Touches You

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It isn't hard to imagine why the story of the Titanic has seen so many film interpretations. Catastrophe makes for exciting film and as far as pure spectacle and great tragedy goes, you can't do much better. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the actual sinking of the Titanic took roughly 2 increasingly horrific hours, lending itself eerily well to the medium. Beyond that potential for spectacle though, what really keeps the story of the Titanic afloat (... hold your applause) is its power as an allegory. It's the perfect man vs. nature metaphor - of man's supreme technological accomplishments, and the naivety of those who believe they are above the mercy of the Earth's raw power. Even further, it works brilliantly as an allegory of class stratification and discrimination, and the equalizing power of imminent death which transcends all social constructs. And finally, the stories of its individual passengers gives us looks into the depths of human nature: the power of denial, the strength of loyalty and compassion, courage and cowardice, rationality and panic. Impressively, A Night to Remember successfully mines essentially all of these elements and brings them to the screen. Given it was made in 1958, it is pretty incredible how well this film captures the scale and spectacle of the disaster. Of course it doesn't quite reach the jaw-dropping scale of the renown James Cameron epic (which is highly indebted to this film), but the effects in this film are still very effective in their own right and hold up extremely well. And beyond the spectacle, the depth and breadth of the aforementioned themes inherent to this tale are all explored: man vs. nature, privilege vs. poverty, man vs. women, man vs. man, and man vs. himself. It's pretty difficult to fault this film in any way, but I will say that for those who have seen Cameron's Titanic, its impact may be a bit lessened. I wouldn't necessarily say that Cameron's film is the better of the two - in fact, as I mentioned, it owes many, many of its successes to this film. But, for better or for worse Cameron's film is able to drum up a fair bit more melodrama and emotional weight. A Night to Remember is more in the style of a documentary, presenting the event as it occurred without much in the way of extra dramatization (which clearly isn't necessary given an event of this magnitude and tragedy). But, from a pure entertainment value perspective, the docudrama style of this film definitely feels a bit drier and more procedural than what Cameron accomplished in 1997.It's a bit sad because even though I did enjoy this film a lot and have a lot of respect for what it accomplishes, I do think its impact was lessened just by virtue of having seen Cameron's film. It worked for me completely in its craft and thematic execution, but it didn't quite resonate with me on an emotional level beyond that. Still, this is an excellent film and it most definitely stands on its own as a fantastic and classic Titanic adaptation. I would especially recommend it if the cheesy melodrama of the 1997 version disagrees with you.

Things being what they are, you can't look at a movie about the Titanic without comparing it to James Cameron's film (nor can you be blamed for doing so; that movie's a cultural behemoth and defined the sinking for a generation). And even though "A Night to Remember" can't compete with Cameron's huge spectacle, that's just fine; it's not supposed to. This movie covers the territory very well without feeling drawn out. More importantly, you find yourself gradually getting sucked in only to be hit in the solar plexus by a simple line or the image of a piece of furniture crashing into a stack of child's building blocks. Instead of a love story, it's the earnest performance from Second Officer Kenneth More, and the movie pays much more attention to the class division among the passengers and the unsinkable reputation of the ocean liner.And I love that, in the final moments of Titanic's lifespan, it's really about mourning the loss of such an illustrious vessel (complete with an uplifting afterword). I didn't expect to shed a tear, and this is a find movie indeed.8/10

The original adaptation of the "Ship of Dreams", 'A Night to Remember' is a riveting and emotional study of the fateful maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. A British production made on location at Pinewood Studios, Roy Baker's meticulous re-creation of the sinking of the Titanic is an utter masterpiece of cinema. The scale of the sets, the ingenuity of the visual effects and the stellar performances all make this a 1950's Brit-blockbuster at its very best. Whilst the '97 adaptation from James Cameron is a powerful piece of cinema, this stunning and melodramatic 1958 flick spends its 2-hour duration focussing on the lives of everybody aboard the ship instead of wandering off to study a love story between two characters. A film that relies on real-life survivor testimony, 'A Night to Remember' is in my opinion the best adaptation of the tale of the "unsinkable" ship and one of the best British films to have ever graced the screen.

The sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912 has been the subject of many books and films. Perhaps no book or film is better than Walter Lord's 1955 book A Night To Remember and this, its 1958 film adaptation. Given the reputation of its source material, how does the film hold up? The strength of the film is ultimately the same as that of Lord's book. Following the opening minutes of the film which are set prior to when the ship sets sail and introduces us to second officer Charles Lightoller (played by Kenneth More), Eric Ambler's script focuses on just about a dozen hours of the Titanic's story: namely the events from 11:40 PM on April 14th through about the same hour the following morning. The film effortlessly wanders around both the Titanic herself and the people aboard her. We see the Titanic story from a large number of perspectives including officer Lightoller as well as groups of passengers from all three classes from a millionaire couple, middle class newlyweds and a group of Irish immigrants. The film occasionally moves away from the Titanic to two ships that also play big parts in events: the eventual rescue ship Carpathia and the Californian (the infamous ship that stood still which stands at the center of a controversy that the film helped to reawaken( and those aboard those respective vessels.As a result, the film features a large cast. The aforementioned Kenneth More effectively leads it and he does extremely well in the role bringing a sense of both authority and humanity to his performance though it's worth noting that some of the actions and events he is depicted as taking part in didn't necessarily happen to the real man on that April night. Yet with the exception of More, there are no stars in roles (though several of the actors would go on to greater fame in the years ahead) with More's Lightoller being literally just one part in a large cast of actors and actresses who bring history to life ranging from Laurence Naismith as Captain Smith and Michael Goodliffe as the ship's designer Thomas Andrews to Honor Blackman as a first class passenger along with Anthony Bushell and Russell Napier as the respective captains of the Carpathia and Californian amongst many, many others. In doing so the filmmakers created a fascinating human drama played out for the most part on an 882 foot stage filled with people from all walk's of life.The film also succeeds for the fact that it stays true to events, or at least to events as they were known in the late 1950s, and not sensationalizing events. Unlike other depictions of the Titanic both on film and on television, there are no fictional characters or love stories taking center stage. The Titanic and those aboard it caught up in events are the stars of the film. The film features some excellent recreations of areas on the real ship that stand up well even against those from the James Cameron film wile both the direction of Roy Ward Baker and the black and white cinematography of Geoffrey Unsworth playing up the drama of the events of that night rather than attempting to enhance them cinematic. Even the score from William Alwyn, sporadic as it is, isn't intrusive or loud but subtly underscores the events taking place. While the film does have deviations and historical errors (of which Titanic researcher Paul Lee has compiled on his website for those who are interested), the film remains the most accurate Titanic film yet made.Where perhaps the film is let down is in its special effects. Some of the model footage hasn't aged well at all with some of the shots during the sinking featuring an obvious Titanic model with even more obvious lifeboat models. Other times the superimposing of those in the lifeboats in front of those shots leads to results that are at best mixed and poor in others. That said, the sequence of the Titanic taking its final plunge remains a fantastic combination of special effects with other elements to create a haunting and memorable sequence (even without the ship breaking apart as it was later confirmed to have done more than a quarter of a century after the film was made).Like the book its based on, the film if A Night To Remember succeeds by giving the viewer the facts of the event and the incredible human drama that played out on an 882 foot stage in the middle of the North Atlantic. It also remains after more than half a century the definitive film depiction of the Titanic disaster for that same reason. Chances are, it will stay that way and is a film to remember as a result.