8mm Forum: Titanic Sinks Again

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Topic: Titanic Sinks Again

Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted May 11, 2008 03:41 PM

Yes folks...this is the New Zealand version of James Cameron Titanic made on a slightly smaller budget [Smile]

actually I took those photos of this kids slide getting set up close to where we live..neat eh!

there she goes folks

Its amazing what people come up with..oh and thats the bungy thing in the background if you want a birds eye view, not recomended to use straight after breakfast though [Smile]

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 11, 2008 05:06 PM

A slide? Can't wait to see what they do with the Hindenburg!

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Dan Lail
Film God

Posts: 2110
From: Loganville, Georgia, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 11, 2008 05:49 PM

Gee! I wonder how many inflated dolls went down. [Big Grin]

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Brian Hendel
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 902
From: New York, New York
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 11, 2008 07:31 PM

Wow... there's something really bizarre and perhaps even tasteless about this slide (but I would have to go on it, of course, and scream "I'm King of the World" all the way down!)

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 11, 2008 08:43 PM

Yes,

I think we are too many genaerations seperated from the disaster to understand how bad it really was.

My wife was at having lunch at work while Titanic was still in the theaters. One of her co-workers commented "It was such a sad story: good thing it didn't really happen."

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Patrick Walsh
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 723
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2006

posted May 11, 2008 10:34 PM

Hi Graham I have seen that slide around before it is at all the shows/fairs, It is a bit of a "bad taste" to see kids running up and sliding down it enjoying themselves! I actually saw in the local hobby shop a model of the Titanic for kids that you build up then when put in water it sinks bow first to about a 50o angle then slides beneth the water, Makes you wonder if the WTC will be exploited in the comming decades??....... [Frown]

Pat

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"Raise The Titanic!", It would of been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!

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Kevin Faulkner
Film God

Posts: 4071
From: Essex UK
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 12, 2008 10:24 AM

I tend to agree with you guys. It does look in bad taste and could upset some f the older generations that did lose relatives aboard the said vessel.

Your right of course in that most of the kids going down it probably wont know the significance.

Kev.

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Jan Bister
Darth 8mm

Posts: 2629
From: Ohio, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted May 12, 2008 02:32 PM

I suggest they add a pool filled with icey water at the bottom of this "slide" ... that'll teach the kids! [Eek!]

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Call me Phoenix. *dusts off the ashes*

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted May 13, 2008 03:43 AM

One thing the Titanic movies and even the kids slide does achieve and thats keeping the interest of the Titanic disaster alive, up to "A Night To Remember" being released in 1958 Titanic had mostly been forgotton about by the general public and if kids can return to school after there slide and ask questions about it then that can only be a good thing, ask them if they have heard about Titanic most will put there hands up, ask them about the Goya which sank in the Baltic in 1945 with a terrible loss of almost 7000 men women and children, the kids wont no what you are on about.

Its interesting to note that James Cameron's film was badly flawed regarding the portrail of Murdoch he did not take bribes or shoot a passenger before taking his own life in fact there are accounts from survivors of how he struggled to save as many passengers as he could before he was washed overboard while battling to free a lifeboat, his last words to a seaman were "Goodbye and good luck". In 1912 after his death the people of Dalbeattie where he was born set up a memorial bursary for the school children of the town in his memory, when the 1997 film was released the towns people were furious and took on 20th Century Fox. In 1998 an executive of Fox arrived in the town to formally apologise and to donate 5000 pound to the Murdoch Memorial prize fund of Dalbeattie High School a small price to pay for a brave man's defamed reputation.

Graham.

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Jan Bister
Darth 8mm

Posts: 2629
From: Ohio, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted May 13, 2008 04:31 AM

Wow Graham [Eek!]

what a story, thanks for sharing it with us. I agree, that was a small price to pay... what would have been more appropriate would be for James Cameron to release a sort of director's cut which puts the portrayal of Murdoch right, at least by cutting out the "shoot-someone-then-himself" scene.

Did you guys know, btw, that the very first Titanic movie was made just months after the actual disaster? Drat, I can't think of the name or any other details now... but I remember seeing it as part of a Discovery Channel documentary (of which, of course, there were many after the 1997 movie release).

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Patrick Walsh
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 723
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2006

posted May 13, 2008 05:33 PM

List of Titanic films are as follows

TITANIC FILMS

SAVED FROM THE TITANIC 1912
TITANIC 1943 (German)
TITANIC 1953
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER 1958
SOS TITANIC 1979 (TV in US also come out in cinemas in a edited version)
RAISE THE TITANIC 1980
TITANIC 1996 (TV)
TITANIC 1997

FILMS FEATURING THE TITANIC

NIGHT AND ICE 1912 (German)
CAVALCADE 1933
THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN 1964
TIME BANDITS 1981
GHOSTBUSTERS 1989
NO GREATER LOVE 1996 (TV)
THE CHAIMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC 1997
GHOST OF THE ABYSS 2003

The first Titanic film SAVED FROM THE TITANIC stars Dorothy Gibson an actrss who was saved from the real Titanic 4 weeks earlier, she wore the dress that she had on the night the ship sank, sadly the film no longer exists only a couple of photos are floating around.

http://www.jimusnr.com/

above website is a very good one about all the Titanic movie/TV releated things that have come out over the years.

