Review of A Night to Remember (1958) by Chris B — 16 Mar 2014
This year is the 100th anniversary of the great Titanic's sinking and due to this it seems that all variations of the tragedy are being upgraded to Blu-ray and lucky for us they are some great films overall.
"A Night to Remember" is often thought of as the best of these adaptations of the sinking and while I still have yet to watch the original "Titanic" from 1953, I can say this will be a tough act to follow! The film is beautifully captured in gorgeous black and white and is truly stunning to see in motion! The new 2K transfer is breathtaking and the whites are angelic while the blacks are inky and deep with a tremendous clarity and amount of detail in the image! This is the way to do restorations with older films, Criterion went to the original 35mm negative and created the 2K scan and then made further modifications all the while keeping the light layer of grain and theatrical look of the film.
The film itself isn't filled with melodrama like the James Cameron "Titanic" from 1997 and while that film had it's own pros and cons, this is by far the superior film in every conceivable way besides maybe special effects.
The acting that has over 200 voiced parts is top notch and the characters well developed, even the bit parts all make a world of difference to the feel and mood of the film. The dialogue is smart and the suspense fills every scene in the film from the 30th minute on, when the Titanic hits the iceberg, until the final closing scene.
There is a brief passage at the end that sums up the whole event rather well and poetically and really closes the film in a suitable manner. If there is one film you need to see about the Titanic then this is the film to see, although you have probably seen the Cameron version already though due to it's wide release and massive advertising.
"A Night to Remember" is a true classic and a wonderful cinematic achievement about one of the greatest of recent day tragedies and the people who were on the ship that fateful night.
This review of A Night to Remember (1958) was written by Chris B on 16 Mar 2014.
A Night to Remember has generally received very positive reviews.
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