Blue Water, White Death is THE classic shark documentary. Without it, Peter Benchley might not have written Jaws, the Discovery Channel probably wouldn't be planning its 20-something anniversary of Shark Week. It was that influential.

Filmed in the late 1960s, the story follows photographers Peter Gimbel, Stan Waterman, Ron Taylor, and Taylor's wife Valerie, in their quest to capture the first substantial footage of great white sharks feeding underwater. Gimbel decides the best way to capture this footage is to follow a whaling fleet out of Durban, South Africa and then set up shop under the carcasses of the dead whales, where he's been told great whites feed.

We then watch as the whales are slaughtered and pumped with air so they'll float while the whalers go off in search of more prey. Gimbel, Waterman and the Taylors then descend in a pair of cages to film the frenzy. And it is spectacular. Countless oceanic whitetips swim through the crystal clear water, feeding on the dead whale and bumping the cages. There are no great whites, though.

Gimbel then decides that they'll have better luck at night and the cages are lowered after dark. Once again, the footage and the action are spectacular. Again, though, no great whites. Gimbel then makes the decision that they should leave the safety of the cages to get better shots. The cages are lowered, the divers make their exits and, again, the results are spectacular. There are

too many sharks in water to count and one after another they begin harrassing the divers -- bumping them over and over from behind, from above, from just about every angle conceivable. For long minutes the divers film each other doing nothing but turning in circles to defend themselves.

Once again, though, they see no great whites and Gimbel then makes the strange decision to continue farther up into the Indian Ocean in search of them. At this point, the film turns more into travelogue, with a montage of footage of the divers acting silly underwater, riding sea turtles, feeding barracuda, diving deep wrecks, all with the same result -- no great whites.

Finally, Gimbel takes Ron Taylor's advice, heads to Australia and hooks up with Rodney Fox (he of the famed full-body scar -- the result of a great white attack). Still, luck isn't with them and it isn't until the last day of filming that they're able to attract and film two big great whites. And once again, the footage is spectacular.

To be honest, the topside portions of Blue Water, White Death don't measure up to the underwater scenes. They come off as a bit dated, sometimes staged and oftentimes arbitrary (and we won't even mention Tom Chapin's folk music stylings from the deck of the ship!). It's of little matter, though. The underwater scenes completely compensate. Although the footage shot beneath the whale was probably considered something of a failure because of the lack of great whites, it can probably never be re-created. The few countries that still whale, such as Japan and Norway, probably wouldn't been keen on filmmakers shooting beneath their prey. There may not even be enough oceanic whitetips left if filmakers were allowed to shoot.

Finally, the voiceover commentary by Waterman, Fox and the Taylors in the DVD extras are very entertaining and informative. Not only do they touch on subjects left out of the original narrative, such as the politics and morality of whaling, they provide a great deal of behind-the-scenes information. We highly recommend Blue Water, White Death.