Figure 1.--This is a scene from 'S.O.S. Titanic' The boy is having his life jacket put on, but he wriggles out of it much to mum's annoyance.

The RMS Titanic is the most famous oceanliner of all time even though it never complete a single voyage. The public was shocked at the suinking of the unsinkavle Titanic. The public was fascinated with the luxurious ocean liner from the time of the launching. And that fascination only grew when news of its sinking broke. That fascination continues to this day. There have been several films made about Titanic. The best known is the the 1997 DiCaprio blockbuster--Titanic. The most accurate and arguavly the best is 'A Night to Remember' based on the Lord book. Various other versions of differing production values have been made. Costuming in all of these films is an important element.

(A) Night to Remember - (England, 1958)

This is a another RMS Titanic disaster film. Titanic was the largest vessel afloat at the time. It was assumed to be unsinkable, part of the early-20th century's optimism about the future and technology. This film is a basically fact-based, minute by minute account about the the sinking of the great British ocean oceanliner. Unlike the other Titanic films, this is a docudrama--essentially an acted documentary. There are no imaginative subplots to provide dramatic tension. The film is an adaptation is based on the book A Night to Remember (1955) by Walter Lord. It is the classic account of perhaps the most famous disaster in history. Lord also wrote A Day of Infamy about the Japanese Pearl Harbor attack. Considerable efforts were made to accurately depict the fatefull voyage. The film used sets based on actual blueprints of Titanic. The ship's fourth officer Joseph Boxhall and ex-Cunard Commodore Harry Grattidge were employed as technical advisors. The costuming is also historically accurate. There are a few shots of children. Towards the end of the film when the survivers are on the Carpathia we see a British boy about 6 years old wearing a sailor suit and slightly older girls wearing fruit-decorated hats.

Titanic - (Germany, 1943)

The NAZI version of the Titanic disaster is the least known, even though it is the most expensive production of all the different versions until the 1997 blockbuster. NAZI Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels, was a film buff. He and Hitler would warch movies together. After the victory in France (1940), Britain refused to ask for terms. For about a year, Britiain and the Dominions were the only countries still at War with the NAZIs. (Except for occupied countries.) So Goebbels wanted to do his part in the war effort and use Germany's sizeable film industry to make anti-British propaganda. And because he was duch a film enthusuast, he wanted a high-quality production. The result is a fascinating bit of movie history. The NAZI 'Titaic' was one of the most costly films made in Europe up to thast time and with the possivle exception of 'Kolberg' (1945), the most expensive film made in NAI gErmany. The thenme was that the disaster was the result of the White Srat Line and Buce Ismay in particular. It was meant to be a condemnation of Britain and captalism. (It was never released in NAZI Germany> When Goebbels viewed it, he was agast. He immeduately realized that it was political dinamite. By the time the NAZI 'Titanic' (1943) was finished (and the director dead in a NAZI jail cell), the War had turned against Germany. And the idea of a single-minded strong leader leaing a great ship to disaster was an dying;y effective metaphor for a strong leader leading a great nation to oblivion. The sinking scenes of people floundering in icy seas were too much like civilians in Germany's bombed our cities. (Some of these shots were so good that they were used in 'A night to remember'.)

Titanic - (US, 1953)

Rather disappointing 1953 20th Century Fox movie starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyc about the great ocean disaster. You would think that with all the wealthy people aboard, there would be at least some fancy early-20th century outfits. Only one boy is featured and he wears long trousers. There is a scene touching on clothig early in the voyage of the ill-fated oceanliner, where Norman, the young teenage son travelling with his family, chafes at wearing a short pants suit to the formal black tie dinner at the Captain's table, preferring, he tells his Dad, to "remain in his stateroom rather than appearing at the dinner in short pants." When the boy goes with his father to the Titanic's clothing store, he pleads with his dad, "There's another boy on board already wearing long pants and he's shorter than I am". At this, the father (played by Clifton Webb) orders the store clerk to fit the now-beaming young man with his first pair of long pants. He misses the life boats, but finds his dad at the end. His father is shocked as he thought the boy was safely on one of the life boats. The boy tries to console him, pointing out, "But I am wearing long trousers, sir."

Titanic - (US, 1997)

A really heart renching scene for me is as the ship is sinking, an Irish mother is telling her two children a boy and a girl a story so as to distract them from the events going on around them. You can't help but say to yourself as you watch the boy close his eyes as he drifts off to sleep that he, his sister and mother will be dead in a matter of minutes. Another scene which I find equally moving is of the 3-yearold Slovakian boy alone in a coridor of the ship which is about to be engulfed by the waters of the North Atlantic. Jack and Rose know they can't leave him and take the boy with them. A few seconds later, his father returns to him and takes him in his arms. However, they both go the wrong way and are very soon swamped by the water that comes crashing through the wall panneling.

S.O.S. Titanic (US, 1979)

"S.O.S. Titanic" is a 1979 American made for television movie about the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic. The script was written by James Costigan and the film was directed by William Hale. The "SOS Titanic" originally appeared in two nughtly segments on ABC television (1979). This is one of several films about the Titanic disaster. It is a good example of how modern Hollywood presents historical events in a left-wing manner designed to depict America and Britain in a negative way. In this case the target is more Britain than America. It presents the Titanic tragedy from the perspective of three groups of passengers based on the accomodation classes ( First, Second, and Third Class). Individual characters based on real passengers are depicted as well as fictional characters. In Third Class steerage are Irish immigrants, picked up when Tinantic stopped at Queentown. And at the end there is an extended section on responsibility in which the producers are able to condemn the company involved.

Created: 3:16 AM 12/3/2010
Last updated: 11:05 PM 7/3/2012