It's an early documentary about the ocean. The color film has its limits but the film takes it to that limit. It starts with the biblical Genesis and volcanic reds. It continues with a lot of God and a lot of nature. It has some amazing microscopic creatures and that cinematography is good even for today. It must have awed audiences at the time. It would win the Oscar for best documentary. Granted, much of the footage must have been filmed in a tank although there is plenty of open ocean work. As part of the old ways, they do show capturing of a shark. More than half of the film is about people including the fishery rather than the natural world. It does show some giant crabs. I've never seen crabs that big. Modern environmental films would skip some of this. All in all, some of this leaves me awe-struck and would inspire future nature films. Then it ends with a gut punch. I didn't realize that global warming science was discussed so early on.
Review of The Sea Around Us
