A Night To Remember (1958)

On April 14, 1912 just  before midnight, the "unsinkable" Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours, it had plunged to the bottom of the sea, taking with it more than 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers. Based on the non fiction book by Walter Lord and directed by Roy Ward Baker (QUATERMASS AND THE PIT). The Titanic tragedy has fascinated the public ever since its sinking. Innumerable books have been written about it as well as film and TV adaptations and even a Tony award winning musical. This 1958 film is often considered the best of the movies based on the event. Instead of concentrating on several characters with the ship's sinking as a backdrop, this version has no central characters. It's an ensemble film with an almost documentary approach to the subject. Still, the film doesn't eschew sentimentality (a lost little boy crying for his mommy) or unnecessary "comedic" footage such as a ship's crewman who decides to get drunk as the ship sinks. The downside if any is that the film is on the dry side. Of all the versions so far, I suppose it's the "definitive" version and the most historically accurate. But honestly, I missed the scale and epic quality as well as the emotional investment of the Oscar winning 1997 film. Among the cast: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Alec McCowen, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Bayldon and Michael Bryant.