World Without Sun

1964 film by Jacques Cousteau

World Without Sun

Film poster

Directed by| Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Written by| Jacques-Yves Cousteau
James Dugan
Distributed by| Columbia Pictures (United States)

Release dates

* September 30, 1964 (1964-09-30) (France)
* December 22, 1964 (1964-12-22) (USA)

Running time

| 93 minutes
Countries| France
Italy
Language| French

World Without Sun (French: Le Monde sans soleil) is a 1964 French documentary film directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The film was Cousteau's second to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, following The Silent World in 1956.

## Content

[edit]

The film chronicles Continental Shelf Station Two, or "Conshelf Two", the first ambitious attempt to create an environment in which men could live and work on the seafloor. 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 by 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.

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 likely contributed to the beginning of an era of ocean conservation as well as incidentally promoting sport diving. Memorable sequences involve men cavorting with fishes, an underwater chess game and the diving saucer reaching depths of 300 meters, encountering new and unique forms of life.

## Reception

[edit]

The documentary received wide international theatrical distribution, and won Best Documentary at the 37th Academy Awards,[1][2] Cousteau's second Oscar following The Silent World in 1956, as well as numerous other honors.

Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, although some criticism arose around accusations of "faking" footage, most notably by New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther, who questioned the authenticity of two of the more dramatic scenes. He stated in his 1964 review, "Oceanographers consulted here yesterday said it was highly unlikely that a deep-sea cavern, containing a "bubble," or pocket of air, at its top, could exist. If it did, the atmosphere in that bubble would surely be noxious, they said. It would be methane or marsh gas. And the pressure in it would be intolerable for man."[3]

The confusion stemmed from Crowther's assertion that the footage was filmed at great depth, an issue not clearly addressed in the film proper. His other complaint was a long tracking shot moving out from the window of one of the underwater structures, which Crowther claimed could only have been produced in an aquarium. Cousteau, taking great offense, went on to demonstrate how he and his son Philippe produced the shot with a combination of ropes and small underwater motorized vehicles.

## Preservation

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The Academy Film Archive preserved World Without Sun in 2010.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* The Silent World – 1956 French documentary film co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle
* Voyage to the Edge of the World – 1976 French nature documentary

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "NY Times: World Without Sun". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-08-21. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
2. ^ "The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
3. ^ World Without Sun (1964), The New York Times, December 23, 1964
4. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.

## External links

[edit]

* Le Monde sans soleil at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Jacques Cousteau

Films directed|

* The Silent World (1956)
* World Without Sun (1964)
* Voyage to the Edge of the World (1976)

Other works|

* The Silent World (1953 book)
* The Golden Fish (1959 film produced)
* The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau (1973–1978 encyclopedia)
* The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (1976 television series)

Expedition ships|

* RV Calypso
* Alcyone

Concepts and designs|

* Aqua-Lung
* Calypso camera
* Continental Shelf Station Two
* Deep Star 4000
* SP-350 Denise
* Turbosail

Works about|

* "Calypso" (1975 song)
* Cries from the Deep (1982 documentary)
* The Odyssey (2016 biopic)
* Becoming Cousteau (2021 documentary)

Tributes|

* En attendant Cousteau (1990 album)
* The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004 film)
* Mission 31 (2014 expedition)

Awards for World Without Sun

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film

1942–1975|

* The Battle of Midway / Kokoda Front Line! / Moscow Strikes Back / Prelude to War (1942)
* Desert Victory (1943)
* The Fighting Lady (1944)
* The True Glory (1945)
* No Award (1946)
* Design for Death (1947)
* The Secret Land (1948)
* Daybreak in Udi (1949)
* The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950)
* Kon-Tiki (1951)
* The Sea Around Us (1952)
* The Living Desert (1953)
* The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
* Helen Keller in Her Story (1955)
* The Silent World (1956)
* Albert Schweitzer (1957)
* White Wilderness (1958)
* Serengeti Shall Not Die (1959)
* The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960)
* Sky Above and Mud Beneath (1961)
* Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler (1962)
* Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963)
* World Without Sun (1964)
* The Eleanor Roosevelt Story (1965)
* The War Game (1966)
* The Anderson Platoon (1967)
* Journey into Self (1968)
* Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life (1969)
* Woodstock (1970)
* The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
* Marjoe (1972)
* The Great American Cowboy (1973)
* Hearts and Minds (1974)
* The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)

