Below the Sea (1933)

Director:

Albert S. Rogell

Writer:

Jo Swerling (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

A wealthy woman funds an underwater expedition to explore for marine life, but what she doesn't know is that her "colleagues" have other intentions.

Plot Keywords:

Sunken Treasure | Deep Sea Diver | Treasure | Octopus | Diving Bell

Cast

Ralph Bellamy	...	Steve 'Mac' McCreary
Fay Wray	...	Diane Templeton
Frederick Vogeding	...	Karl Schlemmer
Esther Howard	...	Lily
Paul Page	...	Bert Jackson
Trevor Bland	...	Horace Waldridge
William Keighley	...	Dr. Chapman

Also Known As:

Beneath the Sea (USA) (working title)
Hell's Cargo (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

This film survives only in black and white.

Quotes:

Diane Templeton: [shows Steve her microscope] Here, take a look. What do you see?
Steve 'Mac' McCreary: A lot of little maggots.
Diane Templeton: Well take a good look. A few million years ago, one of them was you. One day, maybe a million years later, you floated upwards, you and many others. The wheels of life began to turn. A billion living things were snuffed out. A few were launched into a new cycle, you among them, because you were strong. That's how life began. Ages went by, and you got the cells and the muscles that enabled you to think and dream and smile. You really became human when you learned how to smile.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wreck Hunters: Dive to the Wreck of the USS Bass (2004) (V)

Fay Wray is a feisty adventuress and Bellamy a leading man...

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.