Just When They Thought It Was Safe To Go In Water ...
The Sharkfighters (1956) Is Vic v. Deadly Fish
Victor Mature is Cuba bound to investigate shark
habits, his mission to develop repellent for benefit of downed WWII flyers.
This was more cerebral content than customary for beefy Vic, made believable by
his being fish out of water, as it were, in matters of shark study. Matters are
helped by all-location filming, including drives through Havana
with Mature pointing out MoroCastle and other points
of pre-revolution interest. Producing Samuel Goldwyn Jr.'s crew did The
Sharkfighters at same time as Errol Flynn and hisBig Boodlecrowd, both
capturing what would be last unfettered scenes of wide-open islands before
Castro sealed them to outsiders. Not helpful to The Sharkfighters was
on-location tragedy when a special effects technician with a transformer in
hand fell into the water and was electrocuted. The pic was trade-noted as a first
US feature 100% Cuba-shot, forgetting perhaps any number of silents that had
been lensed southward. Variety admired (few) highlights, but took dim
view otherwise of "actionless, talky piece which becomes almost clinical
at times." Toward today consumption, The Sharkfighters turns up occasional
on TCM, pleasingly wide per Cinemascope ratio, and beyond interest of subject
matter and Mature's understated perf, there is a fine score by Jerome Moross,
tuning up dynamism he would bring to immediate-following The Big Country and
The Jayhawkers. I wish Screen Archives could get out a CD of Morris music for
The Sharkfighters.
Haven't thought of this picture for years. I saw it as part of a couple of different double bills when I was eight or so. A veteran moviegoer, even at that age,I certainly considered Victor Mature an important star with a vibe and look all his own. But I remember thinking the picture itself was a bit of a non-event. Even then I suspect I had the impression Mature was wasting his time with it. Karen Steele seemed far too shellacked and bullet-proof for my eight year old sensibilities. Not as scary as Marie Windsor or Audrey Totter - but not as special as Mari Blanchard (who'd built up limitless credit in my bank as space queen Allura in "Abbott &Costello Go to Mars"). Claude Akins was just background noise to me in those days. Though a few years later I remember being bowled over by his fantastic work in the Boetticher western "Comanche Station". I'd watch "The Sharkfighters" again, though, at the drop of a hat. You make that Jerome Moross score sound like a real selling point. And - of course - 50's Cinemascope films can look awfully good on a wide-screen TV. The Blu-ray of "Boy on a Dolphin" was a great purchase. Love the movie anyway - but the look and sound of the disc is out of this world.
And Ken, I certainly envy your having seen THE SHARKFIGHTERS and so many other 50's good ones at the theatre. Oh, to have been born a little sooner ...
Just finished rereading your old posts on "Boy on a Dolphin"( filled - as always - with fascinating info and amiably eloquent observations). The Greenbriar site really is a Shangri-La for vintage movie lovers. And - thank heaven - a lot easier to get to than the one in Capra's movie. Thanks again for doing what you do.
Boy, I know I saw this at the "adult" theater in town (that meant something very, very different back then) because I saw the preview and knew that the guy from the Samson movie was in it and I liked him a lot. Female stars made no impression on me until I saw L'IL ABNER when I was thirteen and weird stuff started happening to my body and seeing Daisy and Stupifin' Jones made me feel "funny" inside. I remember color and sharks and that's about it. The Wolf, man. (Oh, I USED to be a robot...does that matter?)
WOW! THANK YOU!! CASINO JACKPOT,! YAAY! an instant joy for me to FINALLY know that there's another human being here on Earth besides myself, WHO CARES about "THE SHARKFIGHTERS"!!! I grew up with this one, John; first at repeated Saturday Matinees; later on TV, then on film, and finally on TCM! ...(and with a mess of posters on it, too!). Besides the Victor Mature fan that I already was during those formative years, I DO remember first thing, the pulsating powerful music score by JEROME MOROSS that forevermore RE-CHARGED my ears to music in general, as it thundered out of theatre speakers directed, it seemed, only to me-- and THAT ALONE was well enough of itself a GOOD addiction- -- perhaps containing-subliminal intentions in previewing the composer's coming-soon music to be heard behind "THE BIG COUNTRY", the music having a similar effect on me-- and I HAD to find out WHO wrote that music and if it was available on a record! And It WAS!! And boy, was I happy about THAT!! However, as we know, no such MUSIC soundtrack album was ever released for "THE SHARKFIGHTERS"-most unfortunate for some of us-! (..... And while I'm at it--NO DVD-RELEASE yet for the MOVIE, EITHER!!!) This little GEM of a 'B' IN SCOPE and TECHNICOLOR has a great little cast and all other praises becoming to it that only an obscure fan of it could explain...only bummer was it's ridiculous short running time of 73 minutes. I'd like to write more on this title later. This is a movie I know VERY WELL and was FORTUNATE enough to have been introduced to it in theatres, where THIS one BEGAN TO UNREEL, in 1956!
