Here is the update
Here is a list of movies with diving content (divers in the water) this is primarily a list of Hollywood drama type films, a few documentaries of note are included.
I used IMDb to find movies tagged with Diving or Scuba. Synopsis of the films are likewise from IMDb.
Films with ??? after the date may or may not have actual footage of divers. If anyone can verify weather or not there is dive footage in a film please post it here.
Star ratings are based on Scubaboard posts recommending these films, as well as diving content.
Im sure there are more out there, here is what I found so far.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
Silent film some of the earliest UW filmmaking, Jules Verne
The Navigator (1924)
Buster Keaton dons a diving suit for a hilarious underwater sequence silent movie
The Sea Bat (1930)
The West Indies island of Portuga exists mainly for sponge diving. But the best area of collection is frequented by a very large manta ray
Below the Sea (1933) *
A wealthy woman funds an underwater expedition to explore for marine life, but what she doesn't know is that her "colleagues" have other intentions
No More Women (1934)
Two deep-sea divers, "Three-Time" and "Forty-Fathoms," battle to salvage sunken gold at forty fathoms deep in the ocean.
Both go to work for Helen Young, the owner of a tug-boat and a salvage business.
Mutiny Ahead (1935)
A wealthy playboy winds up getting himself involved with mobsters and a search for buried treasure.
The Best Man Wins (1935)
A diver saves his best friend's life but loses his own arm in doing so. Later, unable to find work because of his missing arm, he is forced to go to work for a criminal searching for lost treasures
Titans of the Deep (1938)
Prominent scientists Dr. William Beebe ('William Beebe' ) and Otis Barton (Otis Barton), using the Bathyspere invented by Barton, descend several thousand feet to the ocean floor off of the shores of Bermuda to study and film sea creatures seen and filmed at that depth for the first time. A sometimes staged semi-documentary that was often sold and advertised as an exploitation/horror picture.
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939) ???
Moto thwarts a ruthless band of international agents who try to foment an international incident by mining the entrance to the Suez Canal and blaming the British.
Reap the Wild Wind (1942) *
Clipper ships taking the shortest route between the Mississippi and the Atlantic often end up on the shoals of Key West in the 1840s. Salvaging the ships' cargos has become a lucrative business for two companies,
John Wayne
Wake of the Red Witch (1949)***
John Wayne treasure hunting, wreck jumping and intrigue.
The Frogmen (1951) ***
World War II drama in which Richard Widmark, as Lt. Cmdr. John Lawrence, replaces the popular commanding officer of a group of underwater demolition divers. a crew of fiercely independent studs who hang their proverbial hats in Davy Jones' locker.
The Sea Hornet (1951)
Smuggler's Island (1951)
The lead dives at the crash-site but discovers he's been tricked into retrieving a cache of gold bars
Mara Maru (1952) *
An American salvage diver plunges into dangerous intrigue around a sunken treasure in the Philippines, Errol Flynn
King of the Coral Sea (1953) *
Rod Taylor film debut Pearl divers upgrade from helmet diving to the modern aqualung, great underwater scenes
Jamaica Run (1953)
Some diving content, filmed in Jamaica
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) ***
Greek Sponge divers out of Tarpon Springs Florida
City Beneath the Sea (1953) *
Two American divers are distracted by fair ladies and skulduggery while trying to salvage a gold ship off Jamaica
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) *
Disney version of the Jules Vern classic
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)*
Lots of UW footage
Underwater! (1955) **
Treasure hunters dive off of Cuba, with Jane Russell
Above Us the Waves (1955)
The attack by British midget submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord during the Second World War.
The Silent World (1956)
Jaques Cousteaus first Documentary
Manfish (1956) *
Three deep sea divers get involved in murder while searching for a lost treasure.
Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
Yes the Godzilla, destroyed by divers at end of film
Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)
Underwater Zombies foil salvage op
Hellcats of the Navy (1957) ???
Down . . . Down . . . Down . . . into enemy waters with the fightin' hellcats of the U.S. sub pack ! Ronald Reagan
Ghost Diver (1957)
Rico, a South American diver, seeking the lost treasure of the Paracas, finds a Paracan idol, with its eyes of sun and moon, and realizes he has found the key to a fortune
The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
An earthquake in the Salton Sea unleashes a horde of prehistoric mollusk monsters. Discovering the creatures, a Naval officer and several scientists attempt to stop the monsters, but they escape into the canal system of the California's Imperial Valley and terrorize the populace
The Incredible Petrified World (1957)
Four adventurers descend to the depths of the ocean when the cable on their underwater diving bell snaps
The Silent Enemy (1958)
In the Mediterranean in 1941 the Italians start using underwater chariots to mine the undersides of allied ships. Explosives expert Lionel Crabbe arrives in Gibralter to organise defences, but finds only two British divers available to help him.
