Atlantic

No movie with Madeleine Carroll in its cast could possibly be unwatchable. That said, I have to add that this British film comes close. The story takes place on board the `SS Atlantic' and it's loosely based on the `Titanic's' unfinished voyage. The word `unsinkable' is spoken, the liner strikes an iceberg, and we hear a heavenly choir sing `Nearer My God to Thee.' The doomed passengers eventually take over the anthem, in a clever bit of sound work. But the year of the film's release (1929) means that a modern viewer has to accept otherwise primitive sound and many of the acting conventions of silent films and the stage. These aren't problems. The film's major flaw is pacing, and pacing had been well developed in silents. However, if the dialog were delivered at a realistic speed, the movie's running time would be cut in half. The intended effect was drama (and clarity in a new medium), but the result unhappily is tiresome now. The film's structure is preposterously illogical and inept. Paradoxically, I found certain details of the editing quite modern in technique: fine, abrupt cuts from one area of the ship to another, sometimes even on sound effects. Although we're on board the `Atlantic' from the first shot, we were well over 4 minutes into the movie before I discovered that fact. There are long, intrusive musical passages by the ship's dance orchestra. (Entertaining, easy sound.) Personal stories are presented in an utterly uninvolving and unconvincing way. Don't even think of spectacle. The berg is a tiny thing and the exterior damage it does to the ship's hull is a minor dent. However, the scenes of passengers swarming into the lifeboats - clearly staged on a real liner, presumably tied up to a dock - generate great excitement. Other than the glorious Miss Carroll, these sequences are the film's only points of excellence. As the movie and the ship near their end, the screen goes totally black several times when the power generators begin to fail. Their last, eternal blackout is the end of the film, with a sunset/sunrise tacked on, a clumsy symbolic effect. `Atlantic' is a cinema curiosity. At best.

From what I understand this was the first movie about the RMS Titanic that featured sound and it was produced in English, German and French (along with a silent version as well). The title was changed to "Atlantic" for fear of lawsuits. In any case, this film essentially depicts a small handful of passengers who have some interpersonal drama going on both before and after the ship hits the iceberg and begins to sink. Initially, most of the passengers are unaware that the ship is sinking which compounds the problem even more. At least that is the scenario that is portrayed in this particular film. Whether any of that is true or not is unknown to me. Be that as it may, I believe that in order for a person to enjoy this movie it is necessary to appreciate the era in which this film was made and for the viewer to make certain allowances for that fact. Likewise, although there have certainly been better films produced pertaining to the subject at hand, this is still a decent movie overall and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

For some reason this 1929 film was titled Atlantic when it could have easily been titled Titanic, or something with "Titanic" in its title (however it has been released on video as Titanic.) I suppose they might have titled it Atlantic due to fictional characters and stories that didn't really happen on The Titanic and its fateful voyage, but the story of the film is clearly the disaster that happened to The Titanic. The ship in the film is crossing The Atlantic, and enters areas known to have icebergs. Many of the characters introduced are wealthy types, and we know there were very rich and prominent passengers on The Titanic. Some of the characters include: A husband and father, who cheats on his wife during the voyage; his wife, who tearfully knows her husband was with another woman; their daughter, who outspokenly resents her father for cheating on her mother; a recently wed couple with child on the way; a wheelchair bound gentleman who seems to become the wisdom during the crisis; his wife, who will not leave his side when it's "women and children first;" and a man who seems to drink heavily even before the disaster happens. During the voyage the ship strikes an iceberg, and begins to sink. Lifeboats are being filled with women and children as the ship sends S.O.S. Pandemonium breaks out with many passengers, but our main characters seem to fall into a sad calmness. There is a gathering of many passengers in a lounge, and they drink or play cards to pass the time while waiting to die. On another part of the ship, people are huddled together and singing, "Nearer My God To Thee." Soon all goes black and we know the ship has gone down. This is where the film ends, and there are no scenes of the lifeboats after the sinking. Nor are we shown any scenes of surviving characters, or a rescue ship. Obviously many facts of what happened on The Titanic are correctly portrayed, but other events in Atlantic are either incorrect to The Titanic's disaster, or added as fiction. Atlantic was released by British International Pictures, and the quality of this feature is fine. The film has its typical (of the era) share of crudeness (grainy, jumping, lighting, editing), and there are several instances where it seems like a silent film. There are a couple instances where cheerful music seems very inappropriate to situations going on in the film, (I don't mean when the band begins to play as passengers are being put in lifeboats; this inappropriate music is before the ship strikes the iceberg.) There are a few instances of continuity errors in Atlantic. Atlantic does not attempt much in the way of special effects, but what is attempted is nicely done. The sinking of the ship is not shown, but is indicated when the screen goes black one final time. Having the film end right at the sinking creates a feeling of incompleteness, and it seems the story should have had a more meaningful conclusion. The acting in Atlantic is fair to good, and the film as a whole is fair to good. I found the film to be more thought-provoking than exciting, and it is an interesting disaster effort.

How interesting that E.A. Dupont who created one of germany's most memorable silent films (VARIETY) also helmed one of England's first talkies. Obviously he was uneasy with the medium of talking pictures, note how the first 6 minutes of this film is entirely visual. Most of the cast had stage experience, you can tell because they over-exaggerate their lines and cannon out the words like they were playing to the back row. Still this is a well paced dramatic film and the final few minutes have an impact that can stand on their own alongside the later versions, TITANIC and A NIGHT TO REMEMBER. (I am deliberately excluding James Cameron's film with its budget that would have fed a 3rd World country for 10 years and its plethora of computer FX.)

I purchased this film on DVD to add to my collection of Madeleine Carroll films, and although the stunningly beautiful actress does not have a tremendous amount of screen time, I was not disappointed in the final product. I've never particularly cared for disaster films, and the Cameron blockbuster of a few years ago left me decidedly cold, as it were. Not being an expert on the events surrounding the sinking, I was still quite sure that this mega-hit had little relation to what actually transpired on that fateful night. In any event, I am convinced that the film under review is of greater historical accuracy, and unlike the other reviewers, I am not particularly discouraged to discover that a film made almost 80 years ago is not quite as "spiffy" as more recent products. At the very least, films of this type should be regarded as valuable documents of the ways things were done in the not too distant past, and when you realize that "Atlantic" was made a mere 17 years after the Titanic went down, that is all the more reason to cherish it as an invaluable time capsule of a significant event in the annals of the 20th century that still apparently fascinates a great many people.

As far as the individual performances are concerned, I thought that the players effectively conveyed the starkness of the dilemma the doomed passengers were facing, especially the futility of those remaining men who had hope no hope of salvation, the end being only a matter time. Of particular note was the abrupt contrast between the gay frivolity that permeated the mood immediately before the bad news was conveyed by Lanchester and what immediately followed. Add to that Monica's frantic separation from her husband, as she was literally dragged on to the hanging lifeboat, was quite poignant, made all the more so when the news that she was pregnant became known later.

For those interested in a well made vintage film that provides a fascinating look at a sensational event with which practically everyone alive has at least some inkling of, I highly recommend this film. (And there's the added bonus of a very young Madeleine Carroll to feast your eyes on).