Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Titanic movie yet., December 9, 2002
Cameron's film has its moments, but in truth I only liked it for the chance it gave me to see a great old ocean liner brought to life again on screen. In "A Night To Remember", the effects are not nearly so impressive, but the story is far better. It's very much in the style of a docudrama, but its a docudrama about one of the most fascinating and enduring stories in all of history. I don't quite know why Cameron felt it necessary to tell a soap opera melodrama about two fictional lovers and use one of the most dramatic stories in all human history as nothing more than a backdrop. "A Night To Remember", based on Walter Lord's outstanding book of the same name, tells the story of the disaster itself. Kenneth More plays a heroic Second Officer Lightoller, and the film actually makes him out to look a little better than he did in reality - he lowered several of the lifeboats less than half loaded, and permitted no men at all to get in, even when the boats were ready to lower and no more women were nearby to board. Still, this bit of dramatic license doesn't hurt the film. The account of Titanic's loss has something in it to appeal to everybody. For the lovers of a great story it has incredible drama and suspense. For lovers of nostalgia it is far the best documented voyage of any ship from the golden age of the great ocean liners. For those interested in tragic irony there is the story of a great ship, regarded as unsinkable going down after ominous warnings were ignored. For those interested in stories with a moral, there is the cautionary tale of placing blind faith in any work of human hands, or thinking that the things of men are impervious to the forces of nature. For students of human nature, Titanic was a microcosm of society, with the full range of human strength and weakness on display, from acts of inspiring heroism to those of despicable cowardice. For those interested in social history, there is the huge gulf between the first class passengers with their vast wealth, and those in steerage with little more than the clothes they stood up in. Few stories have proven so enduring and so fascinating as that of the Titanic. This movie remains the best, and most faithful film version of it to this day.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a gripping classic, November 22, 2004
For all the special effects and color cinematography of recent years, few films in the disaster genre have been able to top this amazing film of the fateful voyage of the Titanic; it is smartly written, with extraordinary cinematography (by Geoffrey Unsworth) and brilliantly acted by a cast of mostly unknown actors. American audiences will probably only recognize David McCallum (Illya Kuryakin in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. series) who plays a radio operator, and Honor Blackman, who gained fame as the Bond Girl with the naughty name in Goldfinger, who has a small part as the wife of a brave and stoic man, and the noted British actor Laurence Naismith, who is marvelous as Captain Smith.
Even though one knows the end, the tension runs high, and we get caught up in lives of the people aboard "the floating palace", and how they handled their dreadful fate. The characterizations are beautifully developed, which is rare in this type of film.
The scenes of the inner workings of the ship are intense, and very well re-created. When compared to documentaries made about the Titanic, this film would seem to be quite accurate, in the physical aspects of the ship, and of the people who sailed her, as passengers and as crew.
I find this 1958 version far superior to the 1997 Oscar winning "Titanic", mostly because the script and acting are much more believable, making the events of that dreadful night come to life and stir the emotions in a deeper way than the newer film ever could.
Adapted for the screen by Eric Ambler from the book by Walter Lord (which I read many years ago and also found fascinating), the direction by Roy Ward Baker is superb, and the almost symphonic score by William Alwyn terrific.
"A Night to Remember" won a 1959 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.
Total running time is 123 minutes.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frightening and Fascinating, December 4, 2001
Unlike other film versions of the famous maritime disaster, "A Night To Remember" does not attempt to romanticize the sinking of the Titanic via fictional characters playing out a superficial and often implausible story--and demonstrates that the basic facts are far more fascinating than any soap-opera-bubble that can be imposed upon them.As frequently noted, the film has a somewhat documentary feel that adds considerably to its tension. Less frequently noted are the remarkable performances of the ensemble cast, playing characters who fight to retain their integrity in the face of rising panic. Unlike the soapy 1950s Stanwyck version or the overblown James Cameron film of the 1990s, there are no easy endings for those who are trapped, no love recognized at the last moment or sustaining memories of brief shipboard happiness to float them forward through life: at the end there is only darkness and death--mitigated, sometimes nobly, by the human kindness and sacrifice. Powerful stuff.
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by Walter Lord
