2 rival groups of divers , a Greek family and the Conch family compete for sponge fishing beds off the Florida coast. But the the son , Robert Wagner, and the youngest daughter, Terry Moore, fall in love and both of whom replay Romeo and Juliet in Tarpon Springs Florida . As quarrells emerge between two families , Montagues and Capulets lookalike . Then , some thieves rob the valuable sponges and the Greek family decide to go fishing at the risked 12-mile reef.
This swimsuit love story results to be a plain , simple and lightweight entertainment with good actors and passable direction. It has thrills , fights , romance , constant quarrelling and a lot of diving . Being well worth watching for the notable Technicolor cinematography in CinemaScope by cameraman Edward Cronjager , the magnificent musical score by the great composer Bernard Herrmann , Hitchcock ordinary , adequate production design from Lyle Wheeler and George Patrick , as well as the young and extremely attractive protagonist duo . Starred by the beefcake and charming Robert Wagner ; by the time Wagner played a lot of adventure, Western and Wartime movies such as: The silver whip , The mountain , Prince Valiant , Broken lance , The white feather, Stopover Tokyo, , In love and war ,Between heaven and hell .
It is best remembered thanks to gorgeous and incredibly young Terry Moore , stunningly shown in a bathing suit .
Along with a long plethora of prestigious secondaries such as : Gilbert Roland, Richard Boone , Peter Graves , Harry Carey Jr , J. Carroll Naish Angelica Clark , Jay Novello , among others . And as narrator shows up Rock Hudson . The highlights of the movie are the impressive underwater scenes when Robert Wagner scrapping with an octopus and a fierce sea fight at the climax of the film in which Robert Wagner and Peter Graves battle each other surrounded by the ocean kelp that threatens to strangle them .
It contains a thrilling and lively soundtrack by Herrmann providing a classic and sensitive score . Extraordinarily photographed in the Florida coastline filled with reef , keys and sea animals: guppy, urchin, carp , blowfish , carp , ray , shark , clownfish , goldfish , cleaner fish and other reef fish , all of them enhanced thanks to big screen , being one of the early CinemaScope pictures . The motion picture was lavishly produced by Robert Bassler and uncredited the powerful producer Daryl F Zanuck , being professionally directed by Robert D Webb . He was a fine craftsman and expert professional . At the beginning Webb worked as a director assistant , producer and subsequently filmmaker . He made all kinds of genres as Western : White feather, The proud ones, The jackals ; Adventures : Pirates of Tortuga , Seven cities of gold, The way of gold ; Noir : The Cape town affair ,The spider , The Caribbean mystery ; Warlike: The Glory brigade, 7 women from hell and Scifi: On the threshold of space. Although he also made documentary and TV episodes as Daniel Boone and Temple Huston series . Rating : 5.5/10 . Enjoyable family fare that will appeal to adventure fans . Well worth seeing .
