Here is a list of movies with diving content (divers in the water) this is primarily a list of Hollywood drama type films, a few documentaries of note are included.
I used IMDb to find movies tagged with Diving or Scuba. Synopsis of the films are likewise from IMDb.
Films with ??? after the date may or may not have actual footage of divers. If anyone can verify weather or not there is dive footage in a film please post it here.
Star ratings are based on Scubaboard posts recommending these films.
I’m sure there are more out there, here is what I found so far.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
Silent film some of the earliest UW filmmaking, Jules Verne
No More Women (1934)
Two deep-sea divers, "Three-Time" and "Forty-Fathoms," battle to salvage sunken gold at forty fathoms deep in the ocean.
Both go to work for Helen Young, the owner of a tug-boat and a salvage business.
Mutiny Ahead (1935)
A wealthy playboy winds up getting himself involved with mobsters and a search for buried treasure.
Titans of the Deep (1938)
Prominent scientists Dr. William Beebe ('William Beebe' ) and Otis Barton (Otis Barton), using the Bathyspere invented by Barton, descend several thousand feet to the ocean floor off of the shores of Bermuda to study and film sea creatures seen and filmed at that depth for the first time. A sometimes staged semi-documentary that was often sold and advertised as an exploitation/horror picture.
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939) ???
Moto thwarts a ruthless band of international agents who try to foment an international incident by mining the entrance to the Suez Canal and blaming the British.
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Clipper ships taking the shortest route between the Mississippi and the Atlantic often end up on the shoals of Key West in the 1840s. Salvaging the ships' cargos has become a lucrative business for two companies
Wake of the Red Witch (1949)**
John Wayne treasure hunting, wreck jumping and intrigue.
The Frogmen (1951) ***
World War II drama in which Richard Widmark, as Lt. Cmdr. John Lawrence, replaces the popular commanding officer of a group of underwater demolition divers. a crew of fiercely independent studs who hang their proverbial hats in Davy Jones' locker.
Mara Maru (1952) ??
An American salvage diver plunges into dangerous intrigue around a sunken treasure in the Philippines.
King of the Coral Sea (1953)
Rod Taylor film debut –Pearl divers upgrade from helmet diving to the modern aqualung, great underwater scenes
Jamaica Run (1953)
Some diving content, filmed in Jamaica
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) *
Greek Sponge divers off Florida
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Jules Vern classic
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)*
Lots of UW footage
Underwater! (1955) **
Treasure hunters dive off of Cuba, with Jane Russell
The Silent World (1956)
Jaques Cousteau’s first Documentary
Manfish (1956) *
Three deep sea divers get involved in murder while searching for a lost treasure.
Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)
Underwater Zombies foil salvage op
The Silent Enemy (1958)
In the Mediterranean in 1941 the Italians start using underwater chariots to mine the undersides of allied ships. Explosives expert Lionel Crabbe arrives in Gibralter to organise defences, but finds only two British divers available to help him.
September Storm (1960)
Three men and a fashion model use a yacht to go diving for gold coins off the coast of Spain.
Mysterious Island (1961)
Jules Verne
Dr. No (1962)
James Bond
Raiders from Beneath the Sea (1964) *
A down-on-his-luck California apartment house manager hatches a plan to rob a Catalina Island bank--and escape with his accomplices using scuba gear.
World Without Sun (1964)
Jacques Cousteau’s 2nd Documentary
Thunderball (1965) ***
James Bond Scuba spectacular
Destination Inner Space (1966) ???
Strange goings on at the site of an experimental underwater laboratory as a mysterious object of unknown origin is detected in the area.
Easy Come, Easy Go (1967) *
Elvis on Scuba???
Lady in Cement (1968)
Frank Sinatra scuba flick
Black Water Gold (1970)
TV Movie A scuba team, a marine archaeologist and a Mexican historian join forces to reach the wreck of an historic Spanish galleon before a well-armed commercial expedition does.
The Aquarians (TV 1970)
Ricardo Monelban salvage divers
Blue Water, White Death (1971)
Documentary quest to film Great Whites in the wild
When Eight Bells Toll (1971) *
In a vein similar to Bond movies, a British agent Philip Calvert is on a mission to determine the whereabouts of a ship that disappeared near the coast of Scotland.
Jaws (1975) ***
When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it. Great scuba scenes
The Deep (1977)
The Scuba Classic****
Sharks' Treasure (1975) *
Eccentric charter skipper Jim Carnahan and his team of hard-luck dreamers battle sharks, bandits and their own greed to recover sunken treasure off the coast of Honduras.
