S.O.S. Titanic

This Titanic movie that came out had the lack of special effects, but had a wonderful, but fictional cast. Lawrence Beesley who was played by David Warner was my number one favorite character of the movie, more of the hero type of man. The movie shows the lives of all three classes, not just only a certain portion. Though rarely seen on cable television anymore, SOS Titanic was general a good movie to watch. Most of the filming was took aboard the Queen Mary, which I think that was nice too. This film should be good for all viewers to see.

Shot at Shepperton on a TV budget. Numerous familiar British faces, including a relatively young Helen Mirren, flit in and out of this good, straightforward account of the Titanic disaster along with several Irish actors below stairs, including a remarkably young and dashing Gerard McSorley (who I first encountered nearly twenty years later in an episode of 'Father Ted') as the nearest equivalent in this version to Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 epic.

David Warner had an exceptionally demeaning supporting role in James Cameron's later travesty, but is here soulful and sympathetic as real-life survivor Lawrence Beesley (1877-1967), who was entirely omitted from Cameron's version, but whose burgeoning romance with Susan Saint James gets the most screen time in this version and is far more interesting and touching to follow than the egregious scenes between DiCaprio & Kate Winslet which eat up footage in the remake.

SOS Titanic offers a very powerful look at the famed ocean liner and her doomed passengers. My only caution to present-day viewers is that the current DVD offers a shortened view of the original film. When this made-for-TV movie was released in 1979, it was about 30 minutes longer than the DVD you can buy or rent today. The original version was much better and more recent edits have taken away the great flow of the story as originally aired. If you remember this movie from the 70s and 80s, you will likely be disappointed by the DVD. It is hoped that a future DVD will address this and bring back SOS Titanic in its full, un-edited glory.

This is a very underrated film. If you look unbiasedly at it you can see where James Cameron got his inspiration, as some scenes of his Titanic are identical to this version. This is a well crafted film that tries to tightly stick to the point. It is very interesting that David Warner features prominantly in this version & in Cameron's. Why??? This film is very atmospheric & authentic, but unlike Cameron's version, it doesn't have the emotive sentimentality & glamour. Overall, this is an intelligent informative family film, for people who appreciate qualities other than special effects.

This take on the "Titanic" falls into the "docudrama" category with only a few invented characters; most of the others are the canonical Titanic personnel. I particularly liked the dramatic device of having two second class passengers acting as a sort of "Greek chorus," commenting on events there, above and below. Most Titanic films concentrate on first and sometimes third classes, but virtually everyone ignores "the middle." By using mainly historical characters, the story has a real poignancy, but more focus than on the more famous "A Night to Remember."