Titanic: Birth of a Legend (TV 2005)

Dramatised documentary which follows the lives of the men who designed and built Titanic and her sister ship Olympic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, showing the violence, ... See full summary »

Director:

William Lyons

Writers:

William Lyons, Neil McKay

Stars:

Charles Dance, Gordon Langford Rowe, Charles Lawson

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charles Dance	...	Narrator (voice)
Gordon Langford Rowe	...	Lord Pirrie (as Gordon Langford-Rowe)
Charles Lawson	...	Alexander Carlisle
Damian O'Hare	...	Thomas Andrews
Christopher Wright	...	Bruce Ismay
Kevin Trainor	...	Alfie Cunningham
Rita Hamill	...	Elizabeth Cunningham
James Scales	...	Artie Frost
Seamus Casey	...	Thomas Millar
Katherine Grice	...	Jeannie Millar
Christopher Patrick Nolan	...	Roderick Chisholm
Andrew Porter	...	Short
Warren Rusher	...	Liam Flaherty
Paul Loughran	...	Michael Flaherty
Frank Grimes	...	Robert Welch

Storyline

Dramatised documentary which follows the lives of the men who designed and built Titanic and her sister ship Olympic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, showing the violence, political drama and financial pressures that affected those who worked on her. Eight men, the Guarantee Group, were privileged to be chosen to travel on her maiden voyage. All of them were killed when she sank after striking an iceberg.

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Plot Keywords:

shipyard | titanic | rheumatic fever | launch | political rally | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 2005 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Titanic - Der Bau des Superschiffs

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

The best dramatised documentary I have so far seen

Just a few years ago it wouldn't have been feasible to have made this documentary. Through the wonders of CGI we can see the Belfast skyline as it was in 1907 and even a street with tramcars running along it. The recreation of the ship does vary a bit though. Largely because of out of scale water in some scenes the ship looks like a model. But the scene where she is being towed out for her sea trial and the tugs cast off their cables is incredibly realistic. The actors bear a closer likeness to their real life counterparts than in James Cameron's film except for Captain Smith. Alan Rothwell is a bit too short but on the other hand Bernard Hill made him sound too scouse. The documentary pulls no punches about how tough life was for ordinary people in the early 20th century and also that it was long before health and safety at work. It also depicts the sectarianism that has blighted Northern Ireland almost up to the present time. It's not just a documentary about the history of Titanic, it's a social documentary.