SULTANA
Holy cow, who thought it was a good idea to name the riverboat Sultana? Pretty sorry taste, even for this gawping carp of a movie.
Oh, Google it if you didn't know.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
It would have made a much better movie if Charles Bronson had succeeded with his dynamite and blown up THIS Sultana, just like the real one.
shareSadly, mozartmessiah, you're right on the money. Even if it was a "coal bomb" used on the Sultana.
With that crew, it should have been so much more of a film.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
By this way of thinking then its in by far more bad taste to make films of the Titanic and other famous vessels sinking and the deaths of people on boards?
Than of one vessel that just has the same name as one?
Chalk and Cheese. Making a film of the Titanic disaster has that intent built-in, and is well-known to the vast majority of the people, even in these days of rapidly-diminishing cultural awareness. Choosing the name of a bigger shipping tragedy, when the number of ersatz riverboat names available is immense, is bizarre. I'd be surprised if a handful of the crew even realized the name had a history.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
When exactly was the movie set? I saw most of it yesterday (came in in the middle and thanks to to weather interference things faded in and out) so I didn't catch when it was set. All I could think was that if it was before 1865 then that could explain the name.
Of course there have been plenty of examples of reusing a particular name, particulary after the loss of a previous ship by that name. Though typically this occurs when the previous ship was a warship with a distinguished career. But for a civilian ship it seems that reusing the name after a particulary tragic loss. How many ships have been named in honor of the Titanic. Or the Lusitania. Doesn't make too much sense another riverboat would have been named Sultana in light of the tragedy associated with her.
On the other hand consider what happened a few weeks before. Lincoln assassinated. Booth killed. Harpers Weekly didn't have a pic on the Sultana disaster until May 20th, and even then it was well buried in the paper. Even then the talk was still on the assassination and funeral of Lincoln.