A Night To Remember: The Movie

The movie called A Night to Remember was made in 1958. It was directed by William McQuitty, and co directed by Walter Lord, the book that it's based off of. It is in my mind, the most accurate Titanic drama movie of all time. It begins with the launch, which has one of the few innacurate parts of the movie. it has a woman christening the Titanic, although the ship never was christened. The footage of the Titanic going down the gantry way into the sea, is actually the Queen Elizabeth. Next, they show the people from all lives leaving their homes along with their homes and friends, to go to America. After that, comes the main character of the movie, Charles Lightoller played by Kenneth More. We next go down to the docks where they introduce the other main characters of the ship, Thomas Andrews played by Micheal Goodliffe, J. Bruce Ismay played by Frank Lawton, and Captain Edward Smith played by Laurence Naismith. They show the Titanic leaving, using footage of the Titanic's sister ship, Olympic. The next scenes are of a ship that was about to be scrapped, that they bought and made into the hull of the ship. The scenes of the full Titanic, are actually an 11 foot model, and could be made to look like the actual thing, with it being in black and white. The sets were built with the greatest detail that the designers could use, that would be closest to the original, and they used the plans and photographs to create the sets. The people were dressed in period clothes, and they even brought survivors in, to see the sets and watch the production. Joseph Boxhall the 4th officer of the Titanic served as technical advisor. The passengers on the sets were Edith Russell, Lawrence Beasely, and several others. Mrs. Lightoller the wife of Charles Lightoller, came too. The survivors would walk around the boat decks, corridors, cabins, bridge, and engine room, lost in memories of their experiences. When they had Thomas Andrews in the Smoking Room, awaiting his fate, the place would creak and groan as the tilt grew. It was very dramatic, and you can hear it in the movie. They actually had the end of the movie where everyone is in the lifeboats of the water, in a lake during the winter. They did use precautions, and no one got hypothermia. The movie became the most popular movie of the decade. When the young survivors saw it, they were reminded a lot of their fathers, lost in the disaster. It's because of this that when Ms. Millvina Dean was invited to have a private viewing of the 1997 version with Prince Charles of Wales, she refused because she couldn't bear another movie like that. The movie had made Captain Stanley Lord, the captain of the Californian, a lazy man that didn't care about the ship that was firing white rockets. It has been unproven, and Captain Lord's family was quite upset. This movie was liked by most survivors however, and the audiences have loved it. If you are wanting to see the 1997 version but you don't want to watch it because of a few bad parts in it, try this movie. It's far better, and more accurate.b

R.M.S. TITANIC vs. Titanic Movie

Here are just a few differences between the movie Titanic of 1997 and the real TITANIC:


1. The Grand Staircase:
The movie made the Grand Staircase almost perfectly except for the lower banister which was made bigger. In the real TITANIC, two people could barely go up it side by side. The movie made the dome above it collapse when all of my calculations say that the water met the dome inside at the same time the water met it outside. Plus, I don't think that the windows imploded until the ship reached the bottom.

2. The Dining Room:
The movie made the set smaller than the actual ship. The real TITANIC could support up to 554 passengers in the Dining Room. No glass was broken because when researchers went into the Dining Room, the windows were there in almost perfect condition.

3. Rose/Straus Suite:
In the movie, they added an extra room which contained a safe. In the real TITANIC, the Straus Suite had two bedrooms (like in the movie), a private bathroom, a sitting room (like in the movie), and a privately enclosed 50 foot long promenade deck. Instead of a Pablo Picasso painting, there was a mirror (Pablo was not as popular back then and his work was not widely distributed).

4. Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater
There is a J. Dawson but he was actually named James Dawson and he was a lamp trimmer and stoker. There was no Rose Bukater on the TITANIC.

5. The Heart of the Ocean
There is and was no Heart of the Ocean. There is however a Hope Diamond which looks very similar. It now rests in the Smithsonian and is said to be cursed.

6. The 1st class Smoking Room:
The Smoking Room was almost perfect in the movie except for the fact that the painting in the movie was of the entrance to New York instead of the entrance into Plymouth Harbor.

7. Passengers and Crew's Deaths:
There were many inaccurate deaths in the movie like John Jacob Asto8 of which is seen in the movie as being in the Grand Staircase when it sank but the real Astor was crushed by the forward funnel. The Strauses were depicted comforting each-other in bed as water swirled into their cabin but they actually sat in two deck chairs (Mr. Straus's body was later recovered). 1st officer Murdoch was shown in the movie shooting himself but all who knew him said he didn't and they have only two accounts and they could be of another officer (Murdoch's body was never recovered). It is unknown what happened to Captain Smith. The movie shows him in the bridge until the end and there are some accounts of him going into the bridge. However, some say that they saw Captain Smith in the water with a lifejacket on. It is unknown what also happened to Chief Officer Wilde of whom was depicted in the movie as the one in the water blowing a whistle.

1st class smoking room

Here is the only known remains of the Smoking Room.


This is the only known photograph of the room.

This is the Olympic's 1st class Smoking Room, but it's exactly like the Titanic except for the painting, which is of the entrance to New York. The one on the Titanic, is of the entrance to Plymouth Harbor.

The room was Georgian style and was situated for men only. It had mahogany wall paneling and had many stained glass windows which I think made it look like cathedral. It was towards the back and had a marble fireplace. It had a painting by Norman Wilkinson called, "Approaching the New World" which was of the entrance to Plymouth Harbor but the movies made it look like New York. During the sinking, Thomas Andrews and William T. Stead were last seen in that room. The smoking room is believed by some accounts of the sinking to have seen a light after the lights went out and it is believed to have been the fireplace in the smoking room. The TITANIC broke up above the surface and the smoking room fell out of the ship, broke apart, and sank. There is, however pieces of floor tile that was found.