A Night to Remember (1958 movie)

Based off the book written by Walter Lord, directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Kenneth More, we now come to the next British adaptation of the sinking - one that has always been highly regarded for its accuracy.

At the time it was made, A Night To Remember was the most expensive production ever made in Britain, though it didn’t quite do well enough in the box office to earn an overall profit.

How do you rate this film overall? Reviews fully welcome in the comment section - and for those who haven't seen the film in question yet, l'Il be sure to include a link in the comment section!

Don’t get me wrong, James Cameron’s version is fantastic, especially in terms of set design and special effects that ANTR can’t match. Be that as it may, the 1958 film shows a far better depiction of the sinking (aside from the break which wasn’t confirmed at the time). Instead of focusing mainly on two characters, this film focuses on the bigger picture and tells the stories of key figures, as well as composites that represent all sorts of people present. Furthermore, unlike the 97 movie, ANTR shows a 3 dimensional view of the sinking. We don’t only see Titanic, we get to see both the Californian and Carpathia and their stories. Without making this too long, A Night to Remember is the superior Titanic movie for history buffs or those generally interested in the sinking. It’s not the romantic story that Cameron produced, instead it is a grounded tale of inevitability.

So, we all know that ANTR is one of two definitive Titanic films.

Now that I’ve seen Cameron’s epic and ANTR, I figured hey, this is a Titanic sub, so I can talk about this here.

What I liked: I loved getting to know the passengers more. Unlike with Cameron, we see a better array of passengers and though not all of them are named, I loved seeing how the different people did their best in the end.

I liked the way the officers/Smith’s interactions were portrayed more. ANTR portrays Smith in a better light than Cameron did and I was okay with it. Bernard Hill was a better actor, but I feel like Cameron kinda sold him down the river as well. Smith made mistakes, but he never came across as a man in control. In ANTR, though he’s helpless to stop what’s happening, he does intervene and appears more at the head of what’s going on. Cameron kinda…made Smith a wallflower in 1997 and I don’t know why.

The Californian/Carpathia subplots were a nice touch and I’m glad they got expanded on.

What I didn’t like: I never felt like I knew the ship or the stakes of the sinking. Yeah, Titanic was a beautiful ship, but I never got that impression from the older film. Technical limitations aside, I didn’t really care that the ship was sinking. One minute they’re leaving and the next they’re hitting the iceberg and sinking. I never had time to understand why the ship was what she was.

The film was clearly a Kenneth More vehicle, and I didn’t like the focus on his Lightoller versus the other officers.

Overall, Cameron did some parts better, and I love how the ship herself came alive in his film as another character. When she was sinking, I felt just as sad for the ship as I did the passengers.

Both films stand the test of time for a reason, but I feel like Cameron’s exposition was better versus ANTR’s better dialogue and pacing at times.

I watched the 1958 film A Night to Remember for the first time tonight. My Titanic obsession has reached a fever pitch recently and after rewatching the 1997 film a few weeks ago I had to keep going!

A few thoughts for anyone who is on the fence about watching:

I watched on Criterion but it is also available to rent on Apple and Amazon. It absolutely exceeded my expectations. The book this film is based on was written from interviews of survivors first hand accounts.

It was filmed in the 50s so most of the ship is shot with miniatures but honestly I found impact of these shots hold up extremely well (other then the fact that the ship doesn’t break up in the final moments). The miniature lifeboat shots were fascinating.

The film mostly follows Charles Lightoller as the focus actor plays him. We also get a detailed view of the other officers, first class, and a bit of third class and the below deck engineers. If you’re a lifeboat obsessive I highly recommend watching. Lots of moments with collapsible B (the overturned boat) and number 1 (least filled boat, lots of tension with this one). Molly Brown is a bad ass, as usual, has some great moments, and her lifeboat is portrayed more accurately apparently.

What I appreciated the most was how much detail was shown regarding the Carpathia, Californian, and the wireless operators for all three ships. Heaps focus on the Californian failures, I appreciated this view because it’s so frustrating to read about and to finally see it on film was satisfying.

A ton of moments with everyone’s favorite drunk baker Charles Joughlin. His actor was spot on IMO.