Maco; Jaws of Death (1976), a Vietnam vet uses his ability to talk to sharks as a weapon against his enemies. Lots of UW shark footage
Barracuda (1978) ???
Little coastal town is being terrorized by deadly Barracudas.
Jaws 2 (1978)
Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.
Hunters of the Reef (TV 1978)
Zombie (1979)
Italian horror
Zombie Holocaust (1980)
More Italian horror
Goliath Awaits (TV 1981)
People traped in a wreck for years discovered by divers
For Your Eyes Only (1981) *
James Bond
Never Say Never Again (1983)
James Bond Scuba
Jaws 3 (1983) ???
The Quest (1986)
Australian film Frog Dreaming (original title) American boy, Cody, whose parents have died, lives in Australia with his guardian, Gaza. Cody is very imaginative, inventive, and inquisitive. He comes accross some strange events happenning in Devil's Knob national park associated with an aboriginal myth about "frog dreamings"
Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
Amsterdamned (1988)
Scuba killer in Amsterdam???
The Big Blue (1988)****
French free diving film, a favorite amongst Scubaboarders
Leviathan (1989)*
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results
The Dive (Dykket)(1989)* ???
Two divers trapped in a diving bell. Norwegian and English
Deep Star Six (1989)
At the bottom of the ocean, the Deep Star Six has just discovered a new and deadly alien menace.
The Abyss (1989) ***
A civilian diving team are enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and face danger while encountering an alien aquatic species
National Lampoon's Last Resort (1994)
Direct to video
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
Sphere (1998) Dustin Hoffman
A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Great White Shark research gone wrong, Horror with Samuel L. Jackson
Lake Placid (1999)
Crocodile on the lose in Maine?
Cabin by the Lake (TV 2000)
Horror
Men of Honor (2000) ***
Cuba Gooding Jr. trains to be a Navy diver
The Blue Planet (2001) ***
BBC documentary series Excellent
Finding Nemo (2003) ***
Animated UW film much loved by divers. Scuba content???
Coral Reef Adventure (2003)*
IMAX Documentary
The Italian Job (2003)
Uses Scuba for gold heist scene
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) *
Lara Croft is on a quest to save Pandoras box.
Aquanoids (2003) ???
On a small island off the California coast it's the Fourth of July and tourists are washing up dead in Babylon Bay, once again! In 1987, rumor has it that mysterious sea creatures called Aquanoids were responsible for 17 vicious deaths
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)
James Cameron journeys to the site of his greatest inspiration the legendary wreck of the Titanic. Documentary
Open Water (2004) *
About stranded divers but not a favorite of divers, go figure?
After the Sunset (2004)*
Woody Harrelson After a successful last score, a master thief retires to an island paradise. His lifelong nemesis, a crafty FBI agent, washes ashore to ensure he's making good on his promise. The pair soon enters into a new game of cat-and-mouse
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) ***
Bill Murray and his crew take their Scuba research ship on an expedition. UW scenes animated.
Sahara (2005) *
Clive Cussler story. Explorer Dirk Pitt goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War battleship known as the "Ship of Death" in the deserts of West Africa while helping a UN doctor being hounded by a ruthless dictator.
The Cave (2005) *
Bloodthirsty creatures await a pack of divers who become trapped in an underwater cave network
Aliens of the Deep (2005) **
Documentary James Cameron teams up with NASA scientists to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains that band the Earth and are home to some of the planet's most unique life forms
Into the Blue (2005) ****
Jessica Alba. A group of divers find themselves in deep trouble with a drug lord after they come upon the illicit cargo of a sunken airplane.
Great UW footage , salvage diving similar to the Deep
Sharkwater (2007) *
Documentary In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives. Real life drama, sounds great.
King of California (2007) ???
An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia
Fools Gold (2008)***
A new clue to the whereabouts of a lost treasure rekindles a married couple's sense of adventure -- and their estranged romance.
Matthew McConaughey lots of UW footage
The Cove (2009)
Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health., stealth diving
Oceans (2009)
An ecological drama/documentary, filmed throughout the globe. Part thriller, part meditation on the vanishing wonders of the sub-aquatic world
Into the Blue 2: The Reef (2009)**
A pair of professional divers are hired to find Columbus' hidden treasure. Straight to Video
Piranha (2010)
Piranhas attack
Dark Tide (2011)
A professional diver returns to deep waters after nine years following an almost fatal encounter with a great white shark, the nightmare is still lurking in the deep, more carnivorous and hungry than ever.
Sanctum (2011)
Cave diving gone terribly wrong
So whats missing?