Fish from Hell (ca. 1945)

does anyone ever stop to figure out just how many fish there are in the sea well there are more than have ever been caught anyway remember this for a starter we and our neighbors and the other four fish eat 20 billion pounds a year one and a half billion dollars worth and only a few kinds of fish are good eating we're talking about sea fish not the trout in the person a catfish it's sure we don't eat all the fish in the sea because fish eat fish as the old form says great fish on little fishes speed and these in turn on those of lesser folk now take these for pasq the comedians of the ocean wave no good for food they make good leather and the finest lubricating oil used for watches and clocks these clowns will tag along with a boat for hundreds of miles oh this is a grand trip down the Mexican coast where the Gimme fishes play yes sir this surely is a pine cruise although we haven't come into the game fish waters yet I don't suppose any one man could ever learn all about every kind of fish there are over 20,000 known and classified different kinds each one with its own double-jointed jawbreaker of a name the cookie doesn't care what the name is so long as the fish is palatable it's pretty soft for cookie with his own private market right at the back door and the seagulls too ah they say easy pickings for breakfast hi yells the lookout he cited a tunable now see how part of that 20 billion pounds gets into the cam this commercial slaughter of the innocence is pretty brutal work the men throw out the chump the fish swarm about the delectable morsels but there's nothing chummy about the way they're caught bare hook some stout lines catches cats can even import what an indignity throwing these beauties around like so much cordwood but now this is where the sportsman gets into action catching the tuna with rod and reel is sport this originated at santa catalina the avalon tuna club regulates the length of the line and the weight of the rod to give the base some sort of a break from avalon it spread to Florida New Zealand Europe no doubt about the tuna being a game be anytime you get a 10-footer weighing up to 1,500 pounds on that line you know you've got a fight on your hand there is barely hooked now all you've got to do is planned it whoa is the up fighter never give him any slack am tire him out that's the trick of it the song of the real is music to the sportsman what a game guy that fish is often they'll fight for hours once a man an American is that off the English coast fought a tuna for more than 24 hours wrists and forearms get the strange as it takes power a quick eye look what's the matter with a lookout see that menacing fin shark after the hook tuna the shark couldn't catch him if he wasn't handicapped that way shark tiger of the sea of all see terrors the shark is the meanest the most practical merciful tremendous strength with an uncanny sense of smell they'd rather steal like this than hunt their own brain 140 foot shark was killed and a hundred pound sea lion found in his stomach some swallowing the fossil shark has been found held over from prehistoric times 90 feet in length well now this is developed into a three-cornered battle man against tuna tuna against shark walked out battle it is the terrific power of those mighty hail wailing the water the tuna the largest of the mackerel family the shark well let's just call him by his true name that sounds like skinner language floor rut Grimmie salons that's just what you are you Robert no rutrum ISA Lackey and you've got all the best of it for the tunic and attend the business to bring the tune of the gap is no chore for a landlubber but these deep-sea fishermen are superhuman almost anybody can hold a pole but it takes a body of steel and rawhide to do the dirty work like this good man he's got him aboard goodness sakes alive that shark made a pretty fair started his lunch before he was interrupted he must be taught a lesson that shark a lesson that will last him the rest of his life here take a smell of this nice pork he took it all right hook line and sinker if any you know that's all Hui about the shark having turn over on his back to bite he does sometimes if his victim is up on the surface now mr. shark they don't waste and he couldn't line and reel on you just a hop inch rope and a heavy bar they know your habit of spinning and falling a line when you're hooking you're no good sport who gives a fisherman a run for his money the only thing you're good for is shark skin and glue and maybe your liver will try out some pretty fair oil and the china boy may make himself some shark fin soup you want an ugly brute those teeth are just about the most terrible crunchers in creation three sets one inside the other could rip the sight of a rhinoceros open you might as well give up and play dead mr. shark no welder maybe he doesn't fancy a boat trip he might get seasick isn't that a sweet little playmate for a bathing party welcome aboard the lager how do you like him cookie no sir if that's a fish I'll never eat another sardis well the expedition is underway again daily wondering just what the next hour will bring forth is what gives spice to life you know this sitting on the string piece of the village dock and dangling an angle worm on the end of a line with a cork on it may be all very well in its way but they don't weigh enough for the fish stone now here is something that does weigh enough ways plenty this commercial fishing boat has caught a manta not a very big one only about a ton but they eat their weight and fish each day they're too greedy spoils fishing for the boats say there's an idea that must be good sport catching one of those terrors of the deep for real sport you know there must always be that element of danger of fight to send the old blood tingling of the spine all life is a battle ever since the cavemen fought for every mouthful the only thing to do is to give the giant there so after him in a small boat which the matter could swap with one flip of his great pectoral fin the Manta more giant ray is one of the wonders of nature it's almost impossible to believe that such a fast creature grows from a