This short film came at me right out of left field a few years back and became my favorite bit of deep-underground surf media. For sure it has the wackiest opening you'll ever see in a surf movie: Hollywood star Eddie Albert, 59 and very shirtless, taking a break from his 

 duties, looks at the camera and asks "Do you want to go surfing?" in the kind of too-friendly voice you hear on men who are by law not allowed within a hundred yards of schools or playgrounds.

That's the only shot we get of Albert onscreen, but his voice carries us through the rest of the program—and it turns out he's not creepy at all. Over the next eight minutes, he gives us a neat pocket history of surfing. We cover a lot of ground but it never feels rushed (credit to the unnamed writer, as well as Albert's smooth delivery), and if some details are off, the big picture stuff is fine. There seems to be a chunk of film missing, starting around 8:55, but by then we've already gone from ancient Polynesian to Bob Simmons.

The second half of the film is all contemporary (early- and mid-'60s, that is), and much livelier, and fairly hodge-podge with the visuals. We get a too-long segment on Ricky Grigg, whose own turgid VO (big-wave surfing equals bullfighting etc etc) does nothing but prime you for Eddie Albert's return. And when Eddie finally gets his hands back on the mic, he takes us right to the film's highlight. "Surfing is now the most commercially exploited sport in our history," Albert says, with a resigned note in his voice.

If that sounds a little frightening, there's a reassuring contradiction about it. Most things, if they suffer from exploitation, are never the same again. They seem to lose whatever individuality and flavor they once had. But surfing, as anyone who has ever ridden a wave can tell you, will never lose its wonderful qualities. Once you enter the water with a surfboard, you immediately strip surfing of its commercialization, its over-exploitation and even its group fads. Riding a wave is a solitary experience. The act itself is simple. Gratifying. And even, as some have suggested . . . spiritual.

Onscreen, a surfer walks toward the camera holding a board, while the sun goes down in the background. Fade to black. Credits should roll, except there aren't any. Just 'THE END' in block letters, and a handwritten copyright along the bottom of the screen that says "Don Wolf Films."

I'm 99.8% sure this movie is lifted from Wolf's full-length feature 

, which is also narrated by Albert. Here's 

, which doesn't have an IMDB listing, and somehow danced away from my internet probing.

As to how Eddie Albert got involved, all I can tell you is that he lived for nearly 50 years in this 

As far as delivering a heartfelt summary of what it means to spend a lot of time riding waves, there is no getting past 

 from the first issue of SURFER. But you'd expect that. Severson was one of us, except way better with the words and pictures and movies and everything. Eddie Albert putting our sport into beautiful perspective? Did not see that coming, and love it all the more for sneaking up on me. Surfing moves in a mysterious way its wonders to perform. Not always, but sometimes.

WATCH: EDDIE ALBERT TAKES A BREAK FROM "GREEN ACRES" TO EXPLAIN SURFING. AND NAILS IT!

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