Titanic (1953 film)
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| Titanic | |
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 Titanic film poster |
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| Directed by | Jean Negulesco |
| Produced by | Charles Brackett |
| Written by | Charles Brackett Richard L. Breen Walter Reisch |
| Starring | Clifton Webb Barbara Stanwyck Robert Wagner Audrey Dalton Thelma Ritter |
| Music by | Sol Kaplan |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Editing by | Louis R. Loeffler |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 16, 1953 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Titanic is a 1953 drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. The film is not to be confused with the other movies with the same title. Its plot, like in the 1997 movie, is centered around the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, which took place in April 1912.
Tagline: TITANIC in Emotion...in Spectacle...in Climax...in Cast!
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[edit] Plot summary
Richard Ward and Julia Sturges, an estranged couple are traveling in First Class on the RMS Titanic. Determined to remove her children from Richard's "high society" world, Julia secretly takes their two children: seventeen-year-old Annette and ten-year-old Norman on the Titanic and plans to raise them in her hometown of Mackinac, Michigan. However, after he learns of her plans, Richard buys a steerage ticket aboard the vessel in hopes of reconciling with his family. Richard and Julia have a heated confrontation about the ultimate custody of their children.
While Julia realizes that Annette is mature enough to make her own decisions, and therefore, her own way in the world, she realizes that Norman is still a boy and insists on maintaining custody of him. This angers Richard and later, prior to dining at the captain's table, he aggressively confronts Julia. She then reveals to him that Norman is not his biological child, but rather the result of a one-night stand she had after leaving a party where she was being belittled in the days before Richard had 'made [her] over into [his] image.' He agrees to relinquish custody of Norman (but promises to take care of him and Julia financially), being cold and distant to him from this point on until the ship strikes the iceberg.
Richard and Julia have a tearful reconciliation on the boat deck as he is putting Julia and the children in a lifeboat. Later, Norman, concerned about his father's whereabouts, gives up his seat in a lifeboat so that he can find him. They reunite as the Titanic is in her final moments. Richard tells a passing steward that Norman is his 'son' and then tells the boy that he has been proud of him every day of his life and that he feels 'tall as a mountain' standing by the boy's side. Then they join the rest of the passengers and crew in singing the hymn "Nearer, my God, to Thee" before the ship explodes several times, rises into the air and sinks.
Also aboard is a twenty-year-old Purdue tennis player Gifford Rogers (Robert Wagner), who falls for Annette, and suspended priest George S. Healey who has become an alcoholic.
[edit] Reception
The film was a hit and it touched and terrified moviegoers around the world. It also helped spawn new interest in the Titanic sinking which increased phenomenally with the 1955 release of Walter Lord's bestselling nonfiction account of the disaster, A Night to Remember.
Real Titanic passengers and crew who were portrayed in the film, or referenced in the script, included Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, Madeleine Astor, Isidor and Ida Straus, Captain Edward J. Smith, Second Officer Charles Lightoller and Benjamin Guggenheim. Thelma Ritter plays Maude Young, a character much like Molly Brown.
[edit] Awards and nominations
The film won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, and was nominated for the Award for BestArt Direction - Set Decoration. It was also nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award.
[edit] Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clifton Webb | Richard Ward Sturges |
| Barbara Stanwyck | Julia Sturges |
| Robert Wagner | Gifford Rogers |
| Audrey Dalton | Annette Sturges |
| Thelma Ritter | Maude Young |
| Brian Aherne | Captain Edward J. Smith |
| Richard Basehart | George S. Healey |
| Allyn Joslyn | Earl Meeker |
[edit] External links
- Titanic at the Internet Movie Database
- Titanic at Rotten Tomatoes
- Titanic at Allmovie
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