16 Fathoms Deep (1948)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

***SPOILERS*** Excellent underwater photography in the waters off Tarpon Springs Florida not in an giant fish tank or with stock footage like you would have expected in a movie like this. With the future "Sea Hunt" star Lloyd Bridges as ex-navy diver Ray Douglas doing the narrating as well as diving in the movie that makes it more then worth watching. There's also the former "Our Gang Comedy" child star Dicky Moore in what I think is his second adult role, after playing a deft mute in the movie "Out of the Past", as young 22 year old sponge diver George Athos. It's George who tragically dies when he gets his foot caught in a giant clam while trying to rescue his father Capt. Athos, John Qualen, who was trapped underwater. That's when his air hose was cut by Nick,Ian McDonald, who was under orders to do it by his boss the head of the sponge exchange Mr. Demitri, Lon Cheney Jr, in order to keep Alex's, Eric Feldary,sponge boat from making it to shore for the important sponge auction. That would have Alex pay off Mr. Demitri the money that he owes him.It was in fact Mr. Demitri the president of the Tarpon Springs Sponge Exchange who planned to sabotage Alex's boat to both put him out of business and at the same time steal his girl Simi,Tanis Chandler, whom despite promising her the world -including all the undersea sponges that she can handle- wanted to have nothing at all to do with him. Like she told a dejected and jealous Mr. Dimitri her heart as well as soul belonged to Capt. Alex! This had Mr. Dimitri go haywire in doing everything he could in destroying Alex's life as well as sponge boat together with his entire crew to the point of sinking it with all on board to achieve his aims.****SPOILERS**** It's after George drowned trying to save his dad that the person who was responsible for it Nick in seeing he now has nothing to lose-but his life- confessed, after being belted by Alex, to sabotaging George's father's, Capt Athos, lifeline or air hose. Thus having his entire crew sail back to shore to confront Mr.Dimitri for what he's done. That just in time to save Alex's sponge boat that if he didn't come back in time with a load of sea sponges would be taken from him by Mr.Dimitri . Seeing the writing on the wall, and facing life behind bars, Mr. Dimitri makes a run for it with Alex and his fellow sponge divers hot on his tail. In a knock down drag out fight on the docks Mr. Dimitri gets everything that's coming to him ending up with a back scratch-er stuck in his back as he soon ended up, like they say in Mafia talk, sleeping with the fishes.

When I was a kid, I would come home and this movie would be on. I loved every minute of it. But here's the worst thing. As life would have it, I wound up buying a house just a couple of miles from Tarpon Springs, sponge capital of the world. Yet no one mentions this movie. I was So disappointed. The scene with Lon Chaney Jr. falling on the sponge rake is forever etched in my memory. I think tomorrow, I'll go down to the sponge docks and demand they show this movie!!!! This movie remains one of my favorites. And I just don't understand why it is not mentioned more often. I've asked the people in Tarpon Springs, but they don't seem to know what I'm talking about. Come on, people, the sponge capital of the world should know and publicize this movie.

16 Fathoms Deep (1948)** (out of 4)Lloyd Bridges play a man who gets out of the Navy and heads to Florida to get a job on a sponge boat but he's turned down by the biggest owner (Lon Chaney, Jr.) in the business. he eventually gets a job on-board a new captain's (Arthur Lake) boat and soon they head out to sea to try to do some good fishing so that they can keep the boat. 16 FATHOMS DEEP is a remake of a 1934 film and it's clear that director Irving Allen didn't have much money because there's very little going on here. The biggest problem is that the entire film is rather flat because there's never any real adventure or drama because the majority of the film is nothing but narration. I'm not sure what Bridges was paid but I'd say he would have gotten much more for a narration credit than his actual acting credit. He really isn't given too much to do in regards to acting but he does narrate throughout the entire film and this really just adds a cheapness to the entire picture. Instead of the filmmakers trying to build up tension by telling a story, instead we just get to see cheap scenes played out while the narrator tries to give the emotion and feeling of a scene. This might work when you're reading a book out loud but there's no getting around the fact that this is a movie and the visuals are quite important and director Irving simply didn't add anything to make this feel like a real movie. If he was going to take this approach of explaining everything then perhaps he should have just made a documentary on the subject because it probably would have been better. Again, performance wise Bridges really isn't given anything to do so you can't judge him on this. His narration is pretty good through. Lake is good as the new captain but he too isn't really given enough. Chaney, Jr., who appeared in the earlier film, steals the film as the bad guy but sadly he isn't on screen enough to make a major impact. 16 FATHOMS DEEP features some nice underwater stuff but there's simply not enough going on here to make it worth viewing by anyone other than film buffs.

I grew up in Tarpon Springs, the small sponge & fishing village on the west coast of Florida where this was filmed. At 8 years old I watched the filming of 16 Fathoms Deep from the seat of my JC Higgins bicycle. My eyes were opened to the secrets of the movies as I watched the sponge hook being artistically planted in Lon Chaney's back and the 'blood' painted on between scenes. My mom was one of the extras in the sponge auction scenes. I saw and recognized Chick Young at a local coffee shop, where he sketched an impromptu 'Dagwood' on one of the restaurant's walls. Anyway, I saw this film when it was released and have not been able to see or locate a copy since. If I could find it again, it would sure bring back memories of simpler time. There does not seem to be many Ansco Color prints remaining - guess they just didn't hold up.