A Night to Remember (1958)

On its maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

Director:

Roy Ward Baker (as Roy Baker)

Writers:

Walter Lord (from the book by), Eric Ambler (screenplay)

Stars:

Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kenneth More	...	Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller
Ronald Allen	...	Mr. Clarke
Robert Ayres	...	Maj. Arthur Peuchen
Honor Blackman	...	Mrs. Liz Lucas
Anthony Bushell	...	Capt. Arthur Rostron
John Cairney	...	Mr. Murphy
Jill Dixon	...	Mrs. Clarke
Jane Downs	...	Mrs. Sylvia Lightoller
James Dyrenforth	...	Col. Archibald Gracie
Michael Goodliffe	...	Thomas Andrews
Kenneth Griffith	...	Wireless Operator John 'Jack' Phillips
Harriette Johns	...	Lady Richard
Frank Lawton	...	Chairman J. Bruce Ismay
Richard Leech	...	First Officer William Murdoch
David McCallum	...	Assistant Wireless Operator Harold Bride

Storyline

A successful attempt at an even-handed portrayal of the White Star Line's (later part of Cunard) luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic's sinking from the standpoint of 2nd Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller, himself the most senior of the ill-fated ship's Deck Officers to survive the disaster. (Lightoller later went on to distinguish himself as a line British Naval Officer during the First World War and served as a Senior Naval Staff Officer (convoys) during WWII. Between wars he owned and operated a successful family business producing pleasure craft.) His own survival of the sinking, along with several others, is shown atop one of the liner's two "collapsible" lifeboats which was capsized in floating off the liner as it sank. The picture depicts then known facts (c1958) as reported after the sinking; such as the woeful lack of adequate lifeboats, the ship's band playing true to the very end, White Star's co-owner Bruce Ismay's somewhat less than chivalrous departure from the sinking vessel -...

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Plot Keywords:

profanity | year 1912 | titanic | lifeboat | iceberg | 

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Taglines:

The night the unsinkable sank

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Russian Polish German Italian

Release Date:

16 December 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Titanic

Filming Locations:

Benington, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$1,680,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Rank Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of the young Lucas child was played by Stephen Lowe, the five year-old son of Arthur Lowe who would become one of British television's most memorable comedians for his role in Dad's Army (1968).

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Goofs

Captain Smith and a member of crew are seen using binoculars but in reality the ship's binoculars were accidentally locked up in a cabinet which was one of the reasons the ship hit an iceberg.

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Quotes

Col. Archibald Gracie: [looks at rockets being fired by the Carpathia as he and Lightoller sit in the stern of a lifeboat] Will that be the Carpathia?
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: [silently nods in the affirmative]
Col. Archibald Gracie: Aren't you glad to see her?
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: Yes I'm glad. But then, *I'm* still *alive*.
Col. Archibald Gracie: If only she'd been nearer.
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: There are quite a lot of "ifs" about it; aren't there, Colonel?
[turns and shouts to another lifeboat they're towing]
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: Keep up, quartermaster. Keep that line slack.
[turns to address Colonel Gracie again]
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: If we'd been steaming a few knots ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: 1912

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Alternate Versions

The US Criterion Collection DVD is slightly edited. After the Titanic has sunk and Second Officer Lightoller (Kenneth More) is on top of the upturned collapsible lifeboat, a steward swims up to him with a child. Lightoller takes the child, but in the DVD, you don't see him find out that the child is already dead, and then he gently places him in the water.

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Connections

Edited into Titanic at 100: Mystery Solved (2012)

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Soundtracks

An der schönen blauen Donau Walzer (The Blue Danube Waltz) Op. 314
(1867) (uncredited)
Composed by Johann Strauss
Played on the Titanic as dance music

User Reviews

still the best!

I've seen several film versions of the Titanic tragedy (I'm something of a buff--I'm distantly related to Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Kimball, who were 1st class passengers!) "A Night to Remember" is still the best, no contest. The effects are 1958 state-of-the-art, the script was meticulously researched, and the people are actually written and played as 1912 people (James Cameron's cast were a bit too much 1990's to be convincing). Even those characters who are slightly fictionalized (the "lady" who represents--without mentioning--Lady Cosmo Duff-Gordon, and "my dear son" and his family, for examples) behave as their real life counterparts would have in 1912, giving the film a documentary feel without failing to give the viewer people to identify with and care about. This is classic film-making at its finest!