Die goldene Galeere

Howard Hughes was a producer that had a lot of talent for discovering beautiful women that went on to have better careers with other vehicles than the ones he decided to create for them. That seems to be the case of this John Sturges' 1955 film "Underwater!" in which the curvaceous Jane Russell starred for the last time for Howard Hughes.

The film is a curious one. We are introduced to Johnny and Dominic, two underwater divers who are searching for those sunken ships in the Caribbean, especially this one, not too far from Cuba. As they stumble into the old Spanish galleon, they find a man that appears to be a sort of pirate awaiting for them because it's obvious they are after those treasures.

As Johnny and Dominic go back to Cuba, we are introduced to Theresa, Johnny's wife, who is dead set against spending money chasing his dreams. But when Dominic meets Gloria, by chance, she tells him about the yacht she has been left with by a departing old flame. So the four friends, and a priest who knows about those sunk ships, go in search of the riches trapped underwater.

The film doesn't bring anything new to this film genre. In fact, it's pretty tame stuff we see in a predictable story we know how it will end. The best reward for the viewers of "Underwater" is the beautiful Jane Russell at her best. She was one of the sultriest women working in films during those days. The problem is the male stars who give by the numbers performances. Joseph Calleia is the only one that shows any spunk as the man who wants the riches from under the sea.

I purchased the recent Blu Ray release version of this film and I was pleasantly surprised by the exceptional picture quality of both the colorization and sound of Underwater! Heck, who doesn't like an adventure film about buried treasure on a sunken ship with sharks swimming around nearby of both the mammal and human persuasion. I really enjoyed this 1955 film for many reasons. First the story of a ship that got caught in a storm a century ago with gold bullion on board is sunk and lost forever, or so everyone thought.

Then two adventurous men (Richard Egan and Gilbert Roland) , their two attractive women (Jane Russel and Lori Nelson) and a priest (Robert Keith) sign up for the adventure of their lifetime to find and recover this buried treasure. The priest's mission is not for the greed of gold but because there are some religious solid gold artifacts that were also rumored to be aboard this sunken ship.

And so their adventure turns real when the abandoned and tattered ship is discovered hanging precariously off the top of an underwater reef and if disturbed, could fall many fathoms deeper into the bottom of the sea bed too deep for men to swim without dying from the bends.

Of course while the two deep sea divers are in the middle of bringing up the ships treasure they are interrupted by some human sharks who want to steal the treasures after the danger of the deep sea dive is over and the treasures are brought on board their ship. It is quite an adventure and as I said the picture and sound quality are superb for a 1955 film and only enhanced by the attractiveness of both Jane Russell and Lori Nelson. The women viewers will also enjoy the two divers/actors Richard Egan and Gilbert Roland in their tighty whities throughout their underwater dives.

It's a film classic that should be shown on stations such as Turner Classic Films more often in all its glorious color for adventurous film buffs to watch and enjoy over and over.

I give this 1955 adventure film classic a superb 8 out of 10 rating

I saw this movie, the first time, in NYC at one of the big screen palaces, as a child. I remember distinctly my father calling one of his friends afterward and telling him he HAD to go see this movie because near the end, you got to see Jane Russell's bare breast for an instant. 50 years later, watching this on Turner Classic Movies, I saw he was right. However, it may have been Ms. Russell's stunt double, as I'd read she'd used one during the diving scenes. Yes, I did TiVo it and yes, Egan clearly exposed her nipple for a second. Subliminal? I bet the editor and director, on the Moveola machine DID know this and left it in!

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.

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.