S.O.S. Titanic (1980)

O.K., so it might be a tad worse than some other Titanic films, and 'A Night to Remember' may be to 'S.O.S. Titanic' what '2001: A Space Odyssey' is to 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones'. But remember how badly directed James Cameron's 1997 'Titanic' was, and bear in mind how badly 'Raise the Titanic' flopped at the box office in 1980. What I'm trying to say is, look at the better things attributed to 'S.O.S Titanic', like David Warner's awesome performance as schoolteacher Lawrence Beesley, who, in 1912, wrote the book 'The Loss of the S.S. Titanic', which stands as one of the most authentic and realistic eyewitness accounts ever written about any disaster. Or how about Howard Blake's wonderful soundtrack, or Cloris Leachman, or Ian Holm as White Star Line president J. Bruce Ismay. And even better, the fact that the original 1979 Television version is superior to the edited theatrical release that many of you have seen. It may not be the best, but 'S.O.S. Titanic' is second only to 'A Night to Remember' when it comes to retelling the story of history's most famous ship.

S.O.S. Titanic (1979) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent telling of the April 14, 1912 tragedy with the main focus being on school teacher Lawrence Beesley (David Warner) and the fictional character Leigh Goodwin (Susan Saint James). Also included is David Janssen as John Jacob Astor, Cloris Leachman as Molly Brown, Ian Holm as J. Bruce Ismay, Helen Mirren as Mary Sloan and Harry Andrews as Captain Edward Smith. This film was originally shown over two nights on ABC with a running time of 150-minutes but the version I watched was the one released theatrically in Europe and running at 102-minutes. From what I've read the full version has never been released and all releases outside that original airing is the shorter cut. I have no idea if the longer version is better but I'm going to guess that the love story between Beesley and Goodwin was expanded. Their love story here is pretty hit and miss as it jumps all over the place and the conclusion also doesn't make too much sense. Those two characters get most of the screen time early on with the others getting bits and pieces here and there. The Molly Brown character is mainly used for comic relief but I found Leachman to be too over-the-top. I think Warner comes off the best here as he is very believable in the role and you just can't help but really like the guy. Holm is cold like a snake as Isley and Mirren does a pretty good job in her few scenes. I think the biggest problem is that none of the characters are written too well and many of them come off pretty one-dimensional. Perhaps this wouldn't be a problem in the longer version but none of them are overly entertaining here. I also wasn't too impressed with the direction, which seemed way too laid back for my blood. There's really no drama in any of the personal stories and even the sinking never reaches the type of drama that it should. With that said, the movie is still somewhat entertaining simply because of the subject matter. I really enjoyed the look of the picture and I found the sets to be extremely well done. I also found the sinking to be pretty good even though they do show the boat going down in one piece, which was thought to have been what happened at the time. The special effects are pretty good even though they never try to be too impressive and for the most part we see them from far shots. I've read mixed things about the extended version so perhaps it's a much better movie that fixes some of the problems I had with this version.

Sandwiched between 'Titanic' and 'A Night to Remember' from the 1950's, and Cameron's blockbuster from the 90's, 'SOS Titanic' is the weakest of the quartet, but still manages to be entertaining with all the elements of the basic story handled well.In tune with its intended TV audience, the film begins more like a period soap opera with emphasis on the variety of characters on the ship, and particularly the class distinctions between them. The social and physical barriers are rather obviously shown, with the three decks containing the 1st Class, 2nd Class and steerage passengers all looking down from one to the other. Like 'Titanic' (1953) and 'Titanic' (1997), the concentration on the characters does detract from the historical aspects of the story, leaving 'A Night to Remember' as the most accurate depiction of the tragedy.Some of the issues in the story do become laboured in 'SOS Titanic', with hymn singing intercut with shots of floating ice, characters asking about lifeboat drills, and a 1st Class passenger cutting open his lifejacket to show what the insides are made of. The Mills & Boon dialogue also begins to surface more frequently, with lines like "New York seems so far away" and "Tonight may be our last night but one".Small gripes aside, the effects and acting are good throughout and the characters are made interesting enough for us to care about them when the inevitable happens. It may be the poor relation of the family of Titanic films, but it has more than enough credentials to justify a place of its own at the table.David Warner had a prominent role in this film and in Cameron's 1997 version.

This take on the "Titanic" falls into the "docudrama" category with only a few invented characters; most of the others are the canonical Titanic personnel. I particularly liked the dramatic device of having two second class passengers acting as a sort of "Greek chorus," commenting on events there, above and below. Most Titanic films concentrate on first and sometimes third classes, but virtually everyone ignores "the middle." By using mainly historical characters, the story has a real poignancy, but more focus than on the more famous "A Night to Remember."