Beneath the 12-Mile Reef

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner, Terry Moore and Gilbert Roland. The screenplay was by A.I. Bezzerides. The film was the third motion picture made in CinemaScope, coming after The Robe and How to Marry a Millionaire. The supporting cast features J. Carrol Naish, Richard Boone, Peter Graves, Jay Novello, Harry Carey Jr. and Jacques Aubuchon. Plot Mike (Gilbert Roland) and Tony Petrakis (Robert Wagner) are Greek American father and son sponge-diving entrepreneurs who find themselves in competition with the Rhys family, Conch fishermen who are prepared to resort to violence and murder to maintain their established fishing grounds off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Run-ins between the two clans lead to an exchange of threats and all-out brawls. Further complications ensue when Tony Petrakis meets Gwyneth Rhys (Terry Moore), and the two fall in love. Cast Robert Wagner as Tony Petrakis Terry Moore as Gwyneth Rhys Gilbert Roland as Mike Petrakis J. Carrol Naish as Socrates Houlis Richard Boone as Thomas Rhys Angela Clarke as Mama Petrakis Peter Graves as Arnold Dix Jay Novello as Sinan Jacques Aubuchon as Demetrios Sofotes Gloria Gordon as Penny Petrakis Harry Carey Jr. as Griff Rhys Rev. Theophilus Karaphillis as Greek Priest at Epiphany Production The film originally was called Twelve Mile Reef and was announced in September 1952, with the leads to be played by Robert Wagner and Kathleen Crowley. By December, the female lead was going to be Debra Paget.