Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Underwater! Blu-ray Movie Review

Under the C-.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 23, 2020

Not to be confused with the upcoming horror film of the same name (minus the exclamation point), John Sturges' Underwater! is a 1955 adventure flick and thinly-veiled attempt to showcase leading lady Jane Russell in swimsuits while her male co-stars dive for buried treasure. Beyond all that, is it any good? Not really, but the film's exotic setting and dutiful direction at least make it a decent -- albeit somewhat meandering -- way to kill just over 90 minutes.

So anyway, buried treasure. Swarthy, perpetual bachelor Dominic Quesada (Gilbert Roland) and his pal Johnny Gray (Richard Egan) discover what appear to be priceless artifacts near a shipwreck off the coat of Cuba, and return to shore in hopes of mounting a more thorough expedition to unearth the potential fortune in 17th century valuables. After a bit of passive-aggressive persuasion, Johnny gains the support of wife Jane (Jane Russell), and Dominic even manages to rent a yacht owned by the unassuming Gloria (Lori Nelson). Also, a preist (Robert Keith) comes along for some reason. It seems like a simple enough task given their resources and experience, but they've got problems ahead: immediate ones like the shipwreck's location near a steep precipice in shark-infested waters, and potential ones like the feverish, sustained interest of "shark hunters" Rico Herrera (Joseph Calleia) and Miguel Vega (Eugene Iglesias).

There's really not much more to Underwater! that that and, while I usually admire the WYSIWYG approach, there's just not enough here to sustain the film's blatantly padded 99-minute running time. To its credit, director John Sturges makes use of some well-shot underwater footage (which was actually filmed at a brand-new underwater tank built for RKO Radio Pictures), while many scenic above-ground vistas were captured in Mexico and Hawaii. They work in tandem to give Underwater an exotic backdrop, but the story and script can't help but lag much further behind. Most first-time viewers will be able to predict all the danger and plot twists far in advance, and the persistent use of narration by Richard Egan's character almost routinely grinds momentum to a halt. Assuming you don't have any warm and fuzzy memories of this one from decades past, your best bet to enjoying Underwater! is to simply take it at face value; unlike what the film's protagonists discover, digging much deeper will only result in mild disappointment.

I'll say one thing about Warner Archive Collection's new Blu-ray, though: it looks like a million bucks, and even more so when you consider that Underwater!'s last two domestic home video releases were on VHS and laserdisc. The sparkling restoration, sourced from a recent 4K scan of the original camera negative and featuring a solid lossless audio track, plays to the film's limited strengths and allows us to be more fully immersed in its exotic atmosphere. Unfortunately, the complete lack of extras hurts this one more than usual, so it's pretty much for established fans only.

Underwater! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Underwater! was the first RKO production to be filmed in "Superscope", a short-lived but successful anamorphic format described by the invaluable Widescreen Museum as "The Rich Man's Poor Man's Version of CinemaScope" [please refer to page 3 of that linked article for a few words about the main feature]. As such, Warner Archive Collection's Blu-ray preserves Underwater!'s unusual 2:1 aspect ratio with a terrific new 1080p transfer sourced from a recent 4K scan of the original camera negative. The resulting image is perhaps the best this film has ever looked, possibly even beating most theatrical presentations. It's incredibly clean with outstanding image detail that fares the best above ground: any scenes captured in brightly-lit conditions reveal lots of textures and subtle details, along with well-saturated Technicolor hues that appear accurate from start to finish. Everything shot, well, underwater obviously looks quite a bit murkier and less impressive in direct comparison, but within those boundaries it's completely acceptable. No obvious signs of banding or compression artifacts could be spotted along the way, with the Blu-ray's high bit-rate and encode ensuring a very strong and stable image that clearly hasn't been touched by excessive digital noise reduction.

Underwater! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Obvious the film's mono sound doesn't yield as many thrills, but the Blu-ray's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track at least preserves its one-channel roots. Dialogue and main effects are usually anchored in the center with very few hints of direction, although the (mosly unintelligible) underwater speech often flirts with a more spacious, echo-like presence. Fittingly, the original score by Roy Webb -- who spent most of his prolific career working for RKO -- is balanced nicely and, while somewhat limited on the high end, enjoys a pleasing dynamic range. No obvious source defects, drop-outs, or sync issues of any kind were detected along the way, rounding out the audio presentation nicely.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature and, like many recent WAC Blu-rays, are properly formatted with no ALL CAPS anywhere. Anther couple of releases like this and I'll stop mentioning it, honest.

Underwater! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Underwater! arrives on Blu-ray in a standard keepcase with titillating, poster-themed cover artwork and no inserts. Unfortunately no extras are included, not even the trailer...but I found it on YouTube if you're interested.

Underwater! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Sturges' lukewarm Underwater! is a thinly-veiled attempt to show off its leading lady in a swimsuit, and it barely even does that right. But even discarding all the cheesecake, there's some entertainment value to be found here...even if most of the plot twists can be seen a nautical mile away. Although I can't imagine that most new audiences would fall for Underwater!'s limited charms, those with fond memories of this one will all least appreciate Warner Archive's new Blu-ray: it sports an outstanding new 4K-sourced 1080p transfer and lossless audio, even though the complete lack of bonus features prevents this from being a truly well-rounded effort. So yeah, test the water before you dive in.