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S.O.S. Titanic

S.O.S. Titanic (1980)

February. 29,1980
|
6.2
| Drama History Thriller TV Movie

The Titanic disaster as seen through the eyes of one couple in each of the three classes on board.

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ChicRawIdol
1980/02/29

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

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Taraparain
1980/03/01

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

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Humbersi
1980/03/02

The first must-see film of the year.

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Philippa
1980/03/03

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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robertalexanderlindsey
1980/03/04

O.K., so it might be a tad worse than some other Titanic films, and 'A Night to Remember' may be to 'S.O.S. Titanic' what '2001: A Space Odyssey' is to 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones'. But remember how badly directed James Cameron's 1997 'Titanic' was, and bear in mind how badly 'Raise the Titanic' flopped at the box office in 1980. What I'm trying to say is, look at the better things attributed to 'S.O.S Titanic', like David Warner's awesome performance as schoolteacher Lawrence Beesley, who, in 1912, wrote the book 'The Loss of the S.S. Titanic', which stands as one of the most authentic and realistic eyewitness accounts ever written about any disaster. Or how about Howard Blake's wonderful soundtrack, or Cloris Leachman, or Ian Holm as White Star Line president J. Bruce Ismay. And even better, the fact that the original 1979 Television version is superior to the edited theatrical release that many of you have seen. It may not be the best, but 'S.O.S. Titanic' is second only to 'A Night to Remember' when it comes to retelling the story of history's most famous ship.

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Michael_Elliott
1980/03/05

S.O.S. Titanic (1979) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent telling of the April 14, 1912 tragedy with the main focus being on school teacher Lawrence Beesley (David Warner) and the fictional character Leigh Goodwin (Susan Saint James). Also included is David Janssen as John Jacob Astor, Cloris Leachman as Molly Brown, Ian Holm as J. Bruce Ismay, Helen Mirren as Mary Sloan and Harry Andrews as Captain Edward Smith. This film was originally shown over two nights on ABC with a running time of 150-minutes but the version I watched was the one released theatrically in Europe and running at 102-minutes. From what I've read the full version has never been released and all releases outside that original airing is the shorter cut. I have no idea if the longer version is better but I'm going to guess that the love story between Beesley and Goodwin was expanded. Their love story here is pretty hit and miss as it jumps all over the place and the conclusion also doesn't make too much sense. Those two characters get most of the screen time early on with the others getting bits and pieces here and there. The Molly Brown character is mainly used for comic relief but I found Leachman to be too over-the-top. I think Warner comes off the best here as he is very believable in the role and you just can't help but really like the guy. Holm is cold like a snake as Isley and Mirren does a pretty good job in her few scenes. I think the biggest problem is that none of the characters are written too well and many of them come off pretty one-dimensional. Perhaps this wouldn't be a problem in the longer version but none of them are overly entertaining here. I also wasn't too impressed with the direction, which seemed way too laid back for my blood. There's really no drama in any of the personal stories and even the sinking never reaches the type of drama that it should. With that said, the movie is still somewhat entertaining simply because of the subject matter. I really enjoyed the look of the picture and I found the sets to be extremely well done. I also found the sinking to be pretty good even though they do show the boat going down in one piece, which was thought to have been what happened at the time. The special effects are pretty good even though they never try to be too impressive and for the most part we see them from far shots. I've read mixed things about the extended version so perhaps it's a much better movie that fixes some of the problems I had with this version.

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dbdumonteil
1980/03/06

People complain about the lack of a decent plot and the cardboard characters ,but it was the rule of the disaster movies of the seventies ,a genre which was already on the wane when this MTV flick was made ;it was not the first and was not to be the last.Anyway, a wreckage is a plot in itself isn't it? People who enjoyed the unfairly despised Cameron 's movie should watch this: there are many elements ,apart from David Warner -who does not play a villain who handcuffs Leonardo but an educated professor who finds love :a very bland story anyway- which will reappear in Cameron's work: the black and white shots at the beginning ,the upper classes and the masses on the boat,the latter's rebellion's during the wreckage ;on the lifeboat the countess plays a role similar to that of Kathy Bates ;the Irish folk music and the ball;Cameron found more inspiration here than in Negulesco's "Titanic" or the German effort.The second MTV work (starring G. C.Scott and Eva-Marie Saint was not that much an improvement on the 1979 "SOS titanic" .

