High Dive Kids

High Dive Kids (1956)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This RKO/Sportscope entry is probably the best I've seen from the series, although that's not saying a great deal. The film talks about a young woman who teaches various kids how to dive off the high board. We see kids ranging from around the age of three all the way up to some teens. I really wouldn't call this a good film but it was mildly entertaining thanks to the kids who are all quite impressive with their dives. Perhaps it's because I've never done it but I enjoyed watching the various things they'd come up with even though a couple of them seemed rather dangerous like the one where they kept jumping right on top of another. The narration is actually a big minus because it's clear he's trying to bring a Pete Smith-type humor to the film but it doesn't work.

This movie is about a woman who teaches young kids to dive. It is kind of a fun short, you can see some very cool dives. It makes you wanna go swimming. You can see this short on the Turner Classic Movies web page.

This RKO Sportscope short subject is about people doing handstands and fancy dives, some of them from the high board. Some of them appear to be as young as four!

In an era when public pools have gotten rid of even the low diving board because of fear of lawsuit, this is a remarkable and interesting film. I've long agreed with L.P. Hartley's dictum, "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there" and this short illustrates that thought perfectly.

Narrator Harry Wismer sounds appropriately astounded and approving. Ernest Corts shoots the divers from an interesting variety of angles, even though I found the movie grew a bit repetitive towards the end. Perhaps that's because I grew up in that era.... although I was always too afraid of belly flopping to do much diving myself.