MovieChat Forums > Sea Hunt (1958) Discussion > Why narration like a radio play? Constan...

Why narration like a radio play? Constant description of shown actions!

posted 10 years ago by rockmail
7 replies | jump to latest

Why did the producers always have Mike Nelson/Lloyd Bridges constantly NARRATING things we could SEE ON SCREEN! Lol!

"I dove down (show diving man), cut the rope with my knife (show man cutting rope), dropped my weight belt (show man dropping weight belt), and swam to the surface (show man swimming to surface).

It reminds me a lot of "The Six Shooter", James Stewart's cowboy radio drama, where he narrated every single movement of the day in excruciating detail, it could take ten minutes to eat dinner and drink a coffee during a 15 minute show! /s. But at least Jimmy had the excuse of being on radio!

It's quite bizarre to watch a scene in current time, being described at the same time in past tense narration.

Now that I write this, a thought comes to mind that this is mainly during the underwater sequences, and maybe the producers thought that having no technology at the time to talk underwater, it would be too boring to just watch actions with a music bed underneath it.

But even the rest of the show is written with tons of narration, rather than character dialog to explain plot points. Maybe it was a style at the time.

[–] zwolf 10 years ago

Since so much of the show took place underwater, they couldn't have dialogue... so, it was do a lot of narration or just have a ton of silent footage. Besides, the narration made the footage more exciting by commenting on it. Underwater fights don't tend to look very dramatic, so having Mike describe how he's struggling for his life punches it all up a bit.

I don't mind the heavy narration, it kind of gives the show a bit of a noir feeling.

[–] mousalope 9 years ago

Imagine if you will a television series, thirty-nine episodes a season for four seasons, with each episode's full audio being bubble bubble bubble or sometimes bubble bubble bubble bubble, continuing incessantly for half an hour minus commercial time for Standard Oil and 20 Mule Team borax products.

Then I think you'll have your answer.

[–] indy_go_blue44 8 years ago

With some of today's programming, I think the bubble bubble bubble would be an improvement. But seriously, I understand what you mean. I hate those CSI type "fillers" where the tech is moving substance A through 3 or 4 different steps and some music is playing over the (lack of) action.

[–] baran_erik 8 years ago

You had to fill the diving scenes with something, as they couldn't speak. Just watching the guys dive would have lasted about two episodes.

[–] liscarkat (16625) 6 years ago

I like Nelson's voiceovers during the underwater scenes. They're among my favorite parts of the show.

[–] liscarkat (16625) 4 years ago

Even though we're seeing Nelson as he dives, there is a lot of the underwater action during which it would not be clear what his goal, motivation, or reaction was without the narration. Some things would have to be pantomimed broadly, as in a silent movie or a ballet. Along with the music score, the narration adds to the atmosphere and distinctive style of "Sea Hunt."

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Because back in the day some people received the show on their radios, so they needed to know what was going on.