NR | 1h 27m | Adventure, Drama, Romance | 1953
Hollywood’s older adventure films show what a little imagination can do without lots of digital noise. Creaky ships, lost cities, half-mad treasure hunts, and a few fistfights present a setting for actors who look like they might actually smell the salt air or musty tombs.
Older pictures had their share of faults. Painted backdrops look, well … painted. Some miniatures don’t just look like toys kids would play with; they even behave like toys. Still, there’s a goofy charm to them, and some could look and move pretty convincingly.
The Lady Luck Job
Brad Carlton (Ryan) and Tony Bartlett (Quinn) arrive in Jamaica as two salvage divers with strong backs, loose mouths, and a taste for trouble. As they step off their transport ship, a middle-aged man wearing a slick suit and fedora greets them, along with his “boy,” Djion (Woody Strode).
The suit-wearer is Dwight Trevor (Karel Stepanek), who wastes no time offering them a rich payday if they can locate the Lady Luck, a wreck rumored to be sitting somewhere under Caribbean waters. The ship was rumored to be loaded with a fortune in gold when she went down.
Two ladies soon enter the scurrilous divers’ lives: Terry McBride (Mala Powers) becomes their boat skipper and pulls Brad closer and closer into her whirlpool; Venita (Suzan Ball), an exotic torch singer, gives Tony another reason to stick around town.
Fake Seas and Real Fun
“City Beneath the Sea” doesn’t have much in the way of subtlety. From the beginning, Tony has two things on his mind 24/7: any skirt passing within eyesight and money, preferably a lot of it going toward his pockets.
Early on, he’s driving Brad through Kingston in the sporty little convertible Trevor lent them. He rambles on about how they could outwit Trevor, find the gold themselves, and “head outta Dodge.”
Then, a pretty “dame” walks by. Tony cranes his head around like a ventriloquist’s doll and plows straight into a banana wagon, sending bananas everywhere. Some of Tony’s initial hijinks are comical, but they also foreshadow later conflicts in not-so-subtle ways.
Ryan and Quinn’s characters make a good pair because they seem as if they might laugh together, do a little diving together, or throw punches at each other at any moment. Brad has more caution in him, or at least more suspicion.
Tony has mischievous ways that keep writing checks his body (and very life) may not be able to cash later. That contrast gives the picture plenty of rough-hewn entertainment, especially once the job around the Lady Luck starts drawing in all sorts of characters.
The handmade effects have aged. Some of the underwater scenes look like the filmmakers were utilizing nothing but paint, glass, and creative use of lighting. But that’s part of the fun.
A modern remake would probably drown Port Royal in digital water, glowing debris, and thousands of computer-generated fish. However, computers can’t replicate moments of unintentional humor, such as when Quinn has a diver-helmet moment and seems to be gasping for air, then starts doing weird, half-eyed gulping motions that had me chuckling. You can picture the cast and crew having a good laugh or two in-between takes.
With “City Beneath the Sea,” the fists fly, the romances simmer, the gold keeps beckoning the foolhardy, and the movie remains a fun dive worth taking.
