Water Wisdom (1943) User Reviews (2)

Various life saving techniques taught by The American Red Cross...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 12 July 2008]

This Pete Smith specialty combines a bit of humor with a display of life saving techniques taught by the American Red Cross aimed at saving the lives of swimmers in distress.

There are so many different rescue techniques and all of them are photographed from an underwater viewpoint that shows the arm and leg movements involved.

Neatest of all is the man who uses a paddle stroke on a board that takes him quickly to the side of the swimmer needing rescue and enables him to flip the victim onto the board and back to safety.

The humor involves a man in a toga who takes forever to remove his garments to make a rescue and the shallow water bit as a final joke.

Typical Pete Smith stuff, but not especially noteworthy.

Revealing footage of WWII era swimsuits

[charlytully · 6/10 · 25 July 2011]

This black-and-white, nine-minute-long 1943 offering from MGM may best be viewed as an early template for the BAYWATCH TV series, minus most of the drama and jiggling T&A. The swimwear is about halfway between the pajama-like duds you see in 1890s footage from, say, Coney Beach, and the streamlined red suits worn by latter-day life-savers. Never as funny as the earlier Marx Brothers feature "HORSE FEATHERS" (in which a drowning person asks for a "life saver" and gets tossed a small hard candy), "WATER WISDOM" supposedly demonstrates state-of-the-art techniques refined by the American Red Cross. Though Ronald Reagan was Hollywood's most famous actual life saver when this PSA-like demo was created (with dozens of real-life rescues under his belt), the "Gipper" is nowhere to be seen in this Pete Smith-narrated "how-to." Instead, a coed mixture of youthful and middle-aged people anonymously splash around in a pond, with half pretending to be "going under," as the better half attempts extractions from the water. While these techniques may not be crystal clear, the antiquated fashions remain prominent for the discerning viewer.