Ther German Titanic was filmed on board the luxary liner CAP ARCONA that I believe was sadly destroyed towards the end of WW2 when the RAF droped some bombs on it little did they now it was being used at the time to transport POWS.
I have it on DVD and the film is very good, alot of special effects scenes in it were "pinched" and later appeared in A NIGHT TO RERMEMBR.

[Big Grin]

Pat

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"Raise The Titanic!", It would of been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted May 13, 2008 07:44 PM

Graham,
Personally I think this inflatable is in horrible taste. Nothing against you posting it; I am glad you did so we can see it, but to comment on it.

I think the Titanic disaster was monumental on so many levels; the idea of 'indomitability' being swept away with this ship loaded with some of the wealthiest and poorest people all together just was an incredible history lesson, a human tragedy and an amazing symbolic icon all rolled into one.

The more you read about that dreadful night, the more you see the heroics and the tragedies. It should never be reduced to a kid's plaything. Nor to the kind of film James Cameron made.

As an amateur musician I have always had the greatest respect for the band aboard. That they kept at it until the end is something beyond words.

There is a memorial here in DC, down on the river, to the ones who died that night. It never fails to move me when I go by.

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Jan Bister
Darth 8mm

Posts: 2629
From: Ohio, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted May 14, 2008 12:25 AM

Claus,

you say the scope of the real disaster is reduced by James Cameron's film version, but I disagree... I saw it 3 times and bawled my eyes out every single time, it was that touching and that powerful in bringing home the real impact of how horrible the loss of lives was (and no less the sights and sounds the survivors would have to remember from that night forward). One might argue that the fictional love story detracts from the historic facts or that the special effects and the long, drawn-out portrayal of the ship's sinking are typical Hollywood ways of satisfying moviegoers' lust for disaster and raking in the cash... but IMHO it's exactly that long and detailed way of showing the whole disaster that leaves such a lasting impression on me.
Did you know it was during a trip down to the Titanic wreck that James Cameron was moved to tears and decided to make this film? I think that says something about the genuinity behind his intention to make the audience feel what it was really like.

And Pat,

you forgot one mention of Titanic, in the wonderful cartoon "No Time For Nuts" featuring Scrat of Ice Age fame. [Cool]

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted May 14, 2008 05:18 AM

Hi Jan
I also watched James Cameron"s film about three times and thought it was well done, the effects of the engine room the bridge and the ship itself was amazing, the final hour of the film was riviting stuff, years ago I had the Super8 copy "A Night To Remember" still think thats the best one, however without Walter Lord"s book of the same name and the movies that were to follow "Titanic" could easily have been just another illustration and story in a history book, so the movies even though at times are not always factual have managed to keep the interest of the Titanic disaster alive.

Graham.

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Jan Bister
Darth 8mm

Posts: 2629
From: Ohio, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted May 14, 2008 05:53 AM

Indeed

in fact, it wasn't until the 1997 film that I caught fire and started diving into books and websites about the Titanic and actual historic events surrounding the ship and its passengers, extending even to those that were supposed to be on board but didn't make it. (I can't imagine how they must've felt when they heard about the sinking...)

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted May 15, 2008 07:57 PM

Jan,

I do think the set design, and the presentation of the majesty of the ship was something that Cameron did make happen very well. The budget there went to the right places.

Where I have problems with the film is, firstly, where it winds up turning on the silly love story when there were so many real poignant stories to tell. A film version of Titanic, bringing to life the very real people aboard and some of their stories would make, for me, the story so much more honest and focused, and so much more heartbreaking. But I realize ticket sales play into the script....

The second part I object to is the sinking and how it, in almost obscene fashion, gets turned into a Universal-style amusement ride. The horror of the screws appearing above water, juxtaposed with the clever, choreographed extras dropping into oblivion just makes me go...gee, aren't they showing off.

But the one shot that really aggravates is the "let's ride on the tail of the ship as it goes down" moment. That's just inexcusable, given the reality and the history of the story.
Cheap theatrics in the service of re-telling a story that should be about grief, not about nicely lit shots of DiCaprio and his lady bobbing easily in what was freezing waters where people were in their last moments.

And the real tragedy is that the story of Titanic most likely will never see this kind of budget again to get it right.

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 15, 2008 09:07 PM

I agree with you 100% Claus. Cameron's film was impressive from the point of view of presenting the stunning visuals of that great ship, but the stupid soap opera love story aspect trivialized and diminished the film.
In my book, there is only one great Titanic movie, the 1951 British film 'A Night to Remember'. Starring the great Kenneth Moore, it is really an authentic documentary of that night over the north Atlantic. The lofty stature of this 1951 film has in no way been threatened by Cameron's multimillion dollar effort.
Incidentally, if anyone is visiting Orlando, there is now a superb permanent Titanic exhibit at the Orlando Science Museum. Complete with real Titanic artifacts recovered from the wreck, a recreation of the Staterooms and main staircase, and an outdoor deck scene recreation complete with icebergs, stars, and frigid temperatures to capture the feeling of having to jump overboard that night. Well worth seeing.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 15, 2008 09:44 PM

Bummer!,

I was in Orlando two weeks ago and saw nothing but The Mouse!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted May 15, 2008 10:08 PM

Paul,

Absolutely. There is an old-fashioned nobility to 'A Night to Remember' that has a spirit that I too feel does convey more of the dignity in the face of horror than any of the recent offerings, however fancy the effects.

If I get to Orlando, I will be sure to look for the exhibit.

Claus.

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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