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Editor’s Note: The following is the second in MovieFanFare’s “Fin-tastic Friday” articles marking the 50th anniversary of the release of Jaws. Click here to see our debut piece on the film’s 1975 theatrical trailer.
Mako: The Jaws of Death; Grizzly; Orca, the Killer Whale; Tentacles; Tintorera…Tiger Shark; The White Buffalo; Killer Fish; Piranha; Blood Beach; Alligator… There have been more movies that emulated imitated Jaws in your average video store (remember them?) than there are fish in the ocean. And the above line-up is just from 1975-1981!
Like undersea scavengers swimming in Bruce the shark’s wake, these films featured all manner of sharks–not to mention barracuda, piranha, octopi, squid, birds, mammals, and other fearsome fauna–preying on the unwary. It’s a trend that continues to this day (Sharknado, anyone?). But were there any such movies made before Jaws? As it turns out, there were quite a few, and we’d like to take a look at 10 of these piscatorial predecessors to see how they hold up. In chronological order, they are:
Tabu (1931) – Subtitled “A Story of the South Seas,” this documentary-style adventure was a collaboration between filmmaker Robert Flaherty and director F.W. Murnau. Set in Bora Bora, it follows a courageous pearl diver who falls for a young woman who has been declared sacred by her people. In order to earn money to help them leave, the diver ventures into a forbidden lagoon that’s home to a man-eating shark.
Tiger Shark (1932) – Edward G. Robinson plays a Portuguese tuna boat captain who lost his left hand to a hungry shark while saving a sailor (Richard Arlen) from being devoured. Sporting a stylish metal hook, Robinson falls for the wife (Zita Johann) of the man he rescued in this early Howard Hawks seafaring drama.
White Death (1936) – “White Death” happens to be the name of a ferocious great white shark prowling off Australia’s Queensland coast. Famed American western novelist and avid fisherman Zane Grey (in his first acting role), vacationing Down Under, sets out to catch the beast in this mix of fictional drama and deep sea fishing footage. When it comes to acting, let’s just say that Mr. Grey is a fine writer.
Killer Shark (1950) – When a college student’s (Roddy McDowall) inexperience leads to his boat captain father (Roland Winters) being injured during a shark-hunting excursion, the young man hires a crew and sets out on a quest for revenge and to save his dad’s business. Director Budd Boetticher once recalled how, when filming on location around Baja California, he introduced the 21-year-old McDowall to some local women who “made a man of him”…if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
The Sharkfighters (1956) – Ever want to see a film meticulously detail the development and testing of a new shark repellant in World War II? Neither did movie audiences in 1956. Victor Mature stars as a U.S. Navy officer who survived 13 days in shark-infested waters in the South Pacific after his destroyer was sunk. Traumatized after losing half his crew during their time adrift (a story reminiscent of the real-life U.S.S. Indianapolis that Quint talked about in Jaws), Mature is assigned to a research lab near Cuba where a research team is working on a chemical to deter such attacks. Oscar-winning FX artist Russell Shearman was fatally electrocuted while repairing underwater equipment…not, as some sources claimed, killed while filming sharks.
She Gods of Shark Reef (1958) – A fugitive gun-runner (Don Durant) and his brother (Bill Cord) are rescued when their boat is destroyed in the Sulu Sea off the south Philippine coast. Their saviors are beautiful pearl divers, part of an all-female tribe whose mysterious island home is surrounded by–you guessed it!–killer sharks. There’s plenty of gorgeous “native women” and stock footage of attacking sharks in this Roger Corman-directed “B” actioner.
Batman (1966) – Now, you all just knew we couldn’t pass up mentioning this one, didn’t you? Out over the ocean in the Batcopter to investigate an endangered yacht, Batman (Adam West) lowers himself on a ladder onto the boat’s deck. It’s an illusion, though, and the Caped Crusader winds up in the water. As Robin (Burt Ward) raises the copter, a ferocious shark latches onto Batman’s right leg.
Luckily, the Batcopter is equipped with a full line of “Oceanic Repellent Bat Sprays,” and Robin is able to get the Shark repellent down to his partner in time (Imagine the chaos if he had accidentally handed Bats the Whale repellent!). The shark hits the water and explodes…but that’s a story for another time.
Shark! (1969) – It’s a young Burt Reynolds playing a gun-runner this time, in director/co-scripter Samuel Fuller’s aquatic actioner. Stranded in a Sudanese Red Sea port, Reynolds joins a “scientific research” mission alongside “professor” Barry Sullivan and “daughter” Silvia Pinal. The mission turns out to be a quest for sunken treasure in shark-filled waters, with double-crosses galore. A Life Magazine story (later found to be a hoax) claimed that a stuntman was killed by a shark during filming off the Mexican coast. This led to the picture’s 1975 re-release with the new title Man-Eater, to capitalize on both Reynolds’ fame and the success of you-know-which shark film.
Blue Water, White Death (1971) – Perhaps the most famous of the pre-Jaws shark movies, this indie documentary followed department store scion-turned-filmmaker Peter Gimbel and his crew–including future Spielberg collaborators Ron and Valerie May Taylor–as they travel from southeastern Africa to the shores of Sri Lanka to South Australia in search of great white sharks. Along the way they encounter reef sharks, whitetip sharks, moray eels, barracuda…and, ultimately, great whites.
Sharks’ Treasure (1975) – Veteran screen swashbuckler Cornel Wilde wrote, directed, and starred in this Caribbean-based thriller about another team of undersea treasure seekers. As if Wilde and his crew (Yaphet Kotto, David Canary, John Neilson) didn’t already have their hands full dodging man-eating sharks off the coast of Honduras, they must also deal with a gang of escaped convicts. Sharks’ Treasure made it into theaters just two months ahead of a certain other fishy flick and was able to coast on that film’s pre-release publicity.