Watch 1950's shark movie 'The Sharkfighters' for free
1975’s JAWS announced the arrival of not just the industry changing summer blockbuster, but also the reimagiming of the long forgotten ‘shark movie’. Since the 1950s, intrepid (and often niiave) filmmakers have ventured intot shark infested waters in the hope of capturing these beuatiful creatures doing exciting things - sometimes with tragic consequences (read STUNTMAN SHARK DEATH: HORRIFIC TRAGEDY OR SICK MOVIE PUBLICITY STUNT?). One such film is ‘Sharkfigthers’ (1956). Set during WW2, a U.S. Navy scientists working in Cuba attempt to find an effective shark repellent to be used by servicemen stranded in shark-infested waters.
Based on actual events in the development of a shark repellent by the U.S. Navy in World War 2. First used in 1943, it was granted a patent in 1949 and was used by the Navy until 1973. However its effectiveness is now judged dubious (as is the shark threat inspiring its development) by the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The actual scientific work consisted of observations of shark behavior in 1942 off Mayport, Florida; Woods Hole, Massachusetts; and the harbor of Guayaquil, Ecuador by civilian scientists of the Marine Studios oceanarium.
Filming of the movie took place in the middle of the Cuban revolution, which started on July 26, 1953 and culminated when Cuban president Fulgencio Batista fled the country on January 1, 1959. Around the time of filming in March 1956, unrest was growing and student demonstrations against Batista were becoming more commonplace.
In late April 1956 about 100 rebels attacked a Cuban army installation in central Cuba, not far from Havana. Ten rebels and three soldiers were killed. Special effects artist Russell Shearman was attacked and killed by a shark while filming underwater in the Caribbean Sea off Cuba. Sharkfighters was the first major Hollywood production filmed entirely in Cuba.
Watch ‘Sharkfighters’ for free at the link below.
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