Posted on 04/12/2012 6:57:39 PM PDT by re_nortex
The 1958 film, A Night to Remember is scheduled for a showing this Saturday night, April 14, 2012 at 10:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
Because the book was so well written and the facts so compelling, it reads like a suspense novel. [Walter] Lord scrupulously researched all information available at the time, reviewing testimony from boards of inquiry, plus newspaper and eyewitness accounts of survivors from both passengers and crew. There are a few scenes where slight artistic license is taken, but no wholesale fabrication of characters or fictionalized sub-plots.
In reality, the film is more docudrama, yet never lacks for tension. Costuming was perfectly detailed and accurate, interiors perfect reproductions of the actual grand staircase, dining rooms, and smoking lounges were used. It is the most accurate of all Titanic films, even though exterior modeling shots were a bit weak.
The British production, which took five months to film, added even more authenticity to the film with a cast mostly unfamiliar to American audiences. This film features an incredibly poignant scene with cellist John W. Woodward playing and singing “Nearer My God to Thee” in the more likely Horbury setting.
It is fun to see a young David McCallum as assistant telegraph operator Harold Bride, plus Honor Blackman, and very brief uncredited appearances as crewmen from both Desmond Llewelyn and Sean Connery (the latter three later appearing together in larger roles in Goldfinger.)
Those remarks are from Tennessee Jed of CommentaramaFilms, a source for Conservative film talk.
Given that TCM is showing this at 10:00 PM (EDT) on April 14, 2012, it’s all the more fascinating for that was the night precisely a century ago that Titanic struck the iceberg in the North Atlantic. Over 1,500 perished in this disaster.
On a personal note, I was 16 when I first saw A Night to Remember when it was first shown in a local movie theater. It was what led to my interest in Titanic and I make a point to watch it whenever it's on.
When I first heard the story of the Titanic as a girl being home schooled, I was given a book titled “Wreck Of The Titan” - spooky. Here’s a link:http://www.gettysburgghosts.net/titan.htm
Anyway, the telegraph operator continually broadcast distress messages until the very end. SOS was not standard back then, so he was broadcasting CQD.
Last message was interrupted in mid-broadcast. It was C ... Q ..., and never got the D sent.
Telegraph operator did not make it ...
Excellent movie.
Thanks for posting. I want to see it again.
Another great movie about the Titanic is ‘Titanic’ (1953)
with Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb.
Both are far superior to Cameron’s ‘Titanic’.
An awesome movie. I’ve seen it many times. Have already set the DVR. I watch this movie almost every April because I am a recreational sailor and this story reminds me how fragile we are, how much we are at the whim of nature and the defects of man made creations. An important lesson.
Vision: Feel free to lift whatever you think is apt for the TCM Classic Movie alert ping.
I also have to credit beaversmon who made me aware of Titanic in Real Time from the History Channel. Messages from the captain, crew, engineers and passengers are sent as it would have happened, had Twitter been around a century ago. One message recently posted is:
#officer Received a wireless message from La Touraine warning us of a thick ice-field, shouldn't be a problem according to the captain.
Kenneth More had an amazing career. He got to sink both the Titanic AND the Bismarck.
When Titanic debuted, my ten year old daughter fell in love with it and saw it four times. She even scored the theme song so she could play it on the piano. A year later Cablevision picked up TCM. I told my daughter if she wanted to see what Titanic was about, she should watch A Night to Remember. Reluctantly she watched this old B&W flick. She absolutely loved it and now at 26 she still can sit enthralled by this old Brit classic.
The best movie on the Titanic.
I hated the 1997 one that they are bringing back. It was geared to teenagers.
I might have something spookier - I just Googled the title of your book and checked out the refernce to it at Wiki ...
According to Wiki:
"In a strange and eerie coincidence, the original edition of the novella was available for checkout in the Titanic's second-class library.
IF Wiki can be believed ...
Since the 100th Anniversary of the event is upon is, there are a lot of interesting discussion opportunities. And since we're all Conservatives here, the level of the discourse is highly intelligent and occasionally provocative.
Yes, but the costumes were tremendous. Apparently, Cameron’s crew went after whatever vintage clothing they could find to put them in the film.
I’m a high school teacher. A Night to Remember was recently added to the 10th grade English curriculum and I recently received 30 copies of the book to use in the classroom.
Kids are FASCINATED!! (they thought the Titanic didn’t exist and was just a movie!!)
It's no surprise that I concur.
I hated the 1997 one that they are bringing back. It was geared to teenager.
I've grown to have a grudging acceptance of Cameron's Titanic, if for no other reason than its technical excellence. I also get a kick out of an early scene where one of the research assistants is wearing a Texas T-shirt with "Home" on it. I have to mentally tune out the Rose and Jack plot device (as well as the not-so-subtle class warfare message) to appreciate the other aspects of the film.
This review from the TCM site echoes my thoughts almost precisely:
The most recent Titanic was technically a better film; ie. the sets were historically accurate, the special effects were better,and more was known about the final minutes of the tragedy. However, for the raw feel of what it must have been like that terrible night,and the added story of the California and the Carpathia, this films tells the story much better.
The British cast and the B&W film, doesn't hurt it either. You get many more sides of the story, not only first class, but crew, steerage, and the rescue attempt. A superior Film, not to be missed by any Titanic enthusiast.
Neil Castellon: 9/20/08
I think everyone reading about it or viewing images of it feels a personal imprint on a variety of one's own human emotions.
I also think that the story of the doomed Titanic surpasses even the attack on the Twin Towers, as epic a tragedy as the New York catastrophe was.
Maybe this is because the personal accounts and stories of Titanic survivors plus the actors in films portraying life and death aboard the ship personalized the Titanic saga much more than the accounts and videos of 9/11.
I'd be interested in what other Freepers feel is the reason the Titanic story never seems to lose its appeal to the imagination and to the heart......even after a hundred years have gone by.
Leni
Wow! I wonder if anyone did check it out and thought about the possibilities.
I hope I'm not passing along an urban myth since so many are associated with Titanic, but here goes anyway. I heard back in 1962, during the 50th Anniversary, that the term Titanic was recognized even in the remotest parts of the world. Along with Coca-Cola, that word was just as well known.
I think part of the reason for why it became such a big story a century ago was that mass communications was really starting to reach a global audience. It was the story of that era. Although we rightfully mock what the New York Times has now become, it reputation as the "Newspaper of Record" was cemented by its excellent coverage of the sinking.
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Who plays Jack and Rose in “A Night to Remember?”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036443/
And something else from IMDB...
A Night to Remember (1958) Some of the shots of Titanic sailing at day time and some quick scenes of the interior flooding as the ship sinks, were actually taken from this 1943 version of the disaster.
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