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zpzjones
1980/03/07

This is an intelligent mans' version of the Titanic tragedy & possibly my favorite film on the disaster. An ambitious production, it was filmed in England, Nova Scotia & Long Beach. It has the distinction of being the first Titanic movie filmed in color albeit for television. Contrary to previous posts it does not, to my knowledge, use recycled(colorized)footage from A Night To Remember. Bothe films use the newsreel footage of the original Queen Elizabeth being launched as a stand in for Titanic. If this had been made for the big screen it probably would've been better received as well as being better known today. The movie is based primarily on a book by 2nd Class pasenger/survivor Lawrence Beasley. Beasley's book came out in June 1912 only two months after the real disaster. So his recollections, such as getting into a lifeboat with his pajamas on, was still quite fresh and not diluted by forty or fifty years of time. Beesley is played here by David Warner who was the bodyguard Spicer in the Cameron-Titanic film. The film makers shot the picture in a sort of muted colors. that is to say what would be the opposite of splashy Technicolor. The 3rd Class gets the good treatment in this film. the scenes showing the Irish immigrants being ferried out to the liner are well done. Also the Phun Boats that marketed over priced Irish goods to wealthy ocean liner passengers. Beasley & his female consort Leigh Goodwin stand in for the generic 2nd Class passengers...adding to our consciousness the plights of the haves(1st Class)& the have nots(3rd Class). Some characterizations stand out: Maurice Roeves as stoker Fred Barrett, Geoffrey Whitehead as Thomas Andrews(he favors the real Andrews), Ian Holm as the best Bruce Ismay of any of the Titanic movies, Chloris Leachman as Molly Brown, David Janssen & Beverly Ross as the Astors, Harry Andrews as Captain Smith, Susan Saint James as a dignified Leigh Goodwin & D.Warner as a very thoughtful Lawrence Beasley. Exterior shots of the Queen Mary in Long Bch are obvious but it never hampens the story. It's just good film making to make the QM look like the Titanic. The soundtrack is excellent, mixed with elegant tunes from the period, from Victor Herbert to Scott Joplin as well as the film's original score. Particularly nice is the middle eastern theme playing while the women get a massage & their hair done as well as many other themes. Characters are included in this film that are left out in others ie: Leigh Goodwin, the two boot cleaners, Alvie the elevator boy, 1st Class stewardess Violet Jessop, Fred Barrett, Rene Harris etc. The film is wonderfully paced & takes it's time. The full uncut version(with Carpathia rescue at beginning)can run on t.v. for 3hrs. This is the version I'd recommend not the cut 90 min home vid version. There are long scenes of passengers going about their business like the elderly lady just sitting in her deck chair enjoying the excitement. This most likely was 1st Class passenger Emily Ryerson because the actress is made up to look just like a photo of Ryerson. The sinking of the ship is handled very well & shot from many of the passengers' points of view. There's no ship shown breaking in half as this was 1978 and before the wreck of the real ship was found. But the producers couldn't have been far off from the truth the way it is presented her.Discrepancies abound as in every Titanic film. Violet Jessop while included here is shown as an old woman stewardess, not the young 25 yr old w/artist model looks that she was in 1912. Chief Officer,who drowned, is accurately shown writing a letter to his sister which he did but the film shows him writing words that 1st Officer Lighttoller had written in his own account of the sinking years later. And as stated earlier the QM is so obviously not the Titanic. Also the crew of the Carpathia are shown making rescue preparations at the site of the sinking instead of enroute to it.So sit back and enjoy the Titanic tragedy events re-enacted sumptuously. Like I stated, it's a well mae & ambitious production intended for television at that. It gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

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