ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Rainey Dawn Watching films I am actually between the two: '34 original and the '48 remake - Not sure which version I prefer. The two films are very much a like but there are differences - most notably the ending. Out of the two endings I actually prefer the '48 ending because Mr. Demitri (Lon Chaney) gets it in the end. We did not get the pleasure of watching the towns people get their revenge in the '34.I did like the narration in this film... it was interesting to hear (captivating) but I liked the action of the '34 a lot better. I also liked the romance in the '34 between Joe Bethel and Rosita.. it played a bigger role in the '34 where as the '48 had less focus on a fictional romance.Both films are worth watching - they are different in quite a few ways but it has the same story plot.Also I liked the role switch for Chaney.8.5/10

kasel1 When I was a kid, I would come home and this movie would be on. I loved every minute of it. But here's the worst thing. As life would have it, I wound up buying a house just a couple of miles from Tarpon Springs, sponge capital of the world. Yet no one mentions this movie. I was So disappointed. The scene with Lon Chaney Jr. falling on the sponge rake is forever etched in my memory. I think tomorrow, I'll go down to the sponge docks and demand they show this movie!!!! This movie remains one of my favorites. And I just don't understand why it is not mentioned more often. I've asked the people in Tarpon Springs, but they don't seem to know what I'm talking about. Come on, people, the sponge capital of the world should know and publicize this movie.

Michael_Elliott 16 Fathoms Deep (1948)** (out of 4)Lloyd Bridges play a man who gets out of the Navy and heads to Florida to get a job on a sponge boat but he's turned down by the biggest owner (Lon Chaney, Jr.) in the business. he eventually gets a job on-board a new captain's (Arthur Lake) boat and soon they head out to sea to try to do some good fishing so that they can keep the boat. 16 FATHOMS DEEP is a remake of a 1934 film and it's clear that director Irving Allen didn't have much money because there's very little going on here. The biggest problem is that the entire film is rather flat because there's never any real adventure or drama because the majority of the film is nothing but narration. I'm not sure what Bridges was paid but I'd say he would have gotten much more for a narration credit than his actual acting credit. He really isn't given too much to do in regards to acting but he does narrate throughout the entire film and this really just adds a cheapness to the entire picture. Instead of the filmmakers trying to build up tension by telling a story, instead we just get to see cheap scenes played out while the narrator tries to give the emotion and feeling of a scene. This might work when you're reading a book out loud but there's no getting around the fact that this is a movie and the visuals are quite important and director Irving simply didn't add anything to make this feel like a real movie. If he was going to take this approach of explaining everything then perhaps he should have just made a documentary on the subject because it probably would have been better. Again, performance wise Bridges really isn't given anything to do so you can't judge him on this. His narration is pretty good through. Lake is good as the new captain but he too isn't really given enough. Chaney, Jr., who appeared in the earlier film, steals the film as the bad guy but sadly he isn't on screen enough to make a major impact. 16 FATHOMS DEEP features some nice underwater stuff but there's simply not enough going on here to make it worth viewing by anyone other than film buffs.

johnbono I saw this movie when I was a kid and just having recently visited Tarpon Springs Florida, it brought back memories of the film. I remember two things that really stand out in my memory, why I don't know, but one was Arthur Lake being in the movie and the death of Lon Chaney Jr during a fight on the docks by landing on a sponge rake. I would love to be able to see this movie again but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. I wish it was.