Titanic

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Starring: Clifton Webb
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Jean Negulesco
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 2003-09-02
Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the Titanic for America. Her husband Richard also arranges passage on the doomed luxury liner in order to let him have custody of their two children. Their problems soon seem minor when the ship hits an iceberg.

The Other "Titanic"
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

This 1953 version of the 1912 sea tragedy may not have the spectacular special effects that enhanced the 1997 James Cameron movie, but it is still an excellent film with strong performances by an top cast, headed by Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner and Thelma Ritter.

Determined to remove her family from the superficial European high society world in which her husband (Webb) is engrossed, Stanwyck takes her son and daughter back to America, booking passage on the Titanic. Webb follows to retrieve his family, only to learn a shocking truth before the disaster occurs.

The film won the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, and is directed by Jean Negulesco.

The DVD, which is part of the Fox "Studio Classics" series, contains audio commentary by film critic Richard Shickel, Robert Wagner and others, and also has a splendid 2-hour documentary, BEYOND TITANIC.

© Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)

great gift
Got this for my mother in law. It is what she wanted, so I am sure it is OK.

1953
This version is wonderful in all aspects! Sure, there are mistakes in the sinking and such, but the two leads are spectacular! I got so involved in their story that nearly forgot the inevitable. Barbara Stanwyk is so fantastic. She seems to be the definition of 'leading lady'. I've seen other reviews compare this version with the 1997 version, in my opinion both movies hold their own! If you enjoyed watching the James Cameron version I recommend purchasing this one. You will want to see it again and again!

Most realistic
Visited the Titanic in Halifax, Nova Scotia & the Tour Guide said this movie was a more real view of the actual sinking.

Was more than satisfied with this video

Mixed feelings
I've always had two minds about this movie. As a "movie" it's good. The acting is well done, the script, except in a couple of spots, is logical and works well, the photography is excellent, and the special effects- for the time- were well executed.

However, as an accurate account of what happened on the Titanic, it's a dismal failure. However, it was not made as a documentary.

I was excited about receiving the DVD version of this movie, because it included a commentary track. I'm not so excited now.

The contributions by Audrey Dalton (wonderful actress- never got the chance she should have) about the filming and her interactions with Barbara Stanwyck and the others in the cast- plus the crew- are excellent.

The contributions by Michael Lonza about the special effects and Robert Wagner are good also. (Mr. Lonza gets to be a bit of an irritation toward the end because he repeats himself.)

But the part by Sylvia Stoddard- listed as a "Titanic Historian" is awful. She does nothing to clarify the accident and actually gets most of her commentary wrong. This is surprising, since her credentials as a historian are beyond question- having written incisive and in-depth studies of the "Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island."

These are just a few of her egregious transgressions:

-The reason "Sir" Bruce Ismay wasn't portrayed in the movie is because he was still alive at the time it was made and the producers were afraid of a lawsuit. Bruce Ismay died in 1937 and he was never knighted.

-There was only ONE pair of binoculars on the WHOLE SHIP, and those were on the bridge. The crows nest pair had been left ashore. Actually there were several pairs aboard and the pair that were supposed to be in the crows nest was locked in one of the officer's cabins. Fredrick Fleet, the lookout that spotted the iceberg said that the binoculars furnished by the company were of such low quality that they were next to useless anyway.

-There were no historical sources available about the Titanic when the movie was made other than the record of the two inquiries. Apparently the sources we have available today sprang from nowhere later.

-Smith had decided to retire from White Star, but Ismay begged him to stay on until after Titanic's maiden voyage. Actually, it's unclear whether Smith was going to retire at all, although most historians believe that he decided to make the voyage and then leave the line.

-Ismay was pushing Smith "almost hourly" about making a record passage. Titanic's speed at the time of the accident was just about the same speed that her sister- Olympic- had been making on her maiden voyage.

-She has so much detail about the iceberg that she must have been in the crows nest herself and seen it personally.

-Nobody knows how the ship came to be tagged as "unsinkable." Actually, the reference came from a magazine called the "Shipbuilder" published in 1911.

-She tells everyone that the decision to steer to port was made because it's "traditional" for ships to pass objects on the port side. The decision to pass is made based on location and relative speeds.

-She makes a statement that the movie gets the crows nest call "Iceberg dead ahead" correct, because if the lookouts said "Iceberg right ahead" the bridge would incorrectly interpret it as the iceberg being to the right of the ship. Actually it would have meant the same to the officers on the bridge. If the iceberg was to the right of the ship, the call would have been "Iceberg off the Starboard bow." Fredrick Fleet, the lookout who reported the iceberg to the bridge stated that he did say "Iceberg right ahead."

I'm running out of room, but you get the idea.

If the producers of the DVD had looked a little further they could have found someone that actually knew something- or had at least read a book- about the voyage and the ship.