Movies:
Titanic
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2003
- Full-frame format (aspect ratio 1.33:1)
- Audio: English stereo, English mono, Spanish mono
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- cc
- Commentary by film critic Richard Shickel
- Commentary by Robert Wagner, Audrey Dalton, and cinematographer Michael Lonza
- "Beyond Titanic" documentary
- Movietone newsreels (1953)
- Audio essay by Titanic historian Silvia Stoddard
- Still gallery
- Rating:
- Genre: Drama
- Movie Type: Melodrama, Disaster Film
- Themes: Crumbling Marriages, Fathers and Sons, Class Differences
- Director: Jean Negulesco
- Main Cast: Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Audrey Dalton, Thelma Ritter
- Release Year: 1953
- Country: US
- Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
The 1912 sinking of the luxury liner Titanic is used as a backdrop for a several fictional subplots, chief of which involves snooty socialite Clifton Webb and his wife Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck has booked passage on the ill-fated passenger ship with her daughter (Audrey Dalton) and son (Harper Carter), leaving Webb far behind. Webb manages to board the ship at the last minute, and discovers that Stanwyck plans to divorce him; she further informs him that he is not the father of their son. When the Titanic sideswipes an iceberg and begins its slow descent in the Atlantic, the women and children are put on the lifeboats while the men stay behind to face death (except for cowardly cardsharp Allyn Joslyn, who disguises himself as a woman). The formerly class-conscious Webb acts with conspicuous bravery, seeing to it that several steerage passengers are ushered to safety. He is reunited with his son, who has given up his lifeboat seat to an elderly woman. All misunderstandings swept aside, Webb and his son face their final moments on earth together. In the film's best moment, a miniature recreation of the Titanic is seen sinking beneath the waves as the survivors watch from their lifeboats in numb horror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
The obvious problem with filming the story of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic is that the outcome of the movie is known to all viewers. The strategy of both the 1953 Hollywood blockbuster and the 1998 Hollywood mega-blockbuster was to humanize the tragedy with soap-opera-type personal stories. In 1953, three screenwriters and little-known director Jean Negulseco focused on the story of an unhappy mother (Barbara Stanwyck) who wants to flee her cruel husband (Clifton Webb) for a new life in America. The plot is not all that different from the 1998 version, which also had a miserable woman hoping to escape an oppressive man, but the characters in the 1953 film are not as compelling or pretty. The plot ends up taking a back seat to the special effects, which are admirable by the standards of the era. A 20-foot model simulated the sinking of the ship. The film was a box-office hit and served for some time as a model for disaster films. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie GuideCast
- Clifton Webb - Richard Ward Sturgess
- Barbara Stanwyck - Mrs. Sturgess
- Robert Wagner - Giff Rogers
- Audrey Dalton - Annette Sturges
- Thelma Ritter - Mrs. 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; Christopher Severn - Messenger; James Lilburn - Devlin; Charles Fitzsimmons - Chief Officer Wilde; Barry Bernard - First Officer Murdock; Helen Van Tuyl - Mrs. Straus; Roy Gordon - Mr. Isidor Straus; Marta Mitrovich - Mrs. Uzcadam; Ivis Goulding - Emma; Ashley Cowan - Bride; Harper Carter - Norman Sturges; Edmund Purdom - 2nd Officer Lightoller; Lee Graham - Symons; Merry Anders - College Girl; Gloria Gordon - College Girl; Melinda Markey - College Girl; Ron Hagerthy - College Student; Conrad Feia - College Student; Richard West - College Boy; Patrick Aherne; Salvador Baguez; Eugene Borden; George Boyce; Robin Camp - Messenger Boy; Harry Cording; Nicolas Coster; William Cottrell; Herbert Deans; John Dodsworth; Anthony Eustrel - Sanderson; Elizabeth Flournoy - Woman with Baby; Robin Hughes - Junior Officer; Charles R. Keane; Mae Marsh - Woman; Owen McGiveney; Alberto Morin; Pat O'Moore - Relief Man; Richard Peel; Michael Rennie - Narrator; Gordon Richards - Manager; David Thursby - Seaman; Michael Ferris; David Hoffman - Tailor; Donald Chaffin; Camillo Guercio - Mr. Guggenheim; Michael Hadlow; Ivan Hayes; Bert Stevens; John Fraser - Steward; John Costello
