Overlooked Classics: Below the Sea (1933)

 There is little doubt that Below the Sea is a cheesy little B movie but it is just so fun.

The story is very simple. A wealthy woman (Fay Wray, the same year she was in King Kong) decides to fund and join a sea expedition to search for marine life. Because she is so unexperienced she gets on the nerves of a sea diver (Ralph Bellamy). However they soon start a romance. At the same time some of the crew is looking for a buried treasure.

This film is nothing too original, but it is just so fun. The humor hits home very well, the characters are very likable and the cinematography is fantastic. The underwater photography is absolutely amazing and just gorgeous to look at. It is well ahead of its time, and still remains quite impressive today. As well as this the movie has a lot of action and these scenes are very exciting (especially one involving an octopus). These scenes are also quite well filmed. This excitement is only helped by the fact that we like these characters. They may not be complex characters, but they are charming enough for us to care about what happens to them. Such a predictable movie as this needs to still keep the viewers’ interest on its way to what we all know will happen. Luckily this is just what the film provides. The film moves at a fast pace and is just so fun to watch.

For one romantic scene, director Albert Rogell thought it would work better if there were seagulls in the background. Food was put on the ground to attract some. However the seagulls quickly grabbed the food and flew away before the camera stopped rolling. Rogell then got angry and shouted to make the birds fly through one at a time.

 

Supposedly color footage under the ocean was shot for the film, but it didn't wind up in the finished film for some unknown (at least to me) reason, the film instead is completely in black and white. Critics still praised the black and white undersea cinematography at the time.

The movie also became a big box office hit, but unfortunately has become almost completely forgotten today. It doesn’t deserve this obscurity and hopefully one day more classic movie fans will discover that a fun film this is.

An article in The Film Daily (dated June 10, 1933) gives us insight into another title for this film. This article states “Originally released as ‘Below the Sea’ and playing in the Rialto under the title, this picture will be titled ‘Hell’s Cargo’ following its Rialto run, though exhibitors have the option of using either name. ‘Below the Sea’ is not a particularly sparkling title, implying more a travel film than an active drama. While ‘Hell’s Cargo’ is considerably more lively as a name, it has the unfortunate inclusion of the word ‘hell,’ which is occasionally noted by exhibitors as not readily salable.”