MovieChat Forums > A Night to Remember (1958) Discussion > Thoughts after watching Bluray, a day af...

Thoughts after watching Bluray, a day after Cameron's Titanic

posted 12 years ago by rabbitmoon
10 replies | jump to latest

Things that struck me:

Its actually MUCH more atmospheric and engaging than the Cameron film.

The effects are perfectly adequate to be absorbing and believable - some shots actually seemed more haunting than anything in the Cameron film.

Focusing on the actual details of the sinking was much more interesting than watching Jack and Rose run down endless corridors.

I understand the exact mechanics much better of why the ship actually sank - this wasn't really explained in the Cameron version (i.e. that four sections burst would have been ok - but the fifth created a weight too great, and then would overflow into the sixth, seventh etc gradually sinking the end of the ship). This added to the horror, because I could understand the inevitability of it sinking a lot better.

Was much more effective seeing more of the Captain, and how he managed the crew, as they all slowly absorbed the reality of what was happening. The captain only seemed to have about three lines in the Cameron version - which seems completely ridiculous.

Much more emphasis on the other boats in the area, and all the communications between them.

Small moments involving couples being separated were more emotional than anything between Jack and Rose - they felt more honest, believable and poignant without having it rammed down your throat.

Overall, A Night to Remember gave a MUCH better impression of the event, the horror, the dynamics of the whole situation, without pointless distractions. I really feel the actual story itself is compelling and fascinating enough without having to distract from it with stupid superficial Hollywood romance.

Really - any major fan of Titanic (the movie) who doesn't invest the time into watching A Night To Remember is really just a sucker for naive romance stories.

[–] ljspin 12 years ago

I agree.

Although I admit that I was in awe of the settings for Cameron's TITANIC and I found the actual sinking frighening, I must also admit that I wanted to see more from TITANIC.

I wanted to see Ida Straus, standing at the lifeboat, refuse to leave her husband. And they actually died from being washed off deck, as suggested in ANTR, and not in their bed as in TITANIC.

I wanted to see more of John Jacob Astor and his second wife and child-bride Madeleine. How they stood the scandal of a 40+ year-old-man divorcing his wife and marrying an 18-year-old girl. How protective he was of her since she was several months pregnant. To see her, because of the ship's list, crawl across a deck chair to get into her lifeboat.

I wanted to see more of Molly Brown -- I loved Kathy Bates' portrayal. I wanted to see her organize the women in lifeboat No. 6 to row back for survivors, and to see her threaten to throw the crewman in the boat overboard if he tried to stop her.

And so much more: Third Class Irish immigrant Daniel Buckley climbing into a lifeboat and having a woman cover him with a shawl so that the ship's officers would think he was a woman. Benjamin Guggenheim, traveling with his mistress, righting his past wrongs and dying as a gentlman. Stewardess Violet Jessop being put in a boat and then handed a baby to care for right before the boat was lowered. The French father whose name I cannot remember, but who kidnapped his 2- and 3-year-old sons to take them away from his ex-wife, and then died while they survived, alone in the world. (They were eventually identified and returned to their mother.) The 2 Pomeranians, the 1 Pekinese, and the 1 pet pig that were saved, while the other dogs/pets on board were lost. I'm sorry for rambling, but I find all of this -- and more -- very fascinating, more interesting than seeing Jack and Rose pass through First and Third Class barriers with no question, have sub-zero sex in a car in the cargo hold, and run dramatically up and down flooding hallways. (In reality, Rose would never have survived -- she would have already been suffering from hypothermia before the ship sank.)

Again my apologies. I'm sorry to have rambled so. I am just --

The RMS TITANIC geek,
Spin

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] rabbitmoon 12 years ago

There is a clear difference between the animated sinking via the bearded wonder, and the explanation given in ANTR. I've seen Titanic perhaps six times, and I never fully understood the thing about the fifth compartment flooding into the sixth etc. Sure its there on the animation, but its not explained that four would have been ok, the weight of five was too much, and that they would gradually flood over in the next compartments.

Do you understand this difference?

Also, ANTR is packed with emotion, perhaps its just too subtle for you to notice. The "emotion" in Cameron's version is so overstated and superficial that its difficult to truly engage with, unless you're not very emotionally aware.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rabbitmoon 12 years ago

Thank you and sorry. I'm a total dick sometimes.

[–] angmc43 12 years ago

I too disagree on the belief that ANtR is souless and lacking in emotion.
I remember seeing both films in 1997, and felt that TITANIC was lacking in the panic that ANtR displayed.
It's just that the emotions are portrayed more subtle, and it results in volumes. I did not think the Andrews/Smith scene was lacking or calm. In fact, the look in Smith's eye, and the moments of silence really give the dramatic effect.

Other subtle examples:
-The lady getting her precious toy pig, with the shot of the jewels she left behind.
-The steerage passengers entering the dining room. "First class..." says one of them.
-The shot of the steerage passengers being restrained as the music goes frenzy.
-Even the inanimate objects give an effect: the horse in the nursery slowly moving. The covered tray moving.
-The orchestra playing "Nearer thy god to thee."

[–] rabbitmoon 12 years ago

Great examples - I remember noticing them at the time. The toy pig scene especially, something so simple conveys so much, and its heartbreaking.

[–] ljspin 12 years ago

May I add --

Edith Evans giving away her seat in the lifeboat to a woman who had children waiting at home. And although a crewman assured her there would be another boat for her, that was the last boat to leave the ship.

Edith Russel entertaining the children in her lifeboat with her lucky, musical pig.

When the Mother is in the lifeboat with her sleeping son and her daughters, and, as the lifeboat is being lowered, she tells the girls to wave good-bye to Daddy, the girls are innocent of the truth, but the Mother and Father both know this is the last time they will see each other.

Again, when Ida Straus, after telling her husband she will not leave him, turns to Lightoller and says, "We'll stay. We'll stsy," and does so with a bit of a smile -- that is love.

My drama class is working on a Titanic play that I wrote for them. In preparation for it, I had them watch A NIGHT TO REMEMBER. They all had seen TITANIC, and were complaining because this film was not TITANIC, because there were no Jack and Rose, because it was black and white. But after the ship struck the iceberg, they watched silently. One student came into class before the film was over and asked if we were going to finish watching it. When I said "yes," she responded, "I thought this was going to suck, but it really good!"

If ANTR can draw in teenagers, I think that's saying something.

RMS Titanic Geek
Spin

[–] MadTom 12 years ago

I wanted to watch a movie about the Titanic disaster on the exact centennial, to the hour, of the sinking. I also had to drive a six hour round trip to attend the retirement party of a college classmate earlier on the 14th, and didn't get home until 9:30 PM Eastern time. I have the James Cameron movie on DVD and A Night to Remember in VHS, and had neither the time nor the energy to watch both after such a long day.

I chose to watch A Night to Remember because I felt it was much more respectful toward the real-life people involved, both casualties and survivors.

[–] bobby_allen 12 years ago

Cannot agree with you more. Enjoyed this version of the Titanic more than James Cameron's glamorised bonking of an upper class lass by a penniless stowaway. It was disrespectful of the victims of the Titanic. Hollywood is sex obsessed.