IT’S TIME TO REMEMBER TITANIC
(April 14)
On April 10, 100 years ago, a luxury liner set sail from Southampton with more than 2,200 people on board. Bound for New York City harbour, it became famous because it didn't reach its destination - instead, on the night of Sunday, April 14, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and by the following morning, the ship had sunk and 1,514 passengers and crew were lost forever to the icy waters.
The story of the ill-fated voyage of Titanic has fascinated writers and filmmakers ever since. There is a memorial to the ship's engineers and musicians (who continued to play as the ship sank) in Southampton, another at its last port of call in Cobh, Ireland, and more in Washington DC, Manhattan, Glasgow and Liverpool, but perhaps the best-known memorial to the survivors and victims of the famous ship is James Cameron's 1997 movie with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio, an Oscar-winning film that was given a 3D reworking and re-release to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
It's not the only movie to tell the famous story, of course. In fact, there are more than 20 movies, TV movies and mini-series that have featured Titanic in some way - it's even popped up in the kids' animated film Shark Tale, the sunken wreckage starring as the "mob" hangout for a group of great white sharks - while the first-known Titanic movie was made just a month after the ship's sinking. Saved from the Titanic (also known as A Survivor of the Titanic), a silent short directed by Etienne Arnaud and starring the actual Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson, told the story in flashback in just 10 minutes, as Dorothy tells her parents and fiancé about her experiences on board. Sadly, all prints of the movie are believed lost.
Another fascinating project about the ship never even came to be: in 1939, a drama about Titanic was to be Alfred Hitchcock's first Hollywood movie after he signed a seven-year contract with the producer David O Selznick, until Selznick decided he would prefer Hitchcock to work on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca instead.
There are, however, some interesting (and not always accurate) Titanic movies that did make it to the screen that you can read about on page three - and if these weren't enough, there are also two TV drama series being made this year to commemorate the anniversary: the four-part Titanic, written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes and starring Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Timothy West and Linus Roache, and Titanic: Blood and Steel, a miniseries about the building of the liner with Neve Campbell, Derek Jacobi and Chris Noth.
In Nacht Und Eis (1912); Atlantis (1913)
Made in Germany in 1912, In Nacht Und Eis (In Night and Ice) was thought lost until a print was unearthed in the 1990s, and is the earliest surviving film about the ship (you can view the entire 35 minute film on YouTube). While the sinking is depicted using a toy boat in a pond, the depiction of life on board is fascinating and the scenes of water entering the ship just as dramatic as later movies. It was followed a year later by the Danish silent film Atlantis, a romantic movie set aboard the fictitious SS Roland, though clearly modelled on real events.
Atlantic (1929)
Although set aboard the fictitious Atlantic, this British-made movie is clearly about Titanic and follows the story of John Rool (Franklin Dyall) as he has an affair with a fellow passenger under the nose of his wife. Once the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink, his devoted missus refuses to leave his side to board a lifeboat. Actually a combination of German and English language versions that were filmed simultaneously, this co-stars Madeleine Carroll, Alfred Hitchcock's first blonde muse.
(April 14)
On April 10, 100 years ago, a luxury liner set sail from Southampton with more than 2,200 people on board. Bound for New York City harbour, it became famous because it didn't reach its destination - instead, on the night of Sunday, April 14, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and by the following morning, the ship had sunk and 1,514 passengers and crew were lost forever to the icy waters.
The story of the ill-fated voyage of Titanic has fascinated writers and filmmakers ever since. There is a memorial to the ship's engineers and musicians (who continued to play as the ship sank) in Southampton, another at its last port of call in Cobh, Ireland, and more in Washington DC, Manhattan, Glasgow and Liverpool, but perhaps the best-known memorial to the survivors and victims of the famous ship is James Cameron's 1997 movie with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio, an Oscar-winning film that was given a 3D reworking and re-release to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
It's not the only movie to tell the famous story, of course. In fact, there are more than 20 movies, TV movies and mini-series that have featured Titanic in some way - it's even popped up in the kids' animated film Shark Tale, the sunken wreckage starring as the "mob" hangout for a group of great white sharks - while the first-known Titanic movie was made just a month after the ship's sinking. Saved from the Titanic (also known as A Survivor of the Titanic), a silent short directed by Etienne Arnaud and starring the actual Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson, told the story in flashback in just 10 minutes, as Dorothy tells her parents and fiancé about her experiences on board. Sadly, all prints of the movie are believed lost.
Another fascinating project about the ship never even came to be: in 1939, a drama about Titanic was to be Alfred Hitchcock's first Hollywood movie after he signed a seven-year contract with the producer David O Selznick, until Selznick decided he would prefer Hitchcock to work on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca instead.
There are, however, some interesting (and not always accurate) Titanic movies that did make it to the screen that you can read about on page three - and if these weren't enough, there are also two TV drama series being made this year to commemorate the anniversary: the four-part Titanic, written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes and starring Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Timothy West and Linus Roache, and Titanic: Blood and Steel, a miniseries about the building of the liner with Neve Campbell, Derek Jacobi and Chris Noth.
In Nacht Und Eis (1912); Atlantis (1913)
Made in Germany in 1912, In Nacht Und Eis (In Night and Ice) was thought lost until a print was unearthed in the 1990s, and is the earliest surviving film about the ship (you can view the entire 35 minute film on YouTube). While the sinking is depicted using a toy boat in a pond, the depiction of life on board is fascinating and the scenes of water entering the ship just as dramatic as later movies. It was followed a year later by the Danish silent film Atlantis, a romantic movie set aboard the fictitious SS Roland, though clearly modelled on real events.
Atlantic (1929)
Although set aboard the fictitious Atlantic, this British-made movie is clearly about Titanic and follows the story of John Rool (Franklin Dyall) as he has an affair with a fellow passenger under the nose of his wife. Once the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink, his devoted missus refuses to leave his side to board a lifeboat. Actually a combination of German and English language versions that were filmed simultaneously, this co-stars Madeleine Carroll, Alfred Hitchcock's first blonde muse.
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