1976–present|

* Harlan County, USA (1976)
* Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (1977)
* Scared Straight! (1978)
* Best Boy (1979)
* From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China (1980)
* Genocide (1981)
* Just Another Missing Kid (1982)
* He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1983)
* The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
* Broken Rainbow (1985)
* Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got / Down and Out in America (1986)
* The Ten-Year Lunch (1987)
* Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988)
* Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
* American Dream (1990)
* In the Shadow of the Stars (1991)
* The Panama Deception (1992)
* I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School (1993)
* Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994)
* Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
* When We Were Kings (1996)
* The Long Way Home (1997)
* The Last Days (1998)
* One Day in September (1999)
* Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
* Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001)
* Bowling for Columbine (2002)
* The Fog of War (2003)
* Born into Brothels (2004)
* March of the Penguins (2005)
* An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
* Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
* Man on Wire (2008)
* The Cove (2009)
* Inside Job (2010)
* Undefeated (2011)
* Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
* 20 Feet from Stardom (2013)
* Citizenfour‎ (2014)
* Amy (2015)
* O.J.: Made in America (2016)
* Icarus (2017)
* Free Solo (2018)
* American Factory (2019)
* My Octopus Teacher (2020)
* Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
* Navalny (2022)
* 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
* No Other Land (2024)

* v
* t
* e

National Board of Review Award for Best International Film

1934–1950|

* Man of Aran (1934)
* No Award (1935)
* Carnival in Flanders (1936)
* The Eternal Mask (1937)
* La Grande Illusion (1938)
* Port of Shadows (1939)
* The Baker's Wife (1940)
* Pépé le Moko (1941)
* No Award (1942–1949)
* The Titan (1950)

1951–1975|

* Rashomon (1951)
* The Sound Barrier (1952)
* A Queen Is Crowned (1953)
* Romeo and Juliet (1954)
* The Prisoner (1955)
* The Silent World (1956)
* Ordet (1957)
* Pather Panchali (1958)
* Wild Strawberries (1959)
* The World of Apu (1960)
* Die Brücke (1961)
* Sundays and Cybèle (1962)
* 8½ (1963)
* World Without Sun (1964)
* Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
* The Sleeping Car Murders (1966)
* Elvira Madigan (1967)
* War and Peace (1968)
* Shame (1969)
* The Wild Child (1970)
* Claire's Knee (1971)
* The Sorrow and the Pity (1972)
* Cries and Whispers (1973)
* Amarcord (1974)
* The Story of Adele H. (1975)

1976–2000|

* The Marquise of O (1976)
* That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
* Autumn Sonata (1978)
* La Cage aux Folles (1979)
* The Tin Drum (1980)
* A Few Days from the Life of I. I. Oblomov (1981)
* Mephisto (1982)
* Fanny and Alexander (1983)
* A Sunday in the Country (1984)
* Ran (1985)
* Otello (1986)
* Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources (1987)
* Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
* Story of Women (1989)
* Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
* Europa Europa (1991)
* Indochine (1992)
* Farewell My Concubine (1993)
* Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
* Shanghai Triad (1995)
* Ridicule (1996)
* Shall We Dance? (1997)
* Central Station (1998)
* All About My Mother (1999)
* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

2001–present|

* Amores perros (2001)
* Talk to Her (2002)
* The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
* The Sea Inside (2004)
* Paradise Now (2005)
* Volver (2006)
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
* Mongol (2008)
* A Prophet (2009)
* Of Gods and Men (2010)
* A Separation (2011)
* Amour (2012)
* The Past (2013)
* Wild Tales (2014)
* Son of Saul (2015)
* The Salesman (2016)
* Foxtrot (2017)
* Cold War (2018)
* Parasite (2019)
* La Llorona (2020)
* A Hero (2021)
* Close (2022)
* Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
* The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024)

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