Crashing the Water Barrier (1956) User Reviews

speed on Lake Mead

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 29 March 2020]

Konstantin Kalser's Oscar-winning "Crashing the Water Barrier" features Donald Campbell attempting to break a water speed record using a special type of watercraft on Lake Mead. While a lot of it goes by so quickly that it's hard to digest, one has to appreciate the effort that Campbell put into this. The aerodynamics, the air density, and other things all amounted to one of the many scientific feats.

In the past few years, I've been trying to watch a lot of Oscar-winning short documentaries from years past. This is certainly an interesting one, so I recommend checking it out if you get a chance.

Enthralling even when you know how it all turns out

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 1 September 2014]

This short won the Academy Award for Short Subject (One Reel). There will be spoilers ahead:

This short is a documentary on the first successful effort to cross the 200 mph barrier on water and survive the accomplishment. Donald Campbell, whose father, Sir Malcolm Campbell, held the land speed record at one time, managed to successfully average just over 216 mph on two passes over Lake Meade in Nevada. A man named Cobb, who was friends with Campbell, managed to break 200 mph, only to have his boat disintegrate, killing him in the process.

The short is rather dramatic, outlining the problems faced by Campbell and his crew due to the conditions at Lake Meade and the weather conditions which confronted them during the trials. Modifications to the craft were necessary for there to be a successful run.

The short is excellently made and deserved the Academy Award it won. I'm a bit surprised it wasn't also nominated for Documentary Short the same year, though it would probably have lost to The True Story of the Civil War, which I would dearly love to see again.

This short can be seen online and is well worth seeking out.

Youngson Looks To The Future

[boblipton · 6/10 · 1 November 2019]

Robert Youngson is best remembered for producing short subjects and compilation films which celebrated old movies, particularly slapstick comedy. With this short, he produces a short about Donald Campbell and his efforts to produce a boat that can do more than 200 miles an hour on the water.

The result is an Oscar winner for Best One-Reel Short Subject. I found the print on TCM to be a bit odd, as if it had been shot by an amateur, not a professional cinematographer. The color values seem oversaturated. All in all, it seems likely the print from which the TV transfer was made was not well preserved.

By 1956, there weren't that many live-action shorts being made, and this one looks likely to have won through a combination of the odd sort of choices made by the nominating process of the Academy, a desire to reward Youngson for his work on making old comedy new, and the excitement of a genuinely interesting side path in technology.

Entertaining Short

[Michael_Elliott · 23 June 2013]

Crashing the Water Barrier (1956)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning documentary short about Donald Campbell's attempt to use an auto-racer to break the water barrier at Lake Meade, Nevada. At the start of the film we learn why breaking such a barrier could be so important and then we see various issues that come up that prevent them from even attempting. Once the boat, called Bluebird, is out in the water, more issues come up but finally Campbell is able to take off and reach speeds over 250mph. CRASHING THE WATER BARRIER is a pretty entertaining film that history buffs or fans of boats should enjoy. There's a lot of really good footage of what goes on behind-the-scenes getting everything set up, which should entertain many but there's also some wonderful cinematography that captures the boat going down the lake. The cinematography certainly helps keeps the viewer glued to what they're watching.

"It's harder on the water . . . '

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 13 July 2015]

. . . the narrator blurts breathlessly as Donald Campbell becomes the first human to set a boat speed record in excess of 200 mph, after his dad, Malcom, had been the first to top that same rate of velocity for an automobile land speed standard. Earlier, the narrative for CRASHING THE WATER BARRIER had noted that representatives of the U.S. Military were on hand at Lake Mead, NV, in the mid-1950s to evaluate Donald's "Bluebird" pontoon rig as "the PT Boat of Tomorrow," capable of evading radar and suddenly sneaking up to the sides of enemy destroyers. Obviously, leaders of Middle Eastern terror groups saw this footage (probably subtitled in Arabic) some years later. No doubt they noted the size of the "Bluebird," and the fact that the U.S. Navy thought this was the perfect weapon to doom someone else's destroyer. Pictures of the vessel they used to half wreck the U.S.S. Cole, killing and maiming many sailors, prove it to be in the same ballpark as the "Bluebird." Americans thought it would take nuclear weapons to bring down 100-story skyscrapers, but all a handful of ingenious terrorists needed were a few box cutters. Similarly, the Navy thought it would take a 200 mph "Bluebird"-type vessel (no doubt a "Stealth" boat costing five billion bucks each) to doom a destroyer. A wave and a smile were all the terrorists actually needed.

A delightful blend of science and entertainment

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 21 July 2015]

Crashing the Water Barrier follows the ambitions of Donald Campbell, an engineer who, in 1956, attempted to set a water speed record on Lake Mead in his water-jet known as "Bluebird." Campbell's father was Sir Malcolm Campbell, who held the record for land speed and water speed, previously. Campbell's ultimate goal was to reach at least 200 mph and survive, for reaching that level of speed could result in the disintegration of the jet itself. Such speeds on water make the water less an uneven surface and more like solid concrete in that speeds are so high, one can't even register that the surface beneath them isn't exactly a surface at all.

Director Konstantin Kalser, and narrator Jay Jackson, work to detail the exploits of Campbell, specifically showcasing the hardships he faced whilst trying to break this record. For one, his air intake system could potentially prevent him from reaching his desire speed, in addition to other uncontrollable, unpredictable features like the weather and the conditions of the water as a result being out of his control.

Crashing the Water Barrier does a nice job of balancing science and entertainment here; the jargon never gets too alienating nor does the entertaining elements become too clearly embellished. Jackson's engaging narration, combined with the attractive, super-colorized videography, create a pleasant aesthetic for a documentary that could've lacked it entirely. This is a solid short documentary, packing enough adventure to be a worthy illustration of its subject and bearing enough information to allow audiences to emerge with new knowledge.

Directed by: Konstantin Kalser.