World Without Sun
Encyclopedia
World Without Sun is a 1964 French documentary film directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau
. The film was Cousteau's second to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, following The Silent World
in 1956.
, or "Conshelf Two", the first ambitious attempt to create an environment in which men could live and work on the sea floor. In it, a half-dozen oceanauts lived 10 meters down in the Red Sea
off Sudan
in a star-fish shaped house for 30 days. The undersea living experiment also had two other structures, one a submarine hangar that housed a small, two man submarine referred to as the "diving saucer" for its resemblance to a science fiction flying saucer
, and a smaller "deep cabin" where two oceanauts lived at a depth of 30 meters for a week. The undersea colony was supported with air, water, food, power, all essentials of life, from a large support team above. Men on the bottom performed a number of experiments intended to determine the practicality of working on the sea floor and were subjected to continual medical examinations. The documentary, 93 minutes long, received wide international theatrical distribution, and was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as numerous other honors. It was Cousteau's second film to win Best Documentary, the first being "The Silent World" released in 1956.
Funded in part by the French petrochemical industry, the Conshelf Two experiment was originally intended to demonstrate the practicality of exploitation of the sea using underwater habitats as base stations. In the end Cousteau repudiated such an approach, turning his efforts instead toward conservation
. The lyrical and dramatic underwater sequences also, ironically, likely contributed to the beginning of an era of ocean conservation as well as incidentally promoting sport diving. Memorable sequences inolve men cavorting with fishes, an underwater chess game, and the diving saucer reaching depths of 300 meters, encountering new and unique forms of life.
Reviews of the film were overwhelming positive, although the film did come under some criticism around accusations of "faking" footage, most notably by New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther who questioned the authenticity of two of the film's more dramatic scenes. Cousteau took great offense, going to some length in future publications to describe and defend the difficult and innovative techniques used to create the film.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
. The film was Cousteau's second to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, following The Silent World
The Silent World
The Silent World is a 1956 French documentary film co-directed by the famed French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a young Louis Malle. The Silent World is noted as one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color...
in 1956.
Plot
World Without Sun, a documentary produced and directed by Jacques Cousteau in 1964 chronicles Continental Shelf Station TwoContinental Shelf Station Two
Continental Shelf Station Two or Conshelf Two was an attempt at creating an environment in which men could live and work on the sea floor. It was the successor to Continental Shelf Station One ....
, or "Conshelf Two", the first ambitious attempt to create an environment in which men could live and work on the sea floor. In it, a half-dozen oceanauts lived 10 meters down in the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
off Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
in a star-fish shaped house for 30 days. The undersea living experiment also had two other structures, one a submarine hangar that housed a small, two man submarine referred to as the "diving saucer" for its resemblance to a science fiction flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
, and a smaller "deep cabin" where two oceanauts lived at a depth of 30 meters for a week. The undersea colony was supported with air, water, food, power, all essentials of life, from a large support team above. Men on the bottom performed a number of experiments intended to determine the practicality of working on the sea floor and were subjected to continual medical examinations. The documentary, 93 minutes long, received wide international theatrical distribution, and was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as numerous other honors. It was Cousteau's second film to win Best Documentary, the first being "The Silent World" released in 1956.
Funded in part by the French petrochemical industry, the Conshelf Two experiment was originally intended to demonstrate the practicality of exploitation of the sea using underwater habitats as base stations. In the end Cousteau repudiated such an approach, turning his efforts instead toward conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
. The lyrical and dramatic underwater sequences also, ironically, likely contributed to the beginning of an era of ocean conservation as well as incidentally promoting sport diving. Memorable sequences inolve men cavorting with fishes, an underwater chess game, and the diving saucer reaching depths of 300 meters, encountering new and unique forms of life.
Reviews of the film were overwhelming positive, although the film did come under some criticism around accusations of "faking" footage, most notably by New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther who questioned the authenticity of two of the film's more dramatic scenes. Cousteau took great offense, going to some length in future publications to describe and defend the difficult and innovative techniques used to create the film.