Off the coast of Maine lies a sleepy fishing village populated by men like Martin Flint (Hobart Bosworth), a professional diver who would be the dictionary definition of “salt of the earth” — if he could tolerate dry land long enough. After Martin’s improbable success in rescuing a sunken submarine and its crew from fifty-five fathoms gains him local notoriety, a shyster businessman tries to recruit him to be the public face of a treasure hunt scheme. Being a “staunch bulwark of honesty and responsibility,” Martin easily declines, but will his son escape temptation, particularly when flesh is on offer alongside money?

Conceived by the same creative team responsible for the unrelentingly sadistic classic Behind the Door, Below the Surface confidently went into production before the earlier film was even released and went on to become another box office winner. Producer Thomas Ince promised the story of Below the Surface would be “strong but not gruesome,” and he mostly delivered—albeit not without succumbing ever so briefly to his instinctive predilection for brutal imagery in the climax. But in all other respects, it’s an eminently seaworthy vehicle for Bosworth, who performed his own diving stunts in a Culver City studio water tank. Seen in this brand-new restoration, Below the Surface may as well be its own kind of buried treasure — the rare silent feature whose original camera negative survives a century later and provides an experience of unparalleled visual magnificence. Restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival with the support of the National Film Preservation Foundation.

35mm from San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Preceded by: “San Francisco, the Golden Gate City” (1925) – 5 min – 35mm