Evening star., 1953-12-28

Sponge Fishing is an ancie
proud monopoly of Americans d.
of the craft, and it has collected
some dramatic traditions. These
lend themselves to exciting illus
tration by cameras as prying as
the CinemaScope one and they
are dealt with in an underwater
setting that has its piquancy.
The trouble with the Aim is
that it must occasionally come up
for breath. At such times, the
breathing is done principally by
q pair of Goth Century -Fox's
young, Terry Moore and Robert
Wagner. They are unable to en-
dow it with anything more than
make-believe too shallow tor a
process as dramatically dimen-
sional as CinemaScope can be.
The effect of their contribu-
ton to the storytelling is that,
once more, there is, less to all
this than meets the eye, and
that Beneath the Twelve-Mile
Reef" is a package too big for
its contents.
***
Florida, which must be feeling
dizzy at the intensity of the
movies courtship these days. is
the setting Of the third Cinema
Scope film.
Above and below its warm,
blue, crystal-clear waters. Miss
Moore and Wagner act out a
romance that is a faint echo of
the Romeo-Juliet story-and a
few even older. He is a Greek,
an Adonis-like one, and a mem
Der of the colony that fishes for
Sponges off Tarpon Springs. Miss
Moore is a Conch, pronounced
Conk, which means an English
type sponge G gatherer. The
Conchies hook their sponges in
stead of diving for them and
each group holds the other in
contempt.
Not the heroine and hero,
however. Neither may have much
intelligence, and the script does
not pretend otherwise. but their
mating instincts are sound and
above any social quibble about
the best way to gather sponges.
It is up to them, therefore, to
marry, bear children and bring
about h rmony between the
proud, pugnacious branches of
the highly concentrated industry
This provides the plot structure
on which the dramatic subter-
ranean photography of the film
is draped.
Hollywood has been diving into
some dramatic waters for some
time now and having worked
itself up, or down, from Esther
Williams to sponges, it has devel-
oped considerable skill. It is
used to excellent advantage in
a great many sageS OF
Beneath the Mile Reef"
which incidentally is introduced
as a notoriously treacherouS spot
in this film.
AS escribed by Gilbert
Roland, top man among the
Greek spongers, the reef is
beautiful killer. There it lies. he
tells his son, baited with the
richest sponges. hypnotic coral,
and so lovely it makes a man
reluctant to return to earth.
Then one day when it has lulled
him into the properly disarmed
mood, we'll, he doesn't return.
side. or whatever the eX-
preston for it is. this is under
standable. The people there are
the usual stereotypes, including
Miss Moore and Wagner as the
pallid Venue and Adonis. Roland
as the life-loving Greek father,
j. Carroll Naish as the sputter-
ing old philosopher uncle, and
the others.
usually, however. the 12-mile
reef is seductive and so is the
sound track that is devised to
lull the unwary into the belief
that the Palace film is dealing
with classic dramatic materials
in a new-day idiom, Cinema
Scope.
MONDAY MEMOS: Resuming
tonight at the National: "Porgy
and Bess" for the second of its
four-weeks' engagement in
Washington Opening with
a special gala premiere, invita-
tional, at the Playhouse. Walt
Disney's The Living Desert"
=. The film will have its for
NAL opening at the same theater
tomorrow >. Proving again that
they always do come back to
Washington, the political ones
and the non-political ones, was
the holiday visit of Mr.. and Mrs.
Naum Coster to the Frank Hew-
let's. Twenty-eight years
ago, the .Costers were a singing
act on the stage of the Palace
theater Singing, and little
dancing Coster and Hewlett.
the act was called, and it was
widely popular Eventually,
however. Coster and Hewlett de-
cided they wanted roots, settled
in Los Angeles. where they run
q music school But they
came back for Christmas with
Mrs. Coster's brother, to behold
a Capital enormously changed
since they saw it last % years
ago ABC's Martin Agronsky
and "At Issue" will cross-ex-
anime Observation-Disclosures.