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A Night to Remember (1958)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
7/13, 8/13, 4/22
7/13:
Many years ago, A Night to Remember was a book written by Walter Lord that I read about the sinking of
the Titanic.
I hadn't seen the film until now. Obviously, comparisons with James Cameron's
Titanic are unavoidable. However, I've found A Night to Remember a
good viewing, notwithstanding the scenes with a seemingly toy model. Certainly, the director has done a good job
of creating the buildup that's similar to From Here to Eternity before
disaster strikes.
All in all, A Night to Remember is an enjoyable, if tragic, entertainment fare.
8/13:
I showed A Night to Remember to my 7th and 8th grade students for science class, and they all loved the film.
It captured their attention because the sinking of the Titanic was a human tragedy despite the claims of it
being "unsinkable."
All in all, there's no reason for James Cameron's Titanic to replace
A Night to Remember because it's a fine film in its own way.
4/22:
Having read the book again, I watched A Night to Remember afterwards and then decided to drop my rating
from '9' to '8'.
It's a good movie which remains the most accurate version of what happened that night on April 14, 1912. Even
there's a mention of two ships: the Californian and the Carpathian. Yet the names of the captains
for both aren't said aloud. Why? One was a hero, and the other was a coward. On the other hand, it's best to see
Titanic to have a clear idea of the ship breaking into two, not one as
originally thought, which was confirmed in 1985 when it was located underwater.
I'm disappointed in the lack of emphasis on the most important part of the whole ordeal: the jarring sound. Walter
Lord devoted some pages to this, but the film casually went through it before moving on. Bad idea. If you think
they were being facetious about the drunk baker, it's exactly what happened. He survived the event, even after
being submerged in the freezing water for a couple of hours. His name was Charles Joughin, and he confessed that
alcohol saved him by rendering him inebriated. As a matter of fact, he was literally the last person to step off
the Titanic as he was right at the end tip of the stern when the ship went down vertically.
By the way, the Titanic was never christened by breaking a wine bottle against it. There was no smoke
coming out of the fourth and final funnel as it was a dummy to begin with and only served as ventilation. Now, this
is where I'm confused the most. Remember when two men in the crow's nest had no binoculars and then the iceberg
thing happened. Yet earlier, several officers from the bridge had them on their faces. I thought the
whole time, as recounted in the book, nobody had it which is exactly the reason why the ship sank.
My suspicion was confirmed after looking up the internet. The band did play music to the end with
all members dying afterwards, but the final song wasn't "Nearer, My God, to Thee"; it was most likely "Dream
of Autumn" ("Songe d'Automne").
All in all, survivors of that fateful night prefer A Night to Remember over James Cameron's
Titanic due to accuracy despite the former failing at the box office
while the book generated no interest.