Alfred Hitchcock nearly made a Titanic movie

[Bob Godfrey]

Selznik considered buying the Leviathan from the breaker's yard, towing the ship out to sea and sinking it for the cameras, rather like the fate of the Ile de France in The Last Voyage. But he thought better of it when a scrap value of nearly a million dollars was quoted, especially when Hitchcock helpfully pointed out that they'd have only one chance of a take and it was not unknown for cameras or lights to fail at the vital moment! I don't think much thought had been given to the treatment, but it's rumoured that Hitch planned to open with a spectacular tracking shot starting with a giant close-up of a rivet and pulling back to reveal the whole ship.

[Moderator's Note: This post and the three above it, originally posted as a separate thread, have been moved to the pre-existing one discussing the same subject. JDT]

 

[Seumas]

I thought this was an interesting curiosity.

An excerpt from a lecture at the British Film Institute by Hitchcock expert Charles Barr in which he goes into the story behind the aborted Hitchcock Titanic film.

Barr convincingly refutes the notion that Hitchcock was never interested in making the film and provides evidence that Hitchcock was in fact fascinated with ships and stories of the sea.

What is also interesting is that one of Hitchcock's statements about the proposed film strongly indicate that the role of Californian would not have been ignored either.



I'd love to read that twenty page draft treatment !

 

[Dan E. Parkes]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. The points on Hitchcock's interest in class structure, sea travel, and how he would use suspense despite the audience knowing the ending are very good.