Search - Assignment Underwater - Volume 1 on DVD

Sea Hunt Clone

Robert Huggins | Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States | 08/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Following the success of the Lloyd Bridges series "Sea Hunt" of the late 1950s/early 1960s, several other underwater action adventure shows were rushed into production to capitalize on "Sea Hunt's" popularity. One of those shows was "Assignment Underwater," which starred Bill Williams as Bill Greer, an ex-Marine diver and widower who runs a charter boat. Along for the ride is Greer's young daughter Patty, played by Diane Mountford. The syndicated series ran for a total of 39 episodes during its single 1960-61 season.

Alpha Video delivers four episodes in this volume and another four in Assignment Underwater 2 (B&W); combined, these episodes provide a nice sampling of the series with varied adventure stories. Williams is a very solid, credible lead who had loads of TV credits to his name, including starring roles in "The Adventures of Kit Carson" and "Date with the Angels," a late 1950s sitcom in which he co-starred with Betty White. The casting of child actor Mountford was most certainly made so as to give the show wider appeal to the children's market, as well as to differentiate itself somewhat from "Sea Hunt." While there are some good adventure elements and filmed underwater sequences, having the lead's daughter appear prominently in most of the episodes gives "Assignment Underwater" somewhat of a children's show appeal along the lines of "Sky King" or "Fury."

Alpha's presentation is a little bit better than average for their line of older television shows that have episodes in the public domain. The episodes are not restored, but since this series has been little seen since its original broadcasts, the prints are in relatively good shape. Look for guest stars like George Takei (original "Star Trek") and Edgar Buchanan ("Petticoat Junction") in this first volume and Alan Hale, Jr. ("Gilligan's Island") in the second volume.

MGM currently had the rights to "Sea Hunt" and, perhaps, the commercial release of "Assignment Underwater" will prompt more serious consideration on MGM's part to release that better series. In the meantime, there's enough in these two volumes to keep "Sea Hunt" fans occupied while we're waiting.
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