This documentary short film is a cut above the normal from two perspectives. "Water Trix" involves a top camera man shooting moving action film from a helicopter. And, that action is water skiing on open water, with wave action and all. The principal skier is a world renowned waterski performer, Preston Petersen, and the photographer is Charles Trego. The documentary is one of the MGM shorts under the Pete Smith Specialty banner, with Smith narrating.
The film opens with the helicopter hanging very low beside a small sailboat in a calm. The chopper whips up enough wind to partially fill the sail enough to move the boat out of the channel. Once in open water, it picks up the wind which fills its sail. From there, the helicopter starts shooting water skiers. After a couple of individuals show a little dexterity on the skis, the chopper spots Petersen. It stays with him as he performs real daring stunts and nearly impossible tricks with a couple of women participants.
This is quite different from the marine park skiing routines in California or Florida. They have choreographed group routines with skiers in formations and building pyramids, and skiers going over ski jumps. Petersen is a one-man show with more hair-raising stunts. And, some very complex maneuvers with a female participant or two. It's very good stuff for a nine-minute short. It comes as a bonus item on a DVD I bought..