Johnny and his wife Theresa, along with mercenary Dominic Quesada, priest Father Cannon, and Gloria, the boat owner, search for sunken treasure in the Caribbean. While on a dive, they come across a wreck that they assume holds treasure. When they resurface, they are confronted by a boat of local shark-hunters with an unhealthy curiosity in their activities. In their effort to find funding to raise the wreck, they discover that what they are looking for is a 17th-century ship that contains a life-size solid gold Madonna encrusted in precious gems and that it lies in a different underwater location. So they make plans to acquire it. However, it is on the edge of a precipice, and the shark-hunters intend for them to do all the difficult and dangerous recovery, then take the treasure from them.
Howard Hughes acquired the rights to the unpublished The Big Rainbow.[4]
Partially filmed on location in Mexico and Hawaii, Underwater! was completed in a newly constructed underwater tank in an RKO Radio Pictures soundstage. It was the first RKO film released in Superscope.[5] The film's budget increased from its initial $300,000 and a large amount of the budget was used on footage cut from the film.[6]
Lori Nelson claimed Howard Hughes wanted her for the lead and paid Universal Pictures for her use; however, Jane Russell owed RKO a film. The lead was given to Russell with a part written for Nelson so she could keep her fee.[7]
For its world premiere on January 10, 1955,[8] the film was projected on a submerged movie screen at Silver Springs, Florida, and members of the press viewed the film 20 feet underwater while wearing aqualungs.[9]
^Fitzgerald, Michael Lori Nelson InterviewWestern Clippings
^Special, "World Premiere of 'Underwater' Motion Picture To Be Shown At Silver Springs', Playground News, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, December 30, 1954, Volume 9, Number 48, page 3.
