A Night To Remember

[William Oakes]

I watched the 1958 film A Night To Remember again last night.
The film stars Kenneth Moore as 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller and in my humble opinion, it is the very best dramatic film made on the subject of the Titanic. I can vividly remember watching this movie with my father back in the mid-1960's when it was televised for the first time.
It was my father who kindled my interest in the Titanic.
After watching this film with him, he took me, as a young lad, to the library and helped me check out books on the Titanic, including Walter Lord's, A Night To Remember.
Obviously there were many heroes on that fateful evening, but 2nd Officer Lightoller truly does stand out as a man who kept a cool head and did his duty throughout the events of that night.
His own account of being sucked under against a ventilation grate and the being blown free after a blast of hot air from deep within the ship is remarkable in and of itself.
The fact that he went on to organize and save others clinging to collapsible B is a testament to his cool head and ability to think and act under pressure.
If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend it.
Lightoller is a man I would have loved to sit down and have a beer and a conversation with.

 

[Kyle Naber]

I watched the 1958 film A Night To Remember again last night.
The film stars Kenneth Moore as 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller and in my humble opinion, it is the very best dramatic film made on the subject of the Titanic. I can vividly remember watching this movie with my father back in the mid-1960's when it was televised for the first time.
It was my father who kindled my interest in the Titanic.
After watching this film with him, he took me, as a young lad, to the library and helped me check out books on the Titanic, including Walter Lord's, A Night To Remember.
Obviously there were many heroes on that fateful evening, but 2nd Officer Lightoller truly does stand out as a man who kept a cool head and did his duty throughout the events of that night.
His own account of being sucked under against a ventilation grate and the being blown free after a blast of hot air from deep within the ship is remarkable in and of itself.
The fact that he went on to organize and save others clinging to collapsible B is a testament to his cool head and ability to think and act under pressure.
If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend it.
Lightoller is a man I would have loved to sit down and have a beer and a conversation with.

It’s agreed that Lightoller was great in the sense that he saved many lives and did so very effectively. However, there is question in the air as to how well ANTR depicted his calm character. I like how Cameron showed his calm moments as well as a few in which one would naturally begin to worry.

ANTR definitely is a must-watch film for anyone interested in Titanic. And just like any movie on the disaster, there are mistakes and inaccuracies. It still offers a tremendous amount of information and essence of the night and of the ship.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

One of the criticisms of ANTR is that the Lightoller depicted in ANTR seems to be a composite of several officers. He seems to be everywhere ! Some of the more experts on these forums of Lightoller seem to have different opinions of Lightoller.

However, I am not one of the experts and ANTR is my favorite Titanic movie.
It is probably, even with some errors, the most nearly correct movie from a historic viewpoint.

If you are comparing Titanic movies I would rate the Lightoller portrayal in the 1953 "Titanic" as one of the best. But there is not much historic content in that movie, but is more from a dramatic viewpoint of the fictional characters portrayed by Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck . And the Robert Wagner-Audrey Dalton romance seems a lot more believable than the Leonardo Di Caprio-Kate Winslet in the 1997 "Titanic".

And finally I think the Tucker Maguire portrayal of Mrs. Margaret Brown in the 1958 "A Night To Remember" as the worst and Kathy Bates in the 1997 "Titanic" as the best.

This may be getting off-topic but I just thought you might be interested in one person's opinion of the opinions you get from three "Titanic" movies. I would recommend your seeing all three and see what are your opinions ?

 

[William Oakes]

I have seen all 3 and of the 3 my favorite is ANTR, I also like the A&E documentary narrated by David McCallum who played Harold Bride in ANTR.
Tremendous documentary and in my opinion the best ever made!

 

[Kyle Naber]

My two favorites are definitely “Titanic” and “A Night To Remember.” Cameron’s version visually is superior when it comes to seeing the ship in full color, and extreme accuracy (a few minor mistakes for today’s standards). I like how ANTR is documentary-like, and it bounces from story to story throughout the sinking, whereas Titanic focuses mainly on Jack and Rose.

What I would really like to see within the next 10-15 years would be a new ANTR, just a few improvements for 21st century cinema expectations (color, better soundtrack, accurate sets, accurate sinking, etc).

 

[Steven Christian]

This movie was on TCM the other night. It must have been shipwreck disaster day on the channel as I DVR'd like 3 movies. I watched this last night. Yes there are few gaffs in the movie that have been covered in other threads but still a really good movie especially for the overall story. It had been long time since I seen it and enjoyed watching it.

 

[Steven Christian]

I watched the 1958 film A Night To Remember again last night.
The film stars Kenneth Moore as 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller and in my humble opinion, it is the very best dramatic film made on the subject of the Titanic. I can vividly remember watching this movie with my father back in the mid-1960's when it was televised for the first time.
It was my father who kindled my interest in the Titanic.
After watching this film with him, he took me, as a young lad, to the library and helped me check out books on the Titanic, including Walter Lord's, A Night To Remember.
Obviously there were many heroes on that fateful evening, but 2nd Officer Lightoller truly does stand out as a man who kept a cool head and did his duty throughout the events of that night.
His own account of being sucked under against a ventilation grate and the being blown free after a blast of hot air from deep within the ship is remarkable in and of itself.
The fact that he went on to organize and save others clinging to collapsible B is a testament to his cool head and ability to think and act under pressure.
If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend it.
Lightoller is a man I would have loved to sit down and have a beer and a conversation with.

I think a lot of us probably started our interest with Titanic by either seeing this movie or reading the book. I also remember seeing it when I was quite young. A good movie.

 

[William Oakes]

Indeed!