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That was an excellent one.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent but underrated film

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Lon Chaney, Jr. (Dimitri), Arthur Lake (Pete), Lloyd Bridges (Douglas), Eric Feldary (Alex), Tanis Chandler (Simi), John Qualen (Athos), Ian MacDonald (Nick), Dickie Moore (George), Harry Cheshire (Miki), John Bleifer (Captain Briaeos), Grant Means (Joe), John Gonatos (Johnny), Allen Mathews (bus driver).Director: IRVING ALLEN. Screenplay: Max Trell. Adapted by Forrest Judd. Based on the American Magazine story, "Sixteen Fathoms Under", by Eustace L. Adams. Photographed in Ansco Color by Jack Greenhalgh. Film editor: Charles Craft. Music director: Lud Gluskin. Art director: Dave Milton. Special effects: Ray Mercer. Music: Lucien Maroweck, Renee Garriguene. Production manager: Belmont S. Gottlieb. Assistant director: Charles S. Gould. Sound recording: Josh Westmoreland, Tom Lambert. Executive producer: Arthur Lake. Photographed in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Underwater sequences photographed at Rainbow Springs, Florida, and at Marineland Studios, St Augustine, Florida. Producers: James S. Burkett, Irving Allen. An Arthur Lake Production. Copyright 25 July 1948 by Monogram Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Rialto: 6 October 1948. U.S. release: 25 July 1948. U.K. release through Pathé: 4 September 1950. No Australian theatrical release. 82 minutes.NOTES: This re-make of the previous "Sixteen Fathoms Deep", with Lon Chaney switching roles from hero to villain, is historically important as the first motion picture to be photographed in Ansco Color. Needless to say, it has rarely, if ever, been shown in color on TV, but was repeatedly broadcast in black-and-white, even though a color print could easily have been obtained. COMMENT: The movie was produced by Arthur Lake, taking time out from his domestic duties as Dagwood Bumstead.It might well be asked, "What does an executive producer do?" Needless to say, his duties and responsibilities varies from movie to movie, but in this particular case we know what Lake did: He bankrolled the production! And he cast himself in a major role not only because he wanted to throw off the Dagwood image, but to alert Hollywood producers to the fact that he could play other roles than Dagwood Bumstead! Although the film was shot in color, I have never seen a color print. It was broadcast on my local TV station in black-and-white!

***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.

Watching films I am actually between the two: '34 original and the '48 remake - Not sure which version I prefer. The two films are very much a like but there are differences - most notably the ending. Out of the two endings I actually prefer the '48 ending because Mr. Demitri (Lon Chaney) gets it in the end. We did not get the pleasure of watching the towns people get their revenge in the '34.I did like the narration in this film... it was interesting to hear (captivating) but I liked the action of the '34 a lot better. I also liked the romance in the '34 between Joe Bethel and Rosita.. it played a bigger role in the '34 where as the '48 had less focus on a fictional romance.Both films are worth watching - they are different in quite a few ways but it has the same story plot.Also I liked the role switch for Chaney.8.5/10

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.