I have both movies, and I believe the Walter Lord 1958 B&W "A Night To Remember" film to be the most accurate in terms of historical incidents, compared to the James Cameron "romanticized" 1997 Color version of the Titanic disaster. Cameron's 1997 version completely omits the SS Californian incident provided by Lord's film, where the radio operator sends an iceberg warning to Titanic's operator, who tells the Californian to "shut up, shut up, I'm working Cape Race" which insults the Californian, who transmits no more ice warnings. In addition, the distress rockets fired by Titanic are mistaken as "Company Rockets" by the Californian who disregards them. When the Titanic was sinking by the head, It appeared to Californian's lookout that it was "turning away and altering course", so that was also disregarded. Finally, as the Titanic was sinking, a lookout aboard spotted the Californian's masthead light, estimated to be about 10 miles away, having enough time to come to Titanic's rescue and saving all those who perished, but the Californian was ordered dead in the water to avoid "pack ice" and knew nothing of Titanic's plight. The SS Carpathia, although 50 miles away, did come to Titanic's rescue, but arrived after she had sunk, with over 1500 souls still aboard. For those who have not seen "A Night To Remember", I heartily recommend it! Hal
Another vote for "A Night To Remember". Here is a little story about the White Star Line sacking the crew as Titanic went down. The surviving crew members were stranded in New York, F.W. Woolworth provided a suit of clothes, food and in some cases jobs to help them until they got on their feet and could make arrangements to get back home. https://griid.org/2012/04/17/the-capitalist-shame-of-the-titanic/
I have three of the most popular film versions of the April 15, 1912 sinking of the pride of the White Star Line SS Titanic on her maiden voyage. "Titanic" 1953, color, Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck. "A Night To Remember", British,1958, b&w, Kenneth More and Honor Blackman. "Titanic", 1997, color, Leonardo de Caprio and Cate Winslet. All the film reviewers and myself rate "A Night To Remember" as the most accurate, documentary-style accounting of the disaster ever made, and there were about a dozen, including a German version. The 1953 version centered mostly about the emotional conflicts within a small family, with the historical events given second billing. The 1997 version was a technical masterpiece, but featured more Hollywood glitz and omitted some of the important events which were discussed long after the disaster. In "A Night To Remember", this was the only version which featured the small liner "Californian" which was trapped in a sea of float ice only 10 miles from Titanic, and was told to "Shut Up" by the Titanic wireless operator when he attempted to warn the ship of icebergs drifting into the sea lanes from the Labrador Current. Had Titanic's wireless operator listened to the Californian's helpful warnings instead of giving more important considerations to the handling of wealthy passengers' private traffic, Titanic might have been more alert and slowed down her speed, which was excessive in waters which were frequented with ice warnings. And so it goes...2200 on board, with lifeboats for 1200, which were used for saving only 700 of the 2200 passengers on board Titanic that night. Hal
@Hal Pollner My mother, aged 7, came across the pond two months earlier from Bohemia, accompanied by her two brothers and mother. Frank
I think there was a later TV or cable version as well. Not sure though. There is a good documentary on YouTube on how they dealt with identifying the bodies and the children. It's quite interesting and looks at the event from a different angle.
Frank, my mother and her father came over from the Ukraine in 1923, when she was 11 years old. They sailed on the "Olympic", which was one of two identical sister-ships to the Titanic. Both ships were built side-by-side in Belfast, Ireland, with the Olympic being launched a year earlier. The Olympic served from 1911 to 1935, and it was broken up for scrap in 1937. (46,000 tons of scrap?) Titanic's other sister-ship, "Brittanic", was quickly converted to a hospital ship in WW1. It struck a mine and went down in 1916. All 3 White Star liners were of the Olympic class, the Olympic being the first one launched. The Olympic was the only one of the 3 sisters that did not sink. She was called "Old Reliable". I also have the book by Walter Lord, called "A Night To Remember", from which the film was made. Lord also wrote the book "Day of Infamy", about the Pearl Harbor attack. I have that one also. Lord did incredibly deep research into both events, sparing no detail. Read them if you can. Hal
To be honest, there are certain movies I simply haven't managed to bring myself to watch for fear I might get too emotionally involved. Cameron's Titanic is one of them, Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List are other examples.
Yes, Thomas...I have both of those too. I can see why "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" would be especially emotional to a German citizen such as yourself. Hal
Hal, is doesn't necessarily have anything to do with German guilt, if that's what you had in mind, but rather with the inexorability and cruelty of human fates in different settings. That's what all three movies have in common as they paint individual fates in different contexts, in war and in catastrophes. I might also include terminal illness and might extend the context of war to other battlefields e.g. as shown in Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. I can't say that that's my idea of being well entertained. So I abstain. Since I have watched similar movies earlier in my life and have had my share of human fate, I, for one, just feel that being a bit more selective as a man of a certain age is legitimate. I never say never, though.