Customer Reviews

Titanic: How It Really Sank

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Superb documentary! I literally gasped in surprise a couple times while watching this. There is so much mystery involving the Titanic and how it sank and for so many years, I have assumed it simply hit an iceburg. How wrong! According to this documentary, the Titanic's demise was the fault of many people. What interested me the most (being a sheet metal mechanic) was the iron grade three rivets and how the weekness holding the steel could not take the impact of the iceburg. To think this all could have been avoided had the proper rivets been used! Mind boggling.

Also, the documentary talks about the lack of life boats. Sixteen for 1300 passengers and 700 workers. Another issue was communication. Yet another issue was the way the ship hit the iceburg. There is much more to the story, but one will have to watch it for themselves. Truly fascinating.

I was able to capture this show on the Nat Geo Channel. It was facinating information and features the only living person alive that was on the Titanic. A must see.

This is a perfect gift for the Titanic "buff" in your family. My children gave this to their father and he absolutely loves it. Thank you,

It seems there is always more than one thing that goes wrong when a catastrophy strikes. this is a good example. Any one of the previously mentioned errors could not have sunk her. This is an interesting new theory.

I'm usually very pleased with my amazon purchases, however, I purchased this video for my son who is really into the Titanic but the item was defective. I had to reorder the documentary again. When it arrived it was also defective and could not be watched. I have never seen a look of disappointment such as I did today. I will never order another video from amazon. I even purchased a third, different one and it too was damaged. So now I literally feel like I threw away my money three times over. You really ruined the experience and did not even take measures to prevent it from happenig more than once. What horrible experience and lack of service. Thank you very much.

I thought also this was quite good i like it and i enjoyed it very much so

Based on my sources, there seems to be an error in the "Titanic:
How It Really Sank" documentary.
The commentator claims that there was an earlier iceberg
colision by the SS Arizona in 1879, but neglects the iceberg
colision of the Kronprinz Wilhelm on July 8, 1907.
What type of rivets did the Kronprinz Wilhelm use?
Since the Kronprinz Wilhelm stayed afloat, it would seem
that it had a much better hull and/or rivets.
The often criticized old Gaelic "ceardan" (Jordans) iron
smiths, would have done better from their rich ore deposits.

I don't want to call them "fans," but I don't know what noun to use to describe how people are as attentive to the Titanic as they are to "Star Trek" or the Grateful Dead. Much of what I know or heard about Titanic came from DiCaprio's film. Still, adding all the sources I've heard, this was still interesting and still provided me things I didn't know beforehand.
During the first minute, I wondered if the reenactments came from DiCaprio's film, but quickly I discovered that they did not. The period outfits are well-down and clearly the work did not have Hollywood's budget. Still, one can clearly see how computer-generated many of the backgrounds were. The work focuses on what happened before the sail and during a formal inquiry after the sinking. Thus, this was like a prequel and a sequel all in one.
The work is a mix of history, science, courtroom drama, and more. Clearly, they wanted to draw in a diverse audience, even though just mentioning Titanic would capture large numbers of viewers. For the gender studies enthusiast in me, the work spoke of how "Women and children first!" got misinterpreted to mean "Women and children only!" (This line is said by Captain Smith, rather than being suggested by a staff member in DiCaprio's work.)
Everyone knows the clich'e "Accidents happen." However, I was still fascinated in how this tragedy was a mix of things that could or could not have been avoided. The work focuses on weak rivets. However, the shipmakers used iron, rather than steel, rivets not out of negligence, unlike how having few lifeboats was foolhardy. It was an anomaly for icebergs to travel that far south. The work said the iceberg was ten times the size of the Titanic, and they looked the same size in DiCaprio's film. It's not DiCaprio's film, but Tim Curry's where you see the Morse code reader telling other ships to pipe down. Here, they show the interpreter being hurt by a loud noise, rather than being nasty out of rudeness.
The work shows reenactments of a later inquiry. It implies that all queried told the truth. I wonder if some committed perjury or considered it. Ismay is not presented as the villain he was in DiCaprio's film, but he is not let off lightly either. This work did not speak about the man who Victor Garber portrayed (and yes, I'm assuming he existed).
I've seen at least three documentaries on Marie Antoinette after seeing S. Coppola's film. Each one gave me something I didn't know and so I appreciated them. I have the same feeling here. Hardcore Titanic-ists may be let down, but those with scant knowledge will learn and grow from seeing this strong work.