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
A disgraced merchant marine officer elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship in order to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and, as a result, vindicate his good name, Gary Cooper
Forbidden Island (1959)
Skindiver tries to recover sunken treasure before a group of thieves learn of its existence
September Storm (1960)
Three men and a fashion model use a yacht to go diving for gold coins off the coast of Spain.
The Atomic Submarine (1960)
Ships mysteriously disappear on route across the Arctic Sea, and a specially-equipped submarine is sent to investigate
The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960)
After Robert Christopher and his ship mysteriously disappear in the Caribbean, his two brothers -- Mark and Dean -- travel to St. Kitts to begin their own investigation, Richard Chamberlain
Mysterious Island (1961)
During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, Jules Verne
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) *
Admiral Nelson takes a brand new atomic submarine through its paces.
Dr. No (1962)
James Bond
Thunder Island (1963)
A Central American woman hires an American hit man to asasinate the former dictator of her Island country
Goldfinger (1964) ?
James Bond is back in action! Parts filmed in Jamaica
Raiders from Beneath the Sea (1964) *
A down-on-his-luck California apartment house manager hatches a plan to rob a Catalina Island bank--and escape with his accomplices using scuba gear.
World Without Sun (1964)
Jacques Cousteaus 2nd Documentary
Thunderball (1965) ***
James Bond Scuba spectacular
City in the Sea (1965)
The City Under the Sea (original title) aka War-Gods of the Deep. Vincent Price, Set on the Cornish coast in 1903, the film features a group of people discovering an underwater society of smugglers who never age living in a lost underwater city along with their gill-man slaves
The Embalmer (1965)
Il mostro di Venezia (original title) Italian horror, A crazed killer is on the loose in the catacombs of Venice, Italy. He stalks beautiful women, drags them to his underground lair, kills them, then stuffs them and adds them to his "collection."
Destination Inner Space (1966) ???
Strange goings on at the site of an experimental underwater laboratory as a mysterious object of unknown origin is detected in the area.
Around the World Under the Sea (I) (1966)
The crew of a five-man submarine travels the world oceans, planting sensors on the ocean floor to warn scientists of any impending earthquake
Easy Come, Easy Go (1967) *
Elvis on Scuba???
Come spy with me (1967)
A young girl and his friend saves the world from an underwater bomb
Catalina Caper (1967)
A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll
Lady in Cement (1968)
Frank Sinatra scuba flick
Submarine X-1 (1969)
After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs, British
Black Water Gold (1970)
TV Movie A scuba team, a marine archaeologist and a Mexican historian join forces to reach the wreck of an historic Spanish galleon before a well-armed commercial expedition does.
The Aquarians (TV 1970)
Ricardo Monelban salvage divers
Blue Water, White Death (1971)
Documentary quest to film Great Whites in the wild
When Eight Bells Toll (1971) *
In a vein similar to Bond movies, a British agent Philip Calvert is on a mission to determine the whereabouts of a ship that disappeared near the coast of Scotland.
Juggernaut (1974)
Some unknown maniac is threatening a navigation company to blow up one of its luxury transatlantics
Jaws (1975) ***
When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it. Great scuba scenes
Maco: Jaws of Death (1976)
A Vietnam vet uses his ability to talk to sharks as a weapon against his enemies.
The Deep (1977) ****
The Scuba Classic, divers discover wreck full of morphine and more,
Sharks' Treasure (1975) *
Eccentric charter skipper Jim Carnahan and his team of hard-luck dreamers battle sharks, bandits and their own greed to recover sunken treasure off the coast of Honduras.
Barracuda (1978)
Little coastal town is being terrorized by deadly Barracudas.
Jaws 2 (1978)
Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.
Hunters of the Reef (TV 1978)
Ffolkes (1979)
North Sea Hijack (original title) When terrorists take over two oil rigs and threaten to explode them if their demands are not met, a unique commando unit is sent in to stop them, Roger Moore
Up from the Depths (1979)
A giant shark-like creature preys on a Hawaiian tourists
Zombie (1979)
Italian horror, Strangers looking for a woman's father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead
Zombie Holocaust (1980)
More Italian horror, The members of an expedition in search for the last faithful of Kito, the cannibal god, land on a small island in the Moluccas (East Indies) and are soon hunted by cannibals and zombies
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