Geheimnisse des Meeres

This is from a well known book by Rachel Carson, so I don't know why this film is not well-known. It took home the Academy Award as best documentary. I suppose the later work of Cousteau just eclipsed it. Never the less, this is a well done film, well worth watching.

This won an Academy Award for Documeentary Feature and most definitely deserved to win. The whole project is well-executed and the underwater camerawork is particularly worthy of mention. Holds up very well after almost fifty years. Turner Classic Movies usually shows this a few times a year. Highly recommended.

It's a real shame that the copy of "The Sea Around Us" that was shown on Turner Classic Movies is in great need of restoration. Due to the effects of time on nitrate film stock, the film is often too dark or muddy or faded...and it's a shame as the original color film must have wowed audiences.

The film is named after Rachel Carson' book and her name in in the opening credits. However, I have not read the book and assume it differs significantly because there isn't much in the way of plot...just lots of clips of various sea creatures.

When you watch the film today, you also will probably notice that the style is very old fashioned and sensationalistic. Instead of using scientific jargon, the film often tries to amaze viewers and the language is often ridiculous. Moray eels and octopi are described with such florid words as 'killer', 'murderous' and 'cruel'...none of which are true about these relatively benign creatures. This isn't too surprising because this is how many early nature documentaries were...such as Jacques Cousteau's "The Silent World" or the Disney nature films of the 1950s. I suspect much of the sensationalism also was because Irwin Allen made this film...the same guy who loved disaster films and bigger than life stories.

Overall, some excellent early underwater cinematography combined with some very unscientific and sensationalistic material...such as showing a diver knifing a shark to death or using ridiculous narration meant to entertain and not educate. Some of the sea life is misidentified or misrepresented. A real mixed bag.

It's an early documentary about the ocean. The color film has its limits but the film takes it to that limit. It starts with the biblical Genesis and volcanic reds. It continues with a lot of God and a lot of nature. It has some amazing microscopic creatures and that cinematography is good even for today. It must have awed audiences at the time. It would win the Oscar for best documentary. Granted, much of the footage must have been filmed in a tank although there is plenty of open ocean work. As part of the old ways, they do show capturing of a shark. More than half of the film is about people including the fishery rather than the natural world. It does show some giant crabs. I've never seen crabs that big. Modern environmental films would skip some of this. All in all, some of this leaves me awe-struck and would inspire future nature films. Then it ends with a gut punch. I didn't realize that global warming science was discussed so early on.

Adaptation of Rachel Carson's book about the sea. I've never read the book so I don't know how faithful it is but some of this is fascinating. It starts out pretty badly with ponderous narration describing how the Earth (and sea) came into being. After that it lightens up pretty quickly and shows us various creatures of the sea including some incredible microscopic views of sea life. There's an interesting (and non-bloody) fight between a shark and an octopus. It also shows various occupations men have dealing with the sea like a shark walker and crab herder. The part showing different ways to capture fish (so they can be killed and eaten) might be troubling to some viewers but it's more of a sign of the time it was made than anything else. Narration aside this should be seen for visuals alone. Also the ending seems to predict global warming before it was discovered! I give it an 8.