Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American Technicoloradventure film directed by Robert D. Webb. The screenplay by A.I. Bezzerides was inspired by Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The film was the third motion picture made in CinemaScope, coming after The Robe and How to Marry a Millionaire.
Plot
Mike and Tony Petrakis are Greek Americanfather and son sponge-diving entrepreneurs who find themselves in competition with the Rhys family, Conch fishermen who are prepared to resort to violence and murder to maintain their established fishing grounds off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Run-ins between the two clans lead to an exchange of threats and all-out brawls. Further complications ensue when Tony Petrakis meets Gwyneth Rhys, and the two fall in love.
Rev. Theophilus Karaphillis as Greek Priest at Epiphany
Production
The film originally was called Twelve Mile Reef and was announced in September 1952, with the leads to be played by Robert Wagner and Kathleen Crowley. By December, the female lead was going to be Debra Paget. In February 1953, Fox announced the film would be shot in CinemaScope. That month, the first CinemaScope movie, The Robe, began filming. Beneath was the third film shot in that process, after How to Mary a Millionaire, and the first shot underwater. Also that month, Terry Moore was given the female lead. Filming started 6 April 1953. The film was shot on location in Key West and Tarpon Springs, Florida. There were rumors during filming that Moore and Wagner had a romance. In reality, Wagner secretly was seeing Barbara Stanwyck, and Moore was seeing Howard Hughes. Wagner almost drowned during filming at Tarpon Springs when he accidentally was kicked in the stomach by another actor. He sunk to the bottom of the water and had to be rescued by a crew member. Gloria Gordon, who had a small role, was signed to a seven-year contract.
Critical reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed "Another and further extension of the range of CinemaScope... is handsomely manifested in Beneath the 12-Mile Reef... But that, when you come right down to it, is just about the only novelty provided by this third employment of the anamorphic lens. For the scenes shot above the surface, while large and imposing, are routine, and the drama developed in the screen play is hackneyed and banal. And, unfortunately, most of the picture takes place above, not below, the reef... There is nothing at all fascinating or edifying here." Variety wrote "he squeeze-lensing gives punch in the display of underwater wonders, the seascapes and the brilliant, beautiful sunrises and sunsets of the Florida Gulf coast. In handling the young cast, Robert D. Webb's direction is less effective, particularly in the case of Robert Wagner and Terry Moore. Both are likable, so the shallowness of their performances is no serious handicap to the entertainment."