small egg but it does the egg has little tendrils hanging from it and the mother scratches the egg off against a rock on the sea floor where it grows to man sighs and then some it's quite a problem for the harpooner to pick a spot where his barb will catch hold it's like shooting an arrow into a feather pillow but this point old zaps right through the skull that's the spot all right the giant ray has a soft skull all cockily I'll water right there getting 40 miles an hour those giant flipper is going in a fiendish crawl stroke faster than a torpedo bomber a coffee table he's a destroyer this chap is called a devil face for good reason fish from hell yes sir see them go you see one of those gigantic petrol shop both the boats upside down that's where the element of danger comes in if the great pins fall over on the boys they're done for swim for a fellow make for the ship this goodbye to the ship's boat it's on his way to Japan come on man of life put some kick into it oh here here this is over the odds sharks again if there's anything in the sea the facts a shark it's a man swimming he's just got the King to swim and every kick is another invitation to those awful jaws to crunch your leg off well thank goodness one of the boys is safe congratulations old boy it's better than doing it Jonah and the matters interior and while they're bringing the other chap aboard look out shouts that the mantas making off with their boat it's worth salvaging and maybe the boys would like another chance to express their opinion of that devil fish elasmobranch that's what you are but there's a so I'm brewing if that vote is to be recovered they better make all speed or when one of these tropical storms break there's no time to think about mantas or die's but for the sake of the nice little self-respecting fish they'd like to wipe out this fish breather those great things just pulled over like a scoop and the big fellow like this 20 feet across and more than a ton weight some of them even 5,000 pounds eats his own weight in fish each day babies like a suction dredge ernestine show all right all in the slack line is drag him in what they'll do with them aboard our trim little craft is beyond me Eve hard boys hold on I'm going out oh now isn't that a tough straight here this boy is gone and got his foot caught in the bite of the rope help help help yes but in freeing him the line goes for the board now that's settled we can't lose both the board on the matter with this storm creeping up to ambassador buttered a gangster hitch there boy make fast there sailor standby to cut the brute loose at the skipper gives the word be looking a ride out this storm well no storm can last forever but see what it did to our gallant old boat high and dry on a little barren island weeks of work for all hands as salvaged about everything washed up on the sandy beach next high tidal FLOTUS offshore might have been a lot worse at that but the spirit of adventure is unquenched the crew of the fishing smack brings news of giant octopus nearby can't afford to miss a chance to photograph one of these elephants fighters of the ocean floor the diver is going to try and locate the octopus and pose him for the camera the ocean floor is a dream world silent thought mystic unreal lonely beyond words beauty that haunts one Majesty all its own inhabited by strange weird creatures like this great sea anemone so named because it looks like the wind flower you've seen little ones on the rocks at low tide long tentacles like the petals of a lovely flower but when touched they close up into a compact fall like the giant ray it lives by scooping in its prey and sucking it to pieces now watch how quickly the fish that our boys throw down is enclosed in that living Sepulcher but the study period is rudely interrupted the cameraman ever on the watch sees a great hammerhead shark circling about to close behind the diver for safety must get him up and destroy the menace so everybody takes a hand on this shark business is getting on their nerves they spoil all the fun the shark family takes many queer for the Hammerhead is about the strangest and one of the most dangerous the barb and heavy lying don't do the trick fast enough the captain puts a few slugs that led into it but even that doesn't stop a shark unless by chance one happens to sever the spinal column well alright diver we've got him out of the way let's go you know this divers rig isn't the easiest thing in the world to handle moving isn't hard but progress is [ __ ] like a slow motion picture because of the water resistance in this submerged world queer unreal lights play across the ocean floor strange fish pier out of unexpected corners forests of gently undulating seaweed gaudy shells which is the touch of the divers would become animate and scuttle away the camera can look so much further revealed merciful powers what's this eerie shape there it is look out I'm Thomas the crawling irresistible slimy death-dealing monster of the sea floor in his behind the diver there's no point in this helmet is powered to warn him what's a chance he takes good good man make him see Oh strange indeed are the wonders of the eight great immensely powerful arms each with its two rolls of deathly suckers mmm look out that slithering death is right on you you crush your bones into jelly look out boy look out quick now quick the helmet and boots they're too heavy get out of them get out of there oh thank goodness look well let's call this fellow named Julie deserves to be sworn at you all will suffer a part that's you octopus punk dentist accent on the punk hey that was a close call three days out from Acapulco dragged off shore be a good tug refitted restocked everybody happy and raring to go the only thing that couldn't be replaced was the divers rape that's probably decorating the partner of some were made by now hello there's something that looks interesting interesting I should say it is big news but the newspaper man would call a whale of a story this is a real whale 120 feet long whales are strange creatures mammals originally land animals there she blows they're warm-blooded breathing air by lungs having babies not eggs