Now I realize why James Cameron’s TITANIC wasn’t like a Robert Altman film, because Roy Ward Bard’s A NIGHT TO REMEMBER already was. Without the super bells and whistles of the Oscar-winning blockbuster, this film tells the doomed voyage of the Titanic.
If one central character could be pointed out it would be Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller (Kenneth More, THE LONGEST DAY). First and foremost the film allows the tragedy of the ship’s impending doom to provide all the drama the film needs. No trumped up gunfights and mysteries about missing jewels in this film. The film plays out as naturally as a documentary.
It peeks into the lives and feelings of the ship’s crew, the ship’s builders, the first class passengers and the poor families riding in steerage. In short economic vignettes, the film makes us care about a group of characters and hope for all their survival. The film is truly a tale of survival for all of the passengers and crew on Titanic. There’s no one to root against. The film just watches people as the sinking brings out the good in some and the selfish evil in others. In providing more details about how the incident played out, the film highlights the morbid irony of the tragedy.
It also deals with the more intellectual issues that history has attached to the event, which made it such an important moment in human existence. It’s the height of the industrial revolution and humans are feeling pretty invincible. The Titanic was boasted as the unsinkable ship and nature called man on it. There was an innocence (or ignorance) that society had that the Titanic tragedy destroyed. The film addresses all of these issues naturally and without beating anything to death. The screenplay is a perfect example of unforced brilliance. The performances are all solid. The film even has the chance to weave in some humor from time to time. Forget about Rose and Jack, this is the Titanic tale that you should remember.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
