Titanic (1953)

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Charles Brackett (written by) &
Walter Reisch (written by) ...

Release Date:

21 August 1953 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

TITANIC in Emotion...in Spectacle...in Climax...in Cast!

Plot:

Unhappily married and uncomfortable with life among the British upper crust, Julia Sturges takes her two children and boards the Titanic for America...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Iceberg | Ship | Ship Wreck | Lifeboat

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Clifton Webb	...	Richard Ward Sturges
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Julia Sturges
Robert Wagner	...	Gifford Rogers
Audrey Dalton	...	Annette Sturges
Thelma Ritter	...	Maude Young
Brian Aherne	...	Captain E. J. Smith
Richard Basehart	...	George Headley
Allyn Joslyn	...	Earl Meeker
James Todd	...	Sandy Comstock
Frances Bergen	...	Madeleine Astor
William Johnstone	...	John Jacob Astor

Also Known As:

Nearer My God to Thee (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Basque | French | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1995) | USA:Approved (PCA #16223) | Germany:6

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This was Edmund Purdom's theatrical film debut in an uncredited part as Second Officer Lightroller.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Right at the start of the film a valley glacier iceberg is shown splitting away and falling into the sea. The Titanic though was hit by an arctic iceberg, which are carried by the Gulf Stream southwards during the Northern Hemisphere summer when the outskirts of the Northern Arctic Ocean start to melt.

Quotes:

Richard Sturges: We may be having sand for supper.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Voyagers!: Voyagers of the Titanic (#1.15)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

Lord Jeffery Amherst

A Film to Remember

When I was young I was probably the only kid in years who had checked out our library's copy of Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember." It began a lifelong fascination with the ill-fated liner. I was home sick on the couch a short time later when I saw this film for the first time on TV. Forty years later, I still remember how this movie touched me then. Even then I was hooked -- not just because the film dealt with the Titanic, but for some visceral reason I couldn't put my finger on. Still can't -- decades later. I'm not ashamed to say I continue to get choked up by the scene where Webb is on the slanting deck with his "son", telling the boy he's never been prouder of him. Fast forward several years and I'm sitting on the couch watching this film with my own son for the first time. Sure enough, I'm having a tough time not losing it all during the Webb and son scene (especially poignant now) when I sneak a peek over at my boy. I've seen him cry maybe two or three times in his whole life yet there he sat with unmistakably moist eyes. What a moment to share. I'm very happy to see so many other people here feel positively toward this movie. One of the defining movie experiences of my life.