6 Comments:
Haven't thought of this picture for years. I saw it as part of a couple of different double bills when I was eight or so. A veteran moviegoer, even at that age,I certainly considered Victor Mature an important star with a vibe and look all his own. But I remember thinking the picture itself was a bit of a non-event. Even then I suspect I had the impression Mature was wasting his time with it. Karen Steele seemed far too shellacked and bullet-proof for my eight year old sensibilities. Not as scary as Marie Windsor or Audrey Totter - but not as special as Mari Blanchard (who'd built up limitless credit in my bank as space queen Allura in "Abbott &Costello Go to Mars"). Claude Akins was just background noise to me in those days. Though a few years later I remember being bowled over by his fantastic work in the Boetticher western "Comanche Station". I'd watch "The Sharkfighters" again, though, at the drop of a hat. You make that Jerome Moross score sound like a real selling point. And - of course - 50's Cinemascope films can look awfully good on a wide-screen TV. The Blu-ray of "Boy on a Dolphin" was a great purchase. Love the movie anyway - but the look and sound of the disc is out of this world.
BOY ON A DOLPHIN is a longtime favorite of mine, as evidenced here:
http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/2012/07/cinemascopes-tour-ends-here-part-one.html
The Blu-Ray is indeed a beauty.
And Ken, I certainly envy your having seen THE SHARKFIGHTERS and so many other 50's good ones at the theatre. Oh, to have been born a little sooner ...
Just finished rereading your old posts on "Boy on a Dolphin"( filled - as always - with fascinating info and amiably eloquent observations). The Greenbriar site really is a Shangri-La for vintage movie lovers. And - thank heaven - a lot easier to get to than the one in Capra's movie. Thanks again for doing what you do.
Your kind words are much appreciated, Ken.
Southern Ken (well, south of the border, eh?).
Boy, I know I saw this at the "adult" theater in town (that meant something very, very different back then) because I saw the preview and knew that the guy from the Samson movie was in it and I liked him a lot. Female stars made no impression on me until I saw L'IL ABNER when I was thirteen and weird stuff started happening to my body and seeing Daisy and Stupifin' Jones made me feel "funny" inside. I remember color and sharks and that's about it. The Wolf, man. (Oh, I USED to be a robot...does that matter?)
WOW! THANK YOU!! CASINO JACKPOT,! YAAY! an instant joy for me to FINALLY know that there's another human being here on Earth besides myself, WHO CARES about "THE SHARKFIGHTERS"!!! I grew up with this one, John; first at repeated Saturday Matinees; later on TV, then on film, and finally on TCM! ...(and with a mess of posters on it, too!). Besides the Victor Mature fan that I already was during those formative years, I DO remember first thing, the pulsating powerful music score by JEROME MOROSS that forevermore RE-CHARGED my ears to music in general, as it thundered out of theatre speakers directed, it seemed, only to me-- and THAT ALONE was well enough of itself a GOOD addiction- -- perhaps containing-subliminal intentions in previewing the composer's coming-soon music to be heard behind "THE BIG COUNTRY", the music having a similar effect on me-- and I HAD to find out WHO wrote that music and if it was available on a record! And It WAS!! And boy, was I happy about THAT!! However, as we know, no such MUSIC soundtrack album was ever released for "THE SHARKFIGHTERS"-most unfortunate for some of us-! (..... And while I'm at it--NO DVD-RELEASE yet for the MOVIE, EITHER!!!) This little GEM of a 'B' IN SCOPE and TECHNICOLOR has a great little cast and all other praises becoming to it that only an obscure fan of it could explain...only bummer was it's ridiculous short running time of 73 minutes. I'd like to write more on this title later. This is a movie I know VERY WELL and was FORTUNATE enough to have been introduced to it in theatres, where THIS one BEGAN TO UNREEL, in 1956!
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