Review of A Night to Remember (1958) by Jarrod B — 07 Aug 2009

Perhaps even today the most historically accurate film concerning the genuine passengers of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, A Night to Remember is an extremely faithful adaptation of Walter Lord's novel concerning the sinking, featuring a cast which assumes the roles of only real passengers, unlike James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster.

There are some dramatic licenses taken here and there, notably making Second Officer Lightoller a more charming individual and also playing up the importance of his role so that Kenneth More could get top billing.

Whilst the film portrays the now false assumption that the Titanic had sunk intact, everything else is more or less very similar to what happened on that fateful night, right down to many of the lines which the cast deliver verbatim from eye-witness testimony recorded in Lord's book.

The cast are a great selection of British actors, all of whom perform their parts with good grace. The special effects, though poor by today's standards, were ahead of their time for 1958, and still occasionally look reasonably sharp.

Music is mainly quite melodramatic, but is still reasonably interesting. All in all, this is a very strong black and white production, which brings a human emotional depth to one of the worst maritime disasters in history.