Titanic (1953)

An unhappily married couple struggle to deal with their problems while on board the ill-fated ship.

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch

Stars:

Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the Titanic for America. Her husband Richard also arranges passage on the doomed luxury liner in order to let him have custody of their two children. Their problems soon seem minor when the ship hits an iceberg.

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Plot Keywords:

ship captain | maiden voyage | year 1912 | iceberg | titanic | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Basque French Spanish

Release Date:

13 July 1953 (UK)

Also Known As:

Nearer My God to Thee

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,805,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$4,905,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The bridge of the RMS Titanic seen on the poster is inaccurately depicted, showing a design similar to the RMS Queen Mary's.

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Goofs

When the iceberg is spotted the officer of the Watch shouts to the Helmsman Hard A' Starboard. The Helmsman turns the wheel Anticlockwise (Port). Then when you see a shot of the ship approaching the iceberg, it is turning to Port.

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Quotes

Richard Sturges: [after Annette's meal is delivered] May I bone your kipper, mademoiselle?

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Connections

Featured in Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults (1997)

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Soundtracks

Holy Holy Holy! Lord God Almighty!
(1861) (uncredited)
Music by John B. Dykes (1861)
Hymn by Reginald Heber (1827)
Played and Sung at church services on the Titanic

User Reviews

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?