Woman of the Red Sea or Africa Under the Seas (Italian: Africa sotto i mari) is a 1953 Italian comedy film directed by Giovanni Roccardi and starring Sophia Loren, Steve Barclay and Umberto Melnati.For the release of the film Loren, who had up to this point acted as Sofia Lazzaro, adopted her new screen name by which she became famous. This was partly in imitation of the then better-known Swedish actress Märta Torén. Loren learned to swim for the role, and spent much of her screen time in a bathing suit. This led one critic to worry that she was being turned into an Italian Esther Williams.The film's sets were designed by Ottavio Scotti.