Blue Water, White Death

Although I was young when I saw this movie, it has stuck with me all through the years. This is the movie that spawned my interest in sharks! I praise the makers for such a wonderful idea, too bad it got lost in all the Jaws "wake".

This phenomenal documentary, acclaimed for inspiring JAWS, chronicles the first ever expedition to capture the Great White Shark on film. Peter Gimbel and his team of world famous underwater filmmakers, Ron and Valerie Taylor, and Stan Waterman, travel from Durban, South Africa to South Australia in this tension-filled journey for the ocean's most dangerous creature. The underwater shots in this film are spectacular, and the team captures the mystery and awe surrounding the Great White with artistry and clarity. I found an LA Times review below, be sure not to miss its DVD debut! "This handsome, high-adventure presentation is something special: a film that is actually for the entire family. Crammed with beautiful vistas and exciting underwater scenes." – Los Angeles Times

Peter Gimbel and his team were the first to introduce me to SHARKS, when I watched this Epic Documentary. Since then, my life has never been the same again.

Sharing this incredible journey in search of the Great White Shark, Gimbel and his team have managed to capture some of the most incredible and memorable Shark Scenes that will live in your memory. i have watched it hundreds of times.

a True Masterpiece!!

Ahoy... I was in Wood's Hole, MA this weekend and was fortunate to be at the screening of this flick in HD. It is an interesting film, with many memorable moments and beautiful ( and sometimes horrifying ) photography and images. The film standing alone is passable, and seems campy within our current cultural frame of reference. However, watching in context, you realize this was the ancestor to many of those glossy animal shows we all love. In general, shoddy craftsmanship technically, but very real. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. In a nutshell, it's allegedly where "Jaws" came from. Dare I say it 're-mystifies' the Great White Shark, and our re-introduction is a brutal experience.

An interesting film and seafaring adventure of an expedition tracking a great white shark through hundreds of miles of open sea spanning three continents. The search finally bears fruit some 83 minutes into the film which has a leisurely pace throughout and captures the feeding frenzy of white tips on whale carcasses, and barracudas also manage to get screen time for several minutes. Peter Gimbel and his crew are frustrated by their failure to spot a great white but finally get lucky at Dangerous Reef on the south coast of Australia. Here, Gimbel is finally rewarded with great footage of the huge fish. Shark cages are used to film the great white that seems more intent on the cage and the divers inside than the bait dangled before it. An Australian diver relates his run-in with a great white in the ocean, detailing his injuries and his miraculous escape. The footage of the underwater sequences throughout the movie is expertly done.