All in all I was totally blown away by this film. I absolutely bawled when the first class husband (can’t place who it’s based on yet) is forced to part with his wife and three children who are getting in a life boat. Those moments have less of an impact in the 1997 film because Rose pops right back on the boat twice (lol). Also the band playing Nearer My God to Thee absolutely destroyed me in this film. The “hero turn” moments with Lightoller are a tad bit of an eye roll… but that’s to be expected. He’s a controversial figure and I honestly prefer how he’s portrayed in the 1997 film- young, terrified, and doing his best.

If you’re a Titanic buff I highly suggest watching this film. If you’ve seen it- what are your thoughts?

Coincidentally, I saw this just before the incident with the submersible. A Night to Remember is the OG of Titanic films. It's really well researched and story and set meticulously recreated, just like Titanic 40 years later. It has so many similarities with that movie that it's hard to tell if James Cameron got something from research or cribbing. It even gets small details about communications and correctly depicting real survivors, including that drunken chef and man who disguised himself as a woman. The big mistake is the Titanic doesn't break in two, because that wasn't known in '58.

Unlike many old movies, the acting and pacing still hold up well. It built the plot well and kept me interested the whole time, even though I knew who it would end. Many times, some details is shown the hits like a punch in the stomach, such as when the iceberg warning gets overlooked or when the Californian's radio operator goes to bed right before the Titanic sends out distress signals. There are so many "what if..."s about the disaster.

The film really treats everyone, workers and passengers of all classes, with dignity. It's a mournful, tone that permeates the whole movie. That's what still sets this apart from Titanic. The Jack and Rose love story in Titanic puts the tone on them, but ANTR has feels like a dignified memorial to the victims.

In my view, it seems, Cameron was so very clearly inspired by A Night to Remember (1958).

Many of the scenes are mirror scenes/definite recreations and (word-for-word, in many cases).

There are too many scenes in Titanic (1997) to list, which were clearly modelled on and taken from ANTR (1958), including some of the deleted scenes which Cameron decided to cut from his movie but which can be found on YouTube.

Some will say, "The Titanic disaster was a true story, so obviously you're going to get scenes that are similar or even the same/identical, because both movies are based on the same factual/real life event." But I don't accept this in this context. If you're someone who has watched both ANTR and Titanic, you will know that there is no doubt at all that Cameron was clearly inspired by ANTR and really loved the movie ANTR a lot, and that his movie Titanic was, in part, a remake of ANTR (with a love story thrown in).

Many people online angrily say "he copied and STOLE scenes from ANTR!" with his identical scenes (as I say, where characters sometimes say the same things verbatim), but I don't take that view. I think that, actually, he was paying homage to ANTR for the great movie that it is.

Every Tuesday I’m going to try and post a Criterion movie on here to discuss. I am going to go in order of spine release and would love to hear from people who have already seen it or are curious to see it. I will post a brief review below as well as a question for discussion in the comments.

This week is Spine #7, . As of July 13th, 2021 it is available to stream on the Channel with special features, and available on DVD and Blu-Ray from the Collection.

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Dir: Roy Ward Baker

123 minutes.

They Shoot Pictures (2021): 3995

Oh boy, I’m bracing for the reaction to my opinion of this one. I understand this is a beloved film, and apologies to those who were looking for insightful critique. I can only speak from the heart on this film as the mind never connected.

Do y’all ever have some stories that just don’t interest you? That, for me, is the story of the Titanic. I get it intellectually. I mean I can understand why it’s tragic and why it was such a shock, but it just never grabbed my attention.

So, a 2-hour telling of the Titanic story, no matter the expert sherpa guiding me through it, is just going to fall flat unless they add a new element. Like, maybe Titanic in space? Ghost Titanic? I don’t know, something new would have to be introduced. But anyways, I had to start with this disclaimer before I said I just didn’t care for this film.

It was a straight telling of this highly unfortunate event. There is subtext about class differences and it is a cautionary tale of hubris in it’s more pure form. The acting was fine, script was fine, music was very professional and appropriate and the special effects were pretty good.

I don’t feel like I need to spend any time going into the plot as it’s so familiar, and I don’t really have too much else to say. I think whether or not you should see this film has a very direct relationship with your curiosity around or interest in what happened on board that fateful night.