Interesteg
What makes it different from others?
LouHomey
From my favorite movies..
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Skyler
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
sol
****SPOILERS**** Among the great underwater scenes in the movie "Below the Sea" what you also get is a chance to see Fay Wary's as rich socialite Diana Tempelton's cleavage which a year later would have been banned by the Hollywood Code or Hayes Commession when it came into effect. Fay or Diana is attacked together with her photographer friend Burt Jackson, Paul Page, by a giant octopus and has deep sea diver Steve McCreary, Ralph Bellamy, risk his life saving both of them. McCreary at first had no use for Diana in feeling that as a women she was hampering as well as endangering the crew but later fell in love with her and forgot all about it. Diana was in fact sponsoring an expedition under the sea to photograph the sea life that has never been seen by human eyes and almost ended up getting killed because of it. As for McCreary he was only interested in recovering some 3 million dollars in gold that was sunk together with German U-Boat 170 in 1917 that the German U-Boat Captain Von Boulton now calling himself Karl Schlemmer, Fredwrick Vogeding, wants to get his greedy hands on. But as much as Schlemmer hates it he'll need an expert deep sea diver like Steve McCreary to do it and split the gold with.Knowing what a back stabbing creep Schlemmer really is McCreary still goes along with his plan to recover the gold in that he's the only person who at first knew where it is together with the remains of U-Boat 170. But in he end the master back stabber Karl Schlemmer did himself in together with the 3 million in gold bullion by leaving, after having him drugged, McCreary out of the loop and on board. That as he and his floozy partner Lily, Esther Howard, went after the underwater gold on their own without the services of an expert deep sea diver like Steve McCreary. ****SPOILERS**** As things soon turned out the gold ended up at the bottom of the sea together with Karl Schlemmer but Steve McCready ended up with something or someone far more precious. The girl who at first had no use for but since fell in love with,as well as ended up saving her life, the beautiful as well as rich Diana Tempelton. Now how's that for a trade off!P.S In her having to be saved from the grip of a giant octopus in the movie "Below the Sea" actress Fay Wray was soon to end up in the crutches of "King Kong" which was released less then two week later.
ksf-2
The film opens with a sea battle, and a submarine going down, and for a large part of the remainder of the movie, we follow captain Schlemmer(Fred Vogeding) and Steve McCreary (Ralph Bellamy) as they try to bring its contents back up years later. Our female lead Diane Templeton is the lovely (and in this one, also educated and wealthy) Fay Wray. She will provide the ship and the money for her undersea research, or so she thinks. She had been making movies for 10 years by this time, although it was only Bellamy's second year. In 1933, Wray would make eleven films (wow!) Writer Jo Swerling had written numerous adventures from the 1920s to the 1970s, including portions of Gone With the Wind, and It's a Wonderful Life. Good strong script, mostly good acting; A couple scenes are a little fuzzy and out of focus, but it was 1933. Also a little naughty for its time, especially in the photography dark-room. Interesting discussion of evolution from Diane Templeton, as she shows McCreary around some laboratory. Good action film. Per IMDb, it appears to have been re-released in 2005, but I was not able to find it available on barnes & noble, ebay, or amazon.com in any format. The web page for "nothings new video" says they are no longer in operation.
Neil Doyle
Even though BELOW THE SEA is an antique of a movie made in pre-code 1933, it's nice to note that there was a feistier side to FAY WRAY than the Scream Queen exhibited in KING KONG. She still has the same beauty but it's a little less innocent this time as she plays flirtatious games with RALPH BELLAMY as an underwater diver whom she can't get to smile or act like a gentleman. That seems to be her main preoccupation here, although she is bankrolling an underwater expedition while being deceived by men who are actually after some sunken gold bullion.I thought she was prettier as the innocent blonde of KING KONG, but is presented here as a more modern and calculating heroine who learns the truth about the expedition only after she's fallen in love with Bellamy. But by this time he's been given some underwater heroics to do in order to save her life, just in time for a happy ending.It's watchable but there are crude reminders that this is an early "talkie". It's easy to see why Bellamy never became leading man material in the Hollywood of the '40s after some leading man roles in films like this. He tries hard to play the sort of role that Bruce Cabot could have done blindfolded, but his loutish behavior seems more like a forced act.Wray is lovely but not quite as effective as she was in her most famous film. Fans of the actress will be the ones who can appreciate this early offering.
arthursward
Having made it a point to see all the available Fay Wray films that have survived, I can tell you with certainty that you will never see her looking more beautiful than in her role, here. A radiant presence in a world of dangerous characters, she plays a moneyed adventuress bankrolling a 'scientific' expedition to document marine life. Unknown to her is the real purpose of her crews' intentions. Surprises abound in this 'A' title from Columbia Pictures. I had a hard time telling the full scale from the miniature set. And for humor, Fay lectures Ralph Bellamy about becoming a gentleman, as he descends a ladder, and she'll lean WAAYY over to make sure she has his attention. Another delight from the pre-code era. Highly recommended.