Titanic (1953)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Charles Brackett (written by) &
Walter Reisch (written by) ...

Release Date:

21 August 1953 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

TITANIC in Emotion...in Spectacle...in Climax...in Cast!

Plot:

Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the Titanic for America...

Plot Keywords:

Iceberg | Ship | Titanic | Unsinkable Molly Brown | Disaster

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Clifton Webb	...	Richard Ward Sturges
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Julia Sturges
Robert Wagner	...	Giff Rogers
Audrey Dalton	...	Annette Sturges
Thelma Ritter	...	Maude Young
Brian Aherne	...	Captain E. J. Smith
Richard Basehart	...	George Headley
Allyn Joslyn	...	Earl Meeker
James Todd	...	Sandy Comstock
Frances Bergen	...	Madeleine Astor
William Johnstone	...	John Jacob Astor

Also Known As:

Nearer My God to Thee (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1995) | USA:Approved (PCA #16223) | Germany:6

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The character of Maude Young, portrayed in this motion picture by Thelma Ritter, was obviously based upon Mrs. J.J. "Unsinkable Molly" Brown of Denver, Colorado. Even though the actual names of some of the other passengers were used in the film, Mrs. Brown's was not. It has been suggested that there was some dispute between 20th Century Fox and the Brown estate over the use of Molly Brown's character. Therefore, Molly Brown of the Denver, Colorado gold silver mining fortune became, for this motion picture, Maude Young of Montana lead mining.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Chairman of the White Star Line in fact sailed on the ship.

Quotes:

Maude: Over trump! Never send a baby for the beer!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Titanic: Breaking New Ground (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The British Grenadiers

Strangely modern or simply timeless.

If you're unfamiliar with Clifton Webb (3 Oscar nominations, 1 Golden Globe award -- all for other work) just think Campbell Scott and you'll not be far off. Webb carries this film. but Ms Stanwyck as his wife, and Robert Wagner and Audrey Dalton as the young couple are all remarkably good. Stanwyck is rarely this on, imhb.

The set up is all about the people, not the ship, and it works because when the iceberg strikes, it's as if we never saw it coming, and now these good folk mean the world to us.

The pacing is superb, and I can assure you that you will wish the film were longer. Never mind the barely adequate sets: they don't slow or offset the action. The B&W photography is strangely modern in the ratio of closeups to long-shots. At least enough of the crowd is constantly moving and filling the screen expertly for us not to notice that the camera is usually stationary.

This film was unusually successful on television. It was one of the first of those shown in the late 50's when the networks began showing prime time full length feature films of fairly recent vintage on weekend nights. It was an event. Who knew television could entertain showing prime time movies?