I mean, here it is, 1943, and the Nazis make a movie about a great disaster that befell their chief enemy, Great Britain.
So do you expect a movie loaded with stereotypical Colonel Blimps, English incompetence, and general disorder, or what? If you do, that's not exactly what you get. I'm surprised that in the midst of a war they were losing the German film industry could put together an expensive disaster flick. True, the model work is a little clumsy, but there are hundreds of extras and lavish sets.
It's not badly done. I tuned in for a travesty of historical events but stayed until the end, caught up in what is basically a compelling story. The acting is stiff, the direction unimaginative, and some of the drama is obviously fictional, but the narrative sweeps you up willy nilly.
Probably it isn't as well done as "A Night to Remember," a British retelling of the tale that appeared about ten years later and which closely resembles the 1943 version. At the same time it has to be admitted that it's a BIG improvement over the 1950s American version with Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb, basically a soap opera with a tacked-on ship sinking.
Is there any propaganda value in the film? A little. A German officer aboard repeatedly clashes with Ismay, President of the White Star Lines, over the heedless speed at which the ship is traveling. Ismay is the major heavy and he looks vaguely Jewish. Some sympathy is shown towards the Astor family. And there was also a wealthy and prominent elderly Jewish couple aboard, whose name escapes me, but who aren't mentioned in the film at all. (Nor is Molly Brown, the usual fun figure.) The third class passengers are treated with respect but are not sentimentalized. At the inquiry, Ismay gets off and all of the blame falls on the hapless, now drowned Captain Smith, much to the German officer's disgust. An epilogue mentions something about the English greed for profit or something. I was so busy trying to translate the German crawls that I didn't realize there were subtitles.
It's still amazing, isn't it, after all these years that so many lives were so needlessly lost. The SS California was in sight but was unable to hear the Titanic's distress calls and misinterpreted her distress flares. There were thousands of people aboard and lifeboats enough for only a few hundred. As it was, some of the lifeboat took off half empty. Everyone knew there was dangerous ice around and yet the ship was kept traveling at speed, despite immediate warnings. Not enough planning and too much imprudent hoping that it wouldn't happen. As I write this, New Orleans, Louisiana, is being evacuated after 80 percent of the city was flooded by a thoroughly expected hurricane. Preparations were inadequate because manpower and supplies were not available and there was not just a lack of organization, but actual conflict over who was in charge. This is known as history repeating itself.
Well, not exactly repeating itself except in the most general terms, yet there are parallels. In both cases it was the poor who suffered the most, as is almost always the case, but the sinking of the Titanic exhibited the effect of not one variable, poverty, but two variables, poverty and gender/age. (A statistical analysis would probably call for analysis of variance.) What I mean is that aboard the Titanic, as everyone knows, the rule was "women and children first." But the rule was confounded by social class. Most of the women and children saved were first-class passengers. The next greatest percentage of women and children saved were from second class. And only a small percentage of third-class women and children were saved.
Well, enough rattling on. This is worth catching, not just because it is an historical curiosity, which it is, but because it's a gripping story as well.
So do you expect a movie loaded with stereotypical Colonel Blimps, English incompetence, and general disorder, or what? If you do, that's not exactly what you get. I'm surprised that in the midst of a war they were losing the German film industry could put together an expensive disaster flick. True, the model work is a little clumsy, but there are hundreds of extras and lavish sets.
It's not badly done. I tuned in for a travesty of historical events but stayed until the end, caught up in what is basically a compelling story. The acting is stiff, the direction unimaginative, and some of the drama is obviously fictional, but the narrative sweeps you up willy nilly.
Probably it isn't as well done as "A Night to Remember," a British retelling of the tale that appeared about ten years later and which closely resembles the 1943 version. At the same time it has to be admitted that it's a BIG improvement over the 1950s American version with Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb, basically a soap opera with a tacked-on ship sinking.
Is there any propaganda value in the film? A little. A German officer aboard repeatedly clashes with Ismay, President of the White Star Lines, over the heedless speed at which the ship is traveling. Ismay is the major heavy and he looks vaguely Jewish. Some sympathy is shown towards the Astor family. And there was also a wealthy and prominent elderly Jewish couple aboard, whose name escapes me, but who aren't mentioned in the film at all. (Nor is Molly Brown, the usual fun figure.) The third class passengers are treated with respect but are not sentimentalized. At the inquiry, Ismay gets off and all of the blame falls on the hapless, now drowned Captain Smith, much to the German officer's disgust. An epilogue mentions something about the English greed for profit or something. I was so busy trying to translate the German crawls that I didn't realize there were subtitles.
It's still amazing, isn't it, after all these years that so many lives were so needlessly lost. The SS California was in sight but was unable to hear the Titanic's distress calls and misinterpreted her distress flares. There were thousands of people aboard and lifeboats enough for only a few hundred. As it was, some of the lifeboat took off half empty. Everyone knew there was dangerous ice around and yet the ship was kept traveling at speed, despite immediate warnings. Not enough planning and too much imprudent hoping that it wouldn't happen. As I write this, New Orleans, Louisiana, is being evacuated after 80 percent of the city was flooded by a thoroughly expected hurricane. Preparations were inadequate because manpower and supplies were not available and there was not just a lack of organization, but actual conflict over who was in charge. This is known as history repeating itself.
Well, not exactly repeating itself except in the most general terms, yet there are parallels. In both cases it was the poor who suffered the most, as is almost always the case, but the sinking of the Titanic exhibited the effect of not one variable, poverty, but two variables, poverty and gender/age. (A statistical analysis would probably call for analysis of variance.) What I mean is that aboard the Titanic, as everyone knows, the rule was "women and children first." But the rule was confounded by social class. Most of the women and children saved were first-class passengers. The next greatest percentage of women and children saved were from second class. And only a small percentage of third-class women and children were saved.
Well, enough rattling on. This is worth catching, not just because it is an historical curiosity, which it is, but because it's a gripping story as well.