Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) on DVD

Romance sharpens a rivalry between two families of sponge divers in the Florida Keys. Unique only for the spectacular underwater scenes in Technicolor and CinemaScope. Academy Award Nominations: Best Cinematography (Color). Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a landmark, or rather watermark. The third ever CinemaScope production this was a prestige release, with Florida, Key West location Technicolor filming of never-before-achieved underwater cinematography, and four-channel stereo recording of a superlative Bernard Herrmann score. Even a still-impressive underwater battle with an octopus pre-dates the more famous giant squid of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). The humans aren't bad either, with a young Robert Wagner making a charismatic if ethnically unconvincing Greek lead as sponge fisherman Tony, and Terry Moore playing Juliet to his Romeo with real vivacity.