Evening star., 1953-04-22


Sea-" a documentary which deal
bath-hot waters of that cradle of
HaSs of the Varuz Lichtenstein
factual film ever made, but its
man-eating sharks. manta rays,
ETC., are a far and half-faSci-
mating cry from Hollywood
routine.
It may be noted of Under the
Red Sea" that it bears a re-
semblance to "Kon-Tiki," with
which it has been compared. The
similarity is limited to the fact
that both represent a camera
record of an unusual adventure
by a handful of scientific humans
with the courage to do incredible
things.
In the case Of "Under the Red
Sea-" however. there is evidence
Of a sometimes too careful effort
to produce a marketable picture
instead of a purely scientific one.
This is notable in the cameras
studied attention to the charms
of the party's female member,
Lottie Berl. Miss Berl, wife of
DR.. Hass in private life. is an at
tractive mermaid type but this
is, after all, a film about fish.
More than fish, indeed, for
these underwater cameramen are
as excitingly sensitive to the
amazing coral structures that
time and nature have built on
the floor of this sea.
Sol Lesser, who is listed as
producer of the fllm-having
bought it from DR.. Hass for dis
tribution-has also supplied it
with a narration and musical
score. The former. voiced by Les
Tremayne, is little more excited
than the pictures happen to be.
DR.. Hass, Miss Berl and others
In this handful of scientific ad-
venturers in "Under The Red
Sea" are obviously enthusiastic
In their work. They like life be-
low the tepid waters of the old,
old sea which they explore excit-
ingly with camera and spears.
Even their small moments,
taking intimate photographs OF
the less consequential species,
they are dedicated to the prop
osition that fish are fun.
In this phase of their work,
they make the interesting dis
covery that fish are so innocent
that they are perfectly willing to
trust man. They accept him
easily and instantly as good
neighbor, perhaps little odd in
shape but not to be socially re-
iected on that account.
This is true even of the larger
and, in their own watery world,
the more anti-social fish such
as the killer-sharks, the bar
racuda and the huge rays includ-
Ing the mantas.
However, in the interest Of SCI
ence and exciting photographs,
DR.. HaSs and his colleagues arc
not satisfied to continue this live
-let-live policy in their Red
Sea explorations. They get some
of their most exciting pictures
by goading the larger FISH with
their spears and their intrusive
cameras. One such sequence, for
instance, shows one of the cam
eramen riding the large fiat head
of a whale.
Another, which has the look
Of staging about it, which is even
more exciting is that in which
Miss Berl is knocked unconscious
by the f1ipper of manta ray of
which she is trying to get close
up. Undoubtedly this incident
actually happened but the edit
ing of the film is such as to give
1t something Of an artificial
quality.
AS part of his study, DR.. HaSs !
made elaborate point of photo
graphing the reactions of his |
incredible marine actors to hu-
man sounds. 1t is dramatic be-
haviour on their part to register
complete indifference to such
standard human sounds as po-
lice sirens and whistles, the
whistles of trains, and even of |
o blockbuster bomb.
X X \ \
BULLETIN BOARD: Also OPEN
ing today: "City Beneath the
Sea-" which replaces peter Pan"
after 10 weeks at Keith's. i
Tomorrow brings the first of the
second wave of Sd films, House
of Wax" to the Warner and Am
bassador. A program of
four dances. one of them Eye
Witness" modern number based
on the theme that no two people
see exactly the same thing. will
be offered by the Dance Play
house this week end. Three
performances will be given Fri
day and Saturday nights, and a
Sunday matinee at pm. !
Another dance concert is that