As I looked in awe at the special effects used to create the more recent telling of the story of the Titanic, my mind wandered back to being ten years old and seeing "A Night to Remember" on our black and white TV. Watching the portrayal of the tragic deaths of all those people and realizing that the tragedy was real kept me from sleeping well for several days. While it doesn't have the flash of the contemporary film, it has the heart the newer version never has. No star-crossed lovers, no angry fiances wielding pistols, just the people who trusted the big companies and the engineers to produce an "unsinkable" ship.
This film, which starts slowly, draws us into the lives of the several characters--put together with delicacy from the text of Walter Lord's wonderful book. The tragedy is in the hopelessness of a group of people who are at the mercy of an overall antagonist--arrogance--which will destroy them. It is all dramatic irony, like so many disaster films are and we are the viewers. The movie tries to even inject an element of humor and show the totality of the human spirit, not just the incredible despair. It's what we are.
I'm sure modern viewers will criticize the pacing (although once the action starts, it is remarkably done), but this movie has more emotional clout than Mr. Cameron's also incredible film. The acting is subtle and controlled and if one is looking for heroism, there was plenty to go around on board that ship.
This film, which starts slowly, draws us into the lives of the several characters--put together with delicacy from the text of Walter Lord's wonderful book. The tragedy is in the hopelessness of a group of people who are at the mercy of an overall antagonist--arrogance--which will destroy them. It is all dramatic irony, like so many disaster films are and we are the viewers. The movie tries to even inject an element of humor and show the totality of the human spirit, not just the incredible despair. It's what we are.
I'm sure modern viewers will criticize the pacing (although once the action starts, it is remarkably done), but this movie has more emotional clout than Mr. Cameron's also incredible film. The acting is subtle and controlled and if one is looking for heroism, there was plenty to go around on board that ship.