A Night to Remember (film)

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A Night to Remember
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Produced by William MacQuitty
Written by Eric Ambler
Walter Lord (novel)
Starring Kenneth More
Ronald Allen
Robert Ayres
Honor Blackman
Distributed by The Rank Organization
Release date(s) 1958
Running time 123 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

A Night to Remember is a 1958 film adaptation of Walter Lord's book of the same name, recounting the final night of the RMS Titanic. A Night to Remember was adapted by Eric Ambler, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and filmed in Britain as a docudrama. The production team, supervised by producer William MacQuitty, used blueprints from the ship to recreate sets, and Titanic's fourth officer, Joseph Boxhall, worked as a technical advisor on the film. The film was highly successful and is generally considered to be the most accurate portrayal of the tragic event.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Production

Kenneth More recalled the production of the film in his autobiography, published 20 years later in 1978. He had served in the Royal Navy in World War II (as a gunnery officer aboard the cruiser HMS Aurora) and automatically took on the naval officer's crisp and confident air of command when a crisis arose in the film-making. There was no tank big enough at Pinewood Studios to film the survivors struggling to climb into lifeboats, so it was done in the open-air swimming bath at Ruislip Lido at 2 o'clock in the morning of an icy-cold November day. The extras flatly refused to jump in. More realised it would be up to him. "Come on!" he cried.

'I leaped. Never have I experienced such cold in all my life. It was like jumping into a deep freeze. The shock forced the breath out of my body. My heart seemed to stop beating. I felt crushed, unable to think. I had rigor mortis, without the mortis. And then I surfaced, spat out the dirty water and, gasping for breath, found my voice. 'Stop!' I shouted. 'Don't listen to me! It's bloody awful! Stay where you are!' But it was too late ....'[1]

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie begins in Harland and Wolff Shipyard at the naming ceremony of the RMS Titanic. The ship is christened and a bottle of champagne is smashed against the hull. Charles Lightoller, the main character in the film, is on a train and is preparing to report for duty as Titanic's second officer. He jokes about the Titanic being unsinkable, which offends a fellow male passenger. However, the man apologizes when Lightoller reveals his assignment on the ship.

At Southampton, Titanic is ready for launch. As it leaves, many people say their goodbyes. Once in the open sea, the Titanic receives many ice warnings from nearby steamers. Captain Edward Smith is not worried by these warnings and the ship continues on.

At about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, lookout Frederick Fleet spots an iceberg. Fellow lookout Reginald Lee warns Sixth Officer James Paul Moody by telephone that there is an iceberg dead ahead. Moody thanks Lee and shouts , "Iceberg ahead!" First Officer William McMaster Murdoch orders the engines reversed, the ship turned hard to port (with the ship's wheel turned to starboard as the steering linkage was configured that way at the time), and the watertight doors closed. Despite these efforts, Titanic collides with the iceberg on its starboard side, opening the first five compartments to the sea, below the waterline. Captain Smith immediately calls for Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, to inspect the damages. Andrews explains the ship will sink in about an hour and a half.

Captain Smith tells Jack Phillips, the telegraph operator, to send out the distress call CQD. Phillips and his assistant, Harold Bride, continously send distress calls. The closest ship is the SS Californian, which is a mere 10 miles away. However, Phillips, frustrated with the Californian's wireless operator, tells him to shut up, which causes the Californian's operator to shut down for the night.

Captain Smith orders Lightoller and Murdoch to start lowering the lifeboats. He instructs them to put women and children into the boats first, but Lightoller takes this to mean, "Women and children only". Chief Baker Charles Joughin tries to escape in a boat, but the boat is overcrowded and gives a women his seat. He returns to his room, where he drinks whiskey as the ship sinks.

Many women and children are reluctant to get in a small, cramped lifeboat, and Murdoch and Lightoller must use force to put them in. Many men try to sneak into the lifeboats, but Lightoller will not allow them. As the stewards struggle to hold back women and children holding third-class tickets, most of the women and children from second and first class climb into the lifeboats and launch away from the ship. Chief Officer Henry T. Wilde distributes guns and ammunition to the officers in case of emergency. The bow of the ship is taking in a lot of water and there are only two collapsible lifeboats left. Lightoller and other able seamen struggle to untie them and, unable to take the time to put passengers into the boats, leave them in the hope that the boats will save more lives.

The RMS Carpathia is four hours away and is racing to the site, in hope of saving more lives. A drunk Joughin throws deck chairs overboard. The ship sinks and Lightoller and many others swim off of the ship. One of the overturned collapsibles is floating, so Lightoller and a few more men balance on the boat and wait. Joughin is found in the water, not minding the cold, and pulled up on the boat. Lightoller spots another lifeboat and the men are saved. The Carpathia comes and rescues the survivors. A memorial service is dedicated to the Titanic and its victims.

[edit] Awards

A Night to Remember won the Golden Globe for the "Best Picture - Foreign" category in 1959. It was also nominated for the Laurel Award for "Best Cinematography - Black and White".

[edit] Cast

The film stars:

[edit] Trivia

  • Although at the start of the film the ship is christened with a bottle of champagne, the real Titanic was never christened, nor was there a great ceremony held when the ship first touched water in Belfast.
  • As with most pictures about the Titanic, filmed before the discovery of the wreck in 1985, A Night to Remember portrays the Titanic as sinking in one piece. The discovery of the wreck revealed that the ship had broken in two and most films about the event since then (e.g. the 1996 TV mini-series Titanic, and the 1997 multi-Oscar-winning film Titanic), have reflected this point. Although scholars debate to this day whether the break up happened while the the ship was above the water line or while it was under the water, and out of the view of survivors, plunging towards the ocean floor. Eyewitness testimony to the sinking diverge in opinion about this fact meaning that "A Night to Remember"'s portrayal of the ship sinking intact, while above the water line, may still be accurate.
  • Throughout the second half of the movie there is a baker seen drinking, after giving up his seat in a lifeboat to a female passsenger. This was Chief Baker Charles Joughin, who on that night drank some whiskey, threw some deck chairs overboard, rode the stern all the way down, and swam in the freezing water for hours and eventually was picked up by the overturned collapsible boat B and surviving the disaster.
  • Sean Connery makes an uncredited appearance in the film, playing a crew member assisting passengers into the lifeboats during the later stages of the sinking.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ More, Kenneth (1978). More or Less. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-22603-X. 

[edit] External links

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