The Titanic | Tim Curry, Peter Gallagher | strong, well-acted "Titanic" drama

The Titanic | Tim Curry, Peter Gallagher | Far Superior to the Cameron Movie

DVDs:

The Titanic

	The Titanic Tim Curry, Peter Gallagher Platinum Disc, 2004 average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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strong, well-acted "Titanic" drama

The 1996 Hallmark miniseries of TITANIC was unfortunate in that it ended up being largely overshadowed by James Cameron's 1997 big-screen blockbuster (by the time the miniseries was aired in the UK and Australia, James Cameron's version had well and truly exploded onto the scene). This was a pity, as the Hallmark version has many things in it's favour.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Peter Gallagher head a star-studded international cast, and the adaptation succeeds in blending five different stories into the narrative. Perhaps most importantly this version depicts a real-life passenger called Alice Cleaver (played by Felicity Waterman) who attempted to kidnap the baby of her employers when the boat began to sink (leaving the family to search for the child until all the lifeboats had departed, thus sealing their fate).

At the time of this miniseries, Catherine Zeta-Jones was at the cusp of Hollywood superstardom. She looks ravishing as Isabella Paradine, who rekindles an affair with her first beau Wynn Park (Peter Gallagher). Also in this miniseries, we meet in greater detail John Jacob Astor (Scott Hylands) and his pregnant young second wife Madeline (Janne Mortil). The affair of Astor and Madeline was one of the biggest scandals of the period and it's great to have them as prominent characters in this version. The younger romance is provided by thief Jamie (Mike Doyle) and Danish convert Aase (Sonsee Neu-Ahray).

No version of TITANIC would be complete without the ebullient and "unsinkable" Molly Brown (Marilu Henner plays her with enough spirit and spunk to make Debbie Reynolds proud and Kathy Bates pale). And the villain of the piece is thieving steward Simon Doonan (performed with oily relish by Tim Curry). A flavour of classic Hollywood is provided by George C. Scott as the Captain and Eva Marie Saint as the selfish Hazel Foley.

The romance of Bella (Zeta-Jones) and Wynn (Gallagher) is a captivating and moving one, played with style and elegance, and I consider it far more effective than the romance in the James Cameron spectacle. True, the special effects are lacking in this version but the dramatics and acting more than compensate. A fantastic production and one I revisit often. Originally shown in two parts. With Tamsin Kelsey, Eric Keenleyside, Malcolm Stewart, Roger Rees, Harley Jane Kozak, Kevin Conway, Matt Hill and Barry Pepper.

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Far Superior to the Cameron Movie

The Cameron movie may have more realistic effects, but it is nothing more than a soap opera that happens to take place on the titanic, the focus is more the fictional soap opera plot rather that the event itself.
This movie while it has a few fictional plots, they are not the focus of the movie, the focus is what really happened and telling the story of the disaster rather than telling a fictional drama, it brings forth most of the things that took place that night though a few are not completely accurate. There is no clear cut star of the film, the star as it should be was the ship, with the actors getting small segments here and there. Bringing attention to the alice cleaver story is interesting too, but that appears to be a hoax, as it was not the same alice cleaver that sailed.

The DVD is pretty bad though, the first half the sound is not in time with the video and you can hear a person speak before his lips move.

Not a bad movie, if your not a teenage girl looking for a soap opera rather someone wanting to watch a titanic movie as a historical documentary.
That being said if you want to see the best titanic movie leave Hollywood and watch the black and white British film "A Night To Remember" this movie is the most accurate, soap opera free non fiction version that used first hand sources for their info, no fictional stories here, it just tells everything that is known about what happened. A must see!

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Excellent portrayal of sinking, but a Few Blunders!

For Titanic buffs like myself, you will want to watch every portrayal of the Titanic sinking. This one probably ranks third for me behind the James Cameron "Titanic" from the same year and the 1958 classic, "A Night To Remember". George C. Scott is always captivating, as this was one of his last roles before his death. In my estimation, the special effects are not that bad, but truly can't be compared to the Cameron version. Historical blunders bother me, such as the discussion between Capt. Smith, Murdoch, and Ismay over the fact that the ship was indeed doomed. No records show Smith getting agitated or scolding Murdoch, and they also leave out Thomas Andrews, the ship's architect, who really was the one who gave the bad news. What they've done is taken scholarly historical commentary and weaved it into the script. The rape scene is unnecessary, as is the subplot of adultery. All in all, the movie is a good, modern-day representation of what happened that fateful night of April 14-15, 1912.

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A great Molly Brown show!!!

The story is one that we all have heard several times over. Titanic goes into the North Atlantic Ocean, hits an iceberg, and sinks with over 1500 people on board. To me, the thing that makes this show worth a watch is the portrayal of Molly Brown. For all true titanic aficionados, there hasn't been a true depiction of Mrs. Brown yet. Jim Cameron's Molly was good but fell during the scene in the lifeboat. Marilu Henner did a great job in showing Molly's spunk, especially when she tells the person in charge of the lifeboat that she would dump him overboard. Now if we can only get both Cameron's and Marilu Henners' Molly's together then you will have one great show. After all, what happened to the ship dose need to be known. But it is the stories of the passengers that are the most important. Don't you agree?

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Sappy but OK

The story we know. Ship goes down and many die. Tragic. The cast is good (though Peter Gallagher bugs me). I like Marilu Henner as an actress but physically she was totally wrong for her part as Molly Brown. The rape scene I agree was totally unnecessary. But if you are a collector of Titanic themed movies, its a nice one to have.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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