Titanic (1953) | Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck

Titanic (1953) | Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck | Most realistic

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Titanic (1953)

	Titanic (1953) Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck 20th Century Fox, 1995 average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Although it was never known for strict authenticity, the elegant 1953 production of Titanic holds just as much fascination as A Night to Remember and James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster. Its original screenplay deservedly won an Oscar® for its brilliant, dramatically involving creation of fictional characters--primarily a strained couple on the verge of divorce (Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck)--whose lives are forever altered on that fateful morning of April 15, 1912. Director Jean Negulesco focuses on this human drama, lending a personal touch to the luxury liner's fatal collision with an iceberg; if the scale-model disaster (complete with motorized miniature lifeboat rowers) looks quaint by modern special-effects standards, it still captures the emotional impact of Titanic's ultimate fate. While Titanic's sinking is inaccurately depicted (here the ship is damaged on the port side, and sinks in one piece), the Webb/Stanwyck relationship is handled with sophistication, style, and well-earned redemption. As would happen with Cameron's Titanic 44 years later, fiction proved a perfect vehicle for tragic factual history. --Jeff Shannon

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The Best of All...

the Titanic movies. I first saw this in the late '50s when I was nine or ten. My Titanic interest had developed after I saw the Hallmark Hall of Fame live broadcast of Walter Lord's "Night to Remember" when I was even younger. I have seen this movie so many times I can recite the dialogue and tell you all the flaws - there are a few - like the pictures hanging in the officers' dining room. They are all photos of ships built after the Titanic sank! Anyway, buy this one and appreciate it for the great acting, superb dialog and costumes.

Most realistic

Visited the Titanic in Halifax, Nova Scotia & the Tour Guide said this movie was a more real view of the actual sinking.

Was more than satisfied with this video

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1953

This version is wonderful in all aspects! Sure, there are mistakes in the sinking and such, but the two leads are spectacular! I got so involved in their story that nearly forgot the inevitable. Barbara Stanwyk is so fantastic. She seems to be the definition of 'leading lady'. I've seen other reviews compare this version with the 1997 version, in my opinion both movies hold their own! If you enjoyed watching the James Cameron version I recommend purchasing this one. You will want to see it again and again!

great gift

Got this for my mother in law. It is what she wanted, so I am sure it is OK.

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Mixed feelings

I've always had two minds about this movie. As a "movie" it's good. The acting is well done, the script, except in a couple of spots, is logical and works well, the photography is excellent, and the special effects- for the time- were well executed.

However, as an accurate account of what happened on the Titanic, it's a dismal failure. However, it was not made as a documentary.

I was excited about receiving the DVD version of this movie, because it included a commentary track. I'm not so excited now.

The contributions by Audrey Dalton (wonderful actress- never got the chance she should have) about the filming and her interactions with Barbara Stanwyck and the others in the cast- plus the crew- are excellent.

The contributions by Michael Lonza about the special effects and Robert Wagner are good also. (Mr. Lonza gets to be a bit of an irritation toward the end because he repeats himself.)

But the part by Sylvia Stoddard- listed as a "Titanic Historian" is awful. She does nothing to clarify the accident and actually gets most of her commentary wrong. This is surprising, since her credentials as a historian are beyond question- having written incisive and in-depth studies of the "Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island."

These are just a few of her egregious transgressions:

-The reason "Sir" Bruce Ismay wasn't portrayed in the movie is because he was still alive at the time it was made and the producers were afraid of a lawsuit. Bruce Ismay died in 1937 and he was never knighted.

-There was only ONE pair of binoculars on the WHOLE SHIP, and those were on the bridge. The crows nest pair had been left ashore. Actually there were several pairs aboard and the pair that were supposed to be in the crows nest was locked in one of the officer's cabins. Fredrick Fleet, the lookout that spotted the iceberg said that the binoculars furnished by the company were of such low quality that they were next to useless anyway.

-There were no historical sources available about the Titanic when the movie was made other than the record of the two inquiries. Apparently the sources we have available today sprang from nowhere later.

-Smith had decided to retire from White Star, but Ismay begged him to stay on until after Titanic's maiden voyage. Actually, it's unclear whether Smith was going to retire at all, although most historians believe that he decided to make the voyage and then leave the line.

-Ismay was pushing Smith "almost hourly" about making a record passage. Titanic's speed at the time of the accident was just about the same speed that her sister- Olympic- had been making on her maiden voyage.

-She has so much detail about the iceberg that she must have been in the crows nest herself and seen it personally.

-Nobody knows how the ship came to be tagged as "unsinkable." Actually, the reference came from a magazine called the "Shipbuilder" published in 1911.

-She tells everyone that the decision to steer to port was made because it's "traditional" for ships to pass objects on the port side. The decision to pass is made based on location and relative speeds.

-She makes a statement that the movie gets the crows nest call "Iceberg dead ahead" correct, because if the lookouts said "Iceberg right ahead" the bridge would incorrectly interpret it as the iceberg being to the right of the ship. Actually it would have meant the same to the officers on the bridge. If the iceberg was to the right of the ship, the call would have been "Iceberg off the Starboard bow." Fredrick Fleet, the lookout who reported the iceberg to the bridge stated that he did say "Iceberg right ahead."

I'm running out of room, but you get the idea.

If the producers of the DVD had looked a little further they could have found someone that actually knew something- or had at least read a book- about the voyage and the ship.

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