Expert deep sea diver Ralph Bellamy is hired by German sailor Fredrik Vogeding and shady seaside hotel proprietor Esther Howard to help locate and bring up a cache of WWI gold bars from the bottom of the sea. Vogeding has the map; Howard finances the plan; and Bellamy will do the diving.
Ralph Bellamy scowls his way through most of this watery adventure. As the "best diver there is," he is marginally more honest than his two partners, who immediately begin making plans to double cross him and each other. The partnership grows darker and bleaker the longer the two men work together: "I used to figure all the things I'd do with that gold," Bellamy tells Vogeding. "But now it only means one thing to me, Schlemmer. Gettin' rid of you."
The plot thickens when the trio wind up on a scientific expedition financed by rich girl Fay Wray. Noticing that Bellamy never smiles, Wray of course is smitten with him, and the sparring between this pair begins. Finally he embraces her and kisses her, then is shocked when she likes it. Wray: "I suppose you would have liked it better if I'd slapped your face." Bellamy: "Yeah, I would." She slaps his face. He smiles. Wray: "Good heavens! You do know how to smile!"
Some of this dialog is kind of nauseating but it doesn't seem necessary to take it too seriously. Fay Wray looks beautiful but out of place on a heavy duty marine expedition; Ralph Bellamy looks good too but isn't completely convincing as a hard boiled sailor. However, if the dramatic bits are shaky, the adventure scenes really are exciting: a big ocean storm early in the picture is impressively loud and wet, and the climactic rescue attempt at the bottom of the sea is exactly where the whole picture was headed but thrilling just the same.
Pretty silly but lots of fun. And the moment right near the end when Bellamy grabs the binoculars and has a look--that is a brilliant twist.