are made believable by the acting. Plus the famous theme music which sums up the best of populist film music of the 50's. But it is Jane Russell who holds it all together with a natural sensuality and humour not often seen on the screen. She did the same for the inferior ' The French Line ' and of course in ' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes '. But this is her film above all and everyone in the cast seems to love her for it. Watch the scene where Egan chases her over the sands and eroticism has rarely had a more tender touch. The plot itself is all buried treasure, sunken ship and a fight for the gold. It has probably dated a little in suspense, but it is all superbly done and is one of those film treasures you want to see again and again.