National Geographic Video: Secrets of the Titanic

I was fortunate enough to get to sit down and watch the 1987 National Geographic documentary from 1987 titled "Secrets of the Titanic" in 2021. Needless to say that I jumped at the chance to watch this as I was presented with the opportunity, given my interest and fascination with the Titanic.

And I will say that "Secrets of the Titanic" is a good documentary. Sure, it is an aged one, but still very enjoyable and informative. Albeit, a bit on the slow paced side though, so you might want to arm yourself with a pinch of patience for this one.

There is a fair amount of underwater footage, and given the technology back in the mid-1980s, it was actually quite good. Sure, in comparison by what they have to bring to the bottom of the ocean today, it simply dwarfs and looks ancient.

"Secrets of the Titanic" is a wholehearted documentary, though I feel like I didn't actually learn something new from it. Sure, I understand that back in 1987 this shed a lot of light on things, but having sat through numerous documentaries on the subject, there was nothing already told for me here.

And that is perhaps also what reflects on my rating of the documentary, which initially settled on a five out of ten stars, but given the importance of this particular early documentary, I am upping my rating to a six out of ten stars.

Once thought "unsinkable" - The RMS Titanic now sits, in its watery grave, at the very bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (2.5 miles down).

Join Dr. Robert Ballard and his diligent research team as they triumphantly become the very first to locate, photograph, and explore (through high-tech robotic cameras) this famed wreckage 74 years after its sinking in 1912.

Presented by "National Geographic" - This intriguing, 50-minute historical documentary was originally filmed back in 1986 - But, it still holds some relevance today, 32 years later.

I went through a brief Titanic phase as a teen and it was largely due to this special. Here, the grand oceanliner is portrayed as a monument to human achievement, and then the film promptly plunges you into the deep to survey what remains of her today (in '86 at least). The sight of the ruins almost make this kind of a ghost story, by virtue of the robotic camera footage and Martin Sheen's server narration detail of the ship's final moments before sinking. This is a fascinating documentary and an excellent starting point in anyone's Titanic research.

As I wrote in a review of the 1958 A Night to Remember, I am convinced that the ultimate Titanic story has yet to be told. While that version is about as good as the existing Hollywood versions get, Nicolas Noxon's National Geographic: Secrets of the Titanic (1986) is still the best Titanic story on celluloid, for MY money. It has as much drama and pathos as any of the movie versions and is even more riveting than the Hollywood accounts. I wish future studio directors would take time to absorb some of Noxon's class and savvy before filming.

If any real Titanic or shipwreck fan has NOT seen this 1986 documentary in its entirety-or has not seen it since it first came out, he/she needs to do so. While some additional evidence has been unearthed since it was made, it capsualizes the events very concisely and powerfully. I enjoyed the huge four-volume set someone produced a couple of years ago. Yet it lost in bulk and repetitiveness anything it might have held in advantage over Noxon's film.

The film consists of two parallel stories taking place at once. Bob Ballard and his crew are searching for the long-lost Titanic. Meanwhile, we see the `huge mound of steel taking shape' in the Irish shipyards. We learn about the building of this behemoth and the Gilded Age in which it was designed, as we see the underwater explorers trying to do the impossible. It is tempting today to forget that the Titanic was lost for three-quarters of a century. Noxon dramatizes this to its utmost. `The Titanic: no longer lost, no longer legend,' narrator Martin Sheen reminds us, as we see the ghostly underwater images.

Everything about this film is well-done. The historic montages are excellent and in only a couple of instances have Noxon's facts been challenged by later data. To me, the human disaster is actually brought home more poignantly than in any of the Hollywood films about the disaster. Of course, Ballard was and is a class act. His reverence and respect for the wreck site is admirable. The pirating of Titanic, Lusitania and others in recent years is, to me, deplorable. The fact that Ballard was unable to talk about the Titanic for months after its initial discovery speaks volumes about the man.

In just 51 minutes, Noxon makes us really feel the tragedy and irony of the most famous naval disaster in history and the also the exultation and saddened awe of the most famous undersea discovery of all time. It is a pity it is no longer available on video and not yet available on DVD in the United States. (Fortunately I have an aging tape, recorded from an early 1990s broadcast of it.) If the opportunity presents itself to view, copy, rent or buy this outstanding film in any format, I strongly urge one to do so. For my money, this is still the best telling of the Titanic story on film.

I watched my video of Secrets of the Titanic for the first time in ages recently and it still leaves me as cold as the first time I saw it. Thankfully the 20 year old tape is still in good condition and plays really well.

From Martin Sheen's opening that 'It began here in Ireland' to Ballard's closing 'She's sitting upright on the bottom and at rest' the video is truly gripping, both in telling the story of the ships sinking and telling the story of the search and eventual discovery of the ship.

It includes photos taken on Titanic by Father Francis Browne, which are very sad as with pretty much certainty you know that those pictured were very soon about to lose their lives. One shows Captain Smith peering down from the bridge wing 'poised on the brink of destiny'.

Sheen's narration is perfectly paced, sombre when he has to be and informative when explaining about the technology the search team uses while exploring the wreck. If there is a star to this video it is the robot Jason Junior who skims around the wreck most notably taking a ride down what is left of the grand staircase area. Later, we get to see other areas of the ship, doors still with signs on, easily readable inscriptions on capstans and the chandelier still hanging from the ceiling.

The part where the camera pans over the deck is extremely eerie and you half expect to see the ghostly figure of Captain Smith beckoning you toward him with a bony finger.

The soundtrack is excellent, haunting when the ship is seen for the first time when the bow emerges from the gloom and sad when Sheen describes the victims and how they realised their fates.

All in all a great video and National Geographic should repeat it for its 20 year anniversary.