A Night to Remember (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Night to Remember (1958) – R. W. Baker

This is a film that moves inexorably to a foregone conclusion – and it is no less suspenseful or moving (in some small moments) for that reason.  Not really a soap opera but a look at a cross-section of passengers and crew on the doomed Titanic as it launches, hits an iceberg, and then sinks rapidly in the icy North Atlantic.  Most of the attention falls on Second Officer Charles Lightoller (Kenneth More) who is most heroic and the first class passengers who escape to the boats first.  Second class and steerage folks are mostly left to die, save for a few impetuous Irish (and Polish) passengers who make their way up to the top (one of these characters was apparently the inspiration for Leo DiCaprio’s role in the 1997 film).  But, as I said, this isn’t a soap opera because the focus is less on the people and following their stories and much much more on the actual disaster and its mechanical causes and the actual process of sinking and rescuing (and dying).  This makes the film ultimately more gripping and horrifying.  Even with some obvious model work, the result is epic.