and nursing them with milk their greatest enemy is the sword thing a monster mackerel and there goes one now spring for the whales vulnerable belly he goes through ages of poking into other people's business this fellas nose has lengthened out until in big fish it attains a length of five or six feet sharp enough to drive straight see this side of a small book Scottish not what I schnoz the store features without doubt that game is fish that swims the ocean he goes after whales like a terrier after the bull it's instinct of course often a swordfish will charge your ship and drive his snout into the flanking until it breaks short off imagine what it must do to a face even one was so shocked a height of the whale what up quite what a fight the swordfish has all the advantage of quicker turning sharper weapons the whales only defences is my detail one clean blow is that two tons / and even this terrific stabber would be put out a commission but the swordfish rolled with the punch now they spar for a moment at long range and back goes the old staff Caesar good what a battle through and clean out of the ocean friends no one has ever been lucky enough to photograph any such fight as this before but the race is not always to the Swift nor is the battle always to the strong remember David and Goliath oh this is terrible Leviathan in range dangerously wounded well there can be only one end to this fight our boys decide to put the gallant old monster out of his misery for this attack might go on for days remember this whale ways not less than 120 tons there's a lot of them to die this is risky work takes nerve to go in under those terrifically slapping tails and put a harpoon into the poor old beaten monster but they're going to do it now Sam this new irritation sends the giant off on a new tack upbeat gums and out he goes but out for sharks boy poor old whale what a tragedy of the sea how many times this happens no one will ever know there isn't always a camera so handy to record the battle and even when our boys have captured the whale the villains still pursued they signal a commercial Whaler way off to lure as there's no hope of salvaging the valuable oils and fats of the huge windfall they tell her to come a-runnin before the prize collapses and sinks once the breathing ceases the huge body can no longer stay afloat the wailers fish captain gets ready as harpoon gun spend point gun invented by a Scandinavian of that name come on man come on get it over with the poor devils dying we must be cruel only to be kind now give it to eat and all the while they're towing in the gigantic captive the harpies is still fattening on his empro this Christmas present is worth at least three thousand dollars to the whaler I'll get the airline out boys pump in the air don't let him sink now look at those great gaping wounds made by that demon of a sort patient fish from hell that's what you are you certainly had a lot of nerve tackling the big strong better 600 pounds against 240,000 now they're pumping him full of air would a mess you made of it you but the boys say we'll give you a break mr. schnozzle we're going out and get you get it with a rod and reel that ought to be some sport yes sir when you talk about thrills this game of fighting the monster swordfish with a rod and line certainly takes the pennant to say watch you're going to show you a most unusual camera shot it's like a fisheye view of things now look underneath the boat and see the propeller in action now anybody who hasn't a firm grip on his emotions had better not look any more for something's going to happen around here and I don't mean meh me there he goes you old boys who can remember the thrill that came when first you felt a tug at the cork on your line in the old mill pond with a 6-ounce perch grabbed your worm maybe you can figure this drill 600 pounders off the fight in his mattis fish that ever snapped a hook he's out there on the end of that slapping mine with the real singing it's protest bring him up bring him up bring him up really really if he doubles on that line you lose him risks of iron are certainly needed for this word great catfish Bob go leap whoa another madly take up the slack take it up take it up quick now up it goes again don't let him trick you mr. don't dunham trick you what a mighty surge that was that carry a quarter of a ton of fish clear out of the water but I say the codfish was game now it's settled down into a battle of wits how'd you like to run a handbook on this event the fish knows that his only chance is delete the turn in the air and try to follow the line so that he can double back on it and snap it off how does he know it will how does he know how to swim in the first place instinct the primal instinct of all created things self-preservation there he goes again impossible you say well there it is the camera can't lie but he's a disparate thing a black-hearted scoundrel of course but you've gotta hand it to him for the fighting spirit yes sir this is a real fun o Lord renounce that leap surpasses them all and to think that this little trifling line is expected to control such a stupendous battering ram as the swordfish has proved himself to be it's just one desperate leap after another and each time the human adversary must be on his home ready to really in to slack off to play this fruit as you would a mountain trout but he's got to end sometime he's bound to tire himself out of that rate it looks to me as if he just about shot his fault now steadily slowly patiently what relentlessly the captor is bringing the floundering demon closer and closer to the boat now this is going to be something else again Morris it's all well enough to hook him and play him in close but what kind of man is this who thinks he can gap this demon don't lose them fell don't lose them thing in your tools boy get your heels under a seat stick to amboy stick doing flips take it over now heave away oh fraid you're going clean out of your class old Jeff now you got him again put a twitch on these noble apart ride'em cowboy not receive then we'll snog her nose not know Dern fish that everswamp can get the best to me what thingy and that is that