Blue Water, White Death
MGM
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Peter Gimbel and a team of photographers set out on an expedition to document, for the very first time, Carcharodon carcharias: the great white shark. Filmed over nine months, the team travels from Durban, South Africa across the Indian Ocean and finally to South Australia.

Today there’s animal programming 24-hours-a-day on numerous cable channels. On top of that there’s other “nature” channels and shows that go to every corner of the world to look at every living thing in said world. As a result, the ‘wow factor’ is tougher to come by. But back in 1971 there wasn’t the saturation of programming. Things didn’t have to be projected onto an IMAX screen or shot in HD to turn heads. You often just had to shoot nature head on. Needless to say, Peter Gimbel and James Lipscomb’s Blue Water, White Death would have certainly grabbed people’s attention. Unfortunately without that on its side, this shark documentary isn’t nearly as exciting as it probably was.

Seeing as how the tyrannosaurus is a few thousand years extinct, something else has to assume the mantle of the world’s most dangerous living creature. Enter the great white shark. It can swallow people whole, bite them in half or, if they’re in a particularly nice mood, just take a limb or two. Blue Water, White Death goes underwater to capture the great white in its natural habitat. No tourist attraction aquariums here. Heck, even the cages used to protect the divers is tossed aside not long after the first encounter.

The footage in Blue Water, White Death is impressive. However, since it was filmed, many others have done similar stuff. The film gets points for being the originator but it ultimately doesn’t standout nearly as much as it might have 35 years ago.

Video: How's it look?
Let’s face it, nature docs need to look good to truly stand out. Shown with a slick widescreen picture (2.35:1 aspect ratio), Blue Water, White Death looks fantastic even three-and-a-half decades after its original release.

Audio: How's it sound?
Unfortunately, the DVD comes with only a bland mono soundtrack.

Extras: What additional goodies are included?

• “Diving into Blue Water, White Death” is a 25-minute retrospective that looks at the making and impact of the film.
• A large amount of the diving crew from the film are on hand for an audio commentary. Included in the conversation is diver Valerie May Taylor, diving coordinator Rodney Fox, underwater photographer Ron Taylor and associate underwater photographer Stan Waterman.
• “Rodney Fox Great White Shark Expeditions” is a musical slideshow ad for those wanting to swim with the fishes and get close to the sharks off the coast of Australia.
• Excerpt from the book “Sea Salt” by Stan Waterman
• Trailer for Touching the Void.
• English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Closing Thoughts
Shark fanatics are the ones most likely to enjoy this decent documentary that holds up relatively well, although there’s plenty of imitators now to go around. The extras are okay (although a little too commercial for my liking), the picture’s great but the sound is blah.


Review brought to you by our friend Ryan @ Movie-Views.com