7 A Night to Remember

[Magic Hate Ball]

I watched this a couple nights ago, and I liked it immensely. I prefer it over Titanic, for sure.

[tryavna]

I prefer it over Titanic, for sure.

Who doesn't? (Besides women who happened to see Titanic in the theater when they were at an impressionable age.)

[jbeall]

Well, I guess it's been a couple of years since anybody posted that they preferred this to Titanic, so here goes. This really is a fantastic film, and does such a good job of balancing multiple storylines and bringing them all to a conclusion. Although there are some sentimental moments (the orchestra...), it avoids the extravagantly mawkish sentimentality that makes Cameron's film so manipulative and difficult to slog through.

[knives]

With Baker's death I guess it's good as any time to repeat that this film shows everything that is wrong with Cameron's trash. I'm actually about an hour into rewatching it and man is it one of the best. By making it less than an ensemble Baker somehow manages to give an emotional weight worth a hundred mawkish love stories.

[John Hodson]

The 'I want my mummy' bit is a tad obvious, but I still burst out into tears. Every time. God bless RWB.

[HarryLong]

Just stumbled on this thread thanks to its reapperance on the front page...
Regarding the German TITANIC and A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: The Kino notes on the back of the case of the former states that the latter lifted footage from the former.
ANy opinions on whether this is a load of bad clams or not?
The shots of the ship sailing by night on the open sea are similar, I'll admit, but I'm convinced there are differences in the design of the scale model. And certainly nothing in ANTR from the collision with the iceberg on is from the German film... unless I'm missing something.

[BWilson]

The commentary points out the scenes from the German film. I believe they all come early on and they are shots of the ship under way, not sinking.

[HarryLong]

The commentary points out the scenes from the German film.

Thank you. Those were the shots I suspected might have been cribbed if any were. And my copy of the film is a DVDR from TCM, so I haven't got the commentary.

[eerik]

UK Blu-ray in March 2012.

[knives]

Anyone know about that doc that's been added?

[Jameson281]

Hopefully the Blu-ray will restore the footage missing from the Criterion DVD.

[The Narrator Returns]

A new supplement has been added:

The Iceberg That Sank the “Titanic” (2006), a sixty-minute BBC documentary

[Gregor Samsa]

Nice! I always like it when Criterion take a historical focus with their extras.

[bainbridgezu]

DVDBeaver

[eerik]

Blu-ray.com

ITV's own UK release is only 8 pounds on Amazon and HMV.

[manicsounds]

True, but the UK disc pales in extras compared to the Criterion...

[eerik]

I didn't find a list of UK extras, other than the cover saying "over 60 minutes of special features". So it has at least something.

[Drucker]

Just watched this movie for the first time and I have to agree that it is quite wonderful. I hate to bring up Cameron so much, but it is somewhat warranted. It certainly seems that Cameron lifted some of the shots explicitly from the movie (the angle of the ship as the iceberg hits, dropping ice on to the deck). And the way that it seems that English culture was taken to task is impressive. The shot of rich people literally looking down upon the steerage class as they play games; the fact that people can't be bothered to be uncomfortable even if it means losing their lives; those who prefer the dignity of death to trying to fight for life. While at times it nearly comes off as romanticizing these manners (as with the young couple, the elderly couple, and the scorn thrust upon the owner of the ship as he sneaks aboard a lifeboat), it mostly takes it to task for what is a ridiculous way to treat people. The class divide is much stronger than Cameron's movie, and I think this adds a lot to the film.
There was no cheap moment that makes everyone realize the ridiculousness of the situation (as in Cameron's when the person going for the lifeboat is shot)-as the ship sinks, the situation gets more and more hectic and out of control. And they never lose the prejudices and terrible attitude they've had for the rest of the journey. I'm not a historian of the ship (though I had a high school teacher who was, and actually has been down to see the ships ruins, making him the only public school teacher to do so, to my knowledge), it just comes off much more realistically.
One complaint is that the opening scenes didn't really grab me. I suppose the saga of the story after the iceberg hits is just necessarily so much more captivating, it's hard to draw people in early on. Nevertheless, I found most of the film quite enjoyable.

[Orlac]

Picked up the Criterion DVD and, as with their DVD transfer of GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, am sad to see that it's been transferred wrong (somethign to do with 3.2 pulldown I believe) and is very jerky, especially on pans.

It's hard to describe but it looks awful. Good think there's a UK disc out there.

[Jonathan S]

Picked up the Criterion DVD and, as with their DVD transfer of GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, am sad to see that it's been transferred wrong (somethign to do with 3.2 pulldown I believe) and is very jerky, especially on pans.

I hadn't read about this problem on Godzilla (has it been discussed anywhere?) but it sounds very similar to that several of us had - on totally different equipment - with Criterion's DVD of Senso. (Also see the posts before and after mine - including my quotation of Issa Clubb's e-mail, which I responded to but never heard anything further).

[Orlac]

Picked up the Criterion DVD and, as with their DVD transfer of GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, am sad to see that it's been transferred wrong (somethign to do with 3.2 pulldown I believe) and is very jerky, especially on pans.

I hadn't read about this problem on Godzilla (has it been discussed anywhere?) but it sounds very similar to that several of us had - on totally different equipment - with Criterion's DVD of Senso. (Also see the posts before and after mine - including my quotation of Issa Clubb's e-mail, which I responded to but never heard anything further).

Yes, that sounds like what's happened here.

With Godzilla, it only affected the US edit of the film and on the DVD, so I expect such errors get little notice because most buyers go for the Blu ray.

The flaw is likely with the actual authored disc, not the masters in themselves.

I've sent a mail to Criterion letting them know.

[cpetrizzi]

After a number of viewings over the years, the very clean, as new DVD faills to load in more than one machine. Grrrr. As I wait for a reply from Criterion, I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems with this one.

This happens in one of my players as well. Has Criterion responded as yet?

Just popped mine in and sadly, it doesn't load. Might be time to upgrade!

[cdnchris]

Mine stopped loading as a few years ago (well before the upgrade) and I contacted them and they quickly replaced it with another copy, though it was of course of the original DVD. You can try contacting them and see what they will do for you.

[cpetrizzi]

Wow, really?! I thought the first printing was long OOP. I'd actually prefer them to replace it with another first printing rather than the remastered edition. Time for another email.

[aox]

There are some third parties on Amazon selling brand new copies of this BD for $12.50, so I blind bought it. I've heard great things about this film over the years and am really looking forward to it. Anyway, just a heads up.