Below the Surface
About the Film
What happens when a couple of city slickers try to scam a hard-working family on New England’s stony shore? Find out in Irvin V. Willat’s follow-up to Behind the Door, another action-packed melodrama headlined by the silent era’s most flinty-eyed no-nonsense protagonist, Hobart Bosworth.
About the Restoration
A 35mm original nitrate negative of Irvin Willat’s underwater melodrama was preserved by the Library of Congress and is the second Willat-directed film in SFSFF’s collection, along with 1919’s Behind the Door. Sections with nitrate damage were made up from a 35mm safety duplicate negative that had been struck from the negative prior to its deterioration. The added color is based on a tinted 35mm nitrate print preserved at Eye Filmmuseum in the Netherlands. For digital presentation, the coloring has been digitally rendered. The restored 35mm print has been chemically dye-tinted and toned.