MikeMagi Somewhere, somehow, somebody decided that Ralph Bellamy was perfect to play the sort of role that would have suited Humphrey Bogart or maybe Robert Mitchum in a later era. So there he is, trying to come off as a cynical tough guy, a professional diver, who signs on for an undersea expedition financed by society playgirl Fay Wray. What he doesn't know is that the captain of their ship isn't searching for exotic marine life but a cache of gold from a sunken U-boat. It's a standard grade-B actioner, down to a fight to the death with a prop octopus. But watching the easy-going, erudite Bellamy desperately trying to play a hard-boiled adventurer is worth tuning in for.

sol ****SPOILERS**** Among the great underwater scenes in the movie "Below the Sea" what you also get is a chance to see Fay Wary's as rich socialite Diana Tempelton's cleavage which a year later would have been banned by the Hollywood Code or Hayes Commession when it came into effect. Fay or Diana is attacked together with her photographer friend Burt Jackson, Paul Page, by a giant octopus and has deep sea diver Steve McCreary, Ralph Bellamy, risk his life saving both of them. McCreary at first had no use for Diana in feeling that as a women she was hampering as well as endangering the crew but later fell in love with her and forgot all about it. Diana was in fact sponsoring an expedition under the sea to photograph the sea life that has never been seen by human eyes and almost ended up getting killed because of it. As for McCreary he was only interested in recovering some 3 million dollars in gold that was sunk together with German U-Boat 170 in 1917 that the German U-Boat Captain Von Boulton now calling himself Karl Schlemmer, Fredwrick Vogeding, wants to get his greedy hands on. But as much as Schlemmer hates it he'll need an expert deep sea diver like Steve McCreary to do it and split the gold with.Knowing what a back stabbing creep Schlemmer really is McCreary still goes along with his plan to recover the gold in that he's the only person who at first knew where it is together with the remains of U-Boat 170. But in he end the master back stabber Karl Schlemmer did himself in together with the 3 million in gold bullion by leaving, after having him drugged, McCreary out of the loop and on board. That as he and his floozy partner Lily, Esther Howard, went after the underwater gold on their own without the services of an expert deep sea diver like Steve McCreary. ****SPOILERS**** As things soon turned out the gold ended up at the bottom of the sea together with Karl Schlemmer but Steve McCready ended up with something or someone far more precious. The girl who at first had no use for but since fell in love with,as well as ended up saving her life, the beautiful as well as rich Diana Tempelton. Now how's that for a trade off!P.S In her having to be saved from the grip of a giant octopus in the movie "Below the Sea" actress Fay Wray was soon to end up in the crutches of "King Kong" which was released less then two week later.

Gary Brandner Ralph Bellamy looks uncomfortable playing a tough deep-sea diver instead of his usual dork-who gets-dumped. He is Mac McCreary, a pipe chomping man of action in this one. His sneaky partner is Karl Shlemmer, former German U-Boat captain, who knows where the gold is and doesn't plan to share it with anybody. Fay Wray is the rich babe who finances the expedition on a boat that looks like a royal yacht. Then there is Lily, a tough waterfront babe who adds little and somehow gets lost along the way. If you can believe all this, how about Miss Wray--rich, beautiful, educated--falling for hunky but dumb, poor, and inarticulate Bellamy? The ending (HERE'S THE BIG SPOILER) is reminiscent of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre when the almost retrieved gold falls back into the ocean, never (for unexplained reasons) to be found again.

Michael_Elliott Below the Sea (1933) ** (out of 4) A German sub goes down carrying gold during WW1 and years later the commander (Fredrik Vogeding) and a scuba diver (Ralph Bellamy) head back to see if they can locate the treasure. The two exploit a woman (Fay Wray) who believes they are just going to sea to use a new diving bell, which can help them discover new things on the ocean floor. This film is pretty damn bland and boring but it does have a couple great sequences including the ending, which goes from camp to high adventure as a gigantic octopus attacks the diving bell and Bellamy must fight it. Seeing this fake looking octopus fighting Bellamy is worth sitting through the 78-minute running time. Also worthy is a great sequence out at sea where a ship gets caught in a storm but the opening sinking of the sub is also handled very well. All three actors deliver fine performances but the screenplay really lets them down because all they do is constantly fight, argue and make up and this gets very tiresome very quickly.