Cameron borrowed from other films

[Jon Meadows]

I just finished watching the 1943 film of the TITANIC story and it struck me that plot elements showed up in Cameron's film. He also seemed to borrow from TITANIC (1953).

In 1943 you had a woman engaged to marry someone else out of obligation to her family and she decides to break it off to marry someone she meets on board.

In 1953, you had a woman travelling with her family who falls in love with a man from a lower class.

Archtypes? Tribute? Or borrowing?

 

[Andy In]

i just finished watching the movie. i think he thought of it through all of his imaginations.



Andy

 

[Robert T. Paige]

>>In 1953, you had a woman travelling with her family who falls in love with a man from a lower class.

Archtypes? Tribute? Or borrowing?<<

Just another "IMHO". There wasn't as much "class distinction/difference" in the 1953 movie. "Gifford Rogers" was:

1.Apparently traveling in First Class on his own.
He didn't have to win his ticket in a poker game !
2.Fairly well educated, especially for 1912, as he was a student at Purdue.
3.Probably would have gone on to a fairly prosperous life..possibly as a Professional Engineer... after graduation from Purdue.
4.Probably active in other social and athletic endeavors as witness his being on the Tennis team.
Molly Brown didn't have to teach him how to dance the waltz (In the original 1997 script, that is.)
...or "The Navajo Rag" !
5.And most of all...he had his own proper dress for the Captain's table...maybe not a Tuxedo but his own blue serge suit just back from the cleaners ! No help needed from Molly Brown for Giff !

Soooo....not as much of a "bridge" between Gifford Rogers" and "Annette Sturges" as there was between
"Jack Dawson" and "Rose Dewitt-Bukater."
And closer to real life than the 1997 fairy tale ! Hey "Annette" ! You better latch on to this guy !
He ain't exactly no country bumpkin !

Finally, you have to take all of this with a grain...or maybe several salt shakers...of salt.
It's all fiction and just a movie(s).

Maybe a sequel might be in order ..."After Titanic - The True Love Story of the Life of Gifford Rogers and Annette Sturges"
Pardon me for LOL.

 

[John Clifford]

quote:

Maybe a sequel might be in order ..."After Titanic - The True Love Story of the Life of Gifford Rogers and Annette Sturges"
Pardon me for LOL.

What we can do is realize that Gifford's middle name is "Jonathan" and Annette's is "Jennifer", so they pool their collective family funds for various businesses, including a Private Detective Agency.
Too bad their many adventures never included one dealing with the family of a Titanic survivor.

Perhaps we can do that for a "Made for TV" reunion film, with our protagonists learning that their dearly departed chaffeur was related to someone on the Titanic (a good way to pay tribute to Lionel Stander, who died in 1994).
If necessary, he could have remembered an Annette Sturges, to explain why he always praised "Jennifer's" looks (i.e. "She's gorgeous").

Anyways, if Robert and Stefanie aren't available, then we can probably cast listmembers Jason Tiller and Shelley D. as our heroes. "Ready for your closeup??"

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Back to the original subject: "Cameron Borrowed From Other Films":

The scenes of the flooding of the First Class Dining Salon [("Titanic" (1997)] are very similar to those of ["Titanic - Disaster In The Atlantic" (1929)]...but.... what else can you with the subject of floating chairs, etc. ? Granted, the title of the 1929 movie was changed to "Titanic"..the fictional ship was actually "Atlantic".

 

[Robert T. Paige]

.....And the fictional Captain of "Atlantic" (1929) apparently used a razor on his face, which the real Captain Smith of "Titanic" did not.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>The scenes of the flooding of the First Class Dining Salon [("Titanic" (1997)] are very similar to those of ["Titanic - Disaster In The Atlantic" (1929)]...but.... what else can you with the subject of floating chairs, etc. ? <<

Actually, when you think about it, how many different ways can you possibly flood a given space on a ship and how many different ways can you sink it? Quite a few but you only have one option possible per disaster that happened in the real world. The tendency towards fantasy aside, the movies at least try to get a few things right.

As to the rest of the plot lines...archtypes, archvillains, Rich Girl runs of with Poor Boy, that's common enough everywhere. Even the "Whoopee" in the back seat of the Renault is nothing new. It's just another variation of the '57 Chevy's backseat.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

>>Even the "Whoopee" in the back seat of the Renault is nothing new. It's just another variation of the '57 Chevy's backseat<<

Even "Old Rose" said the same !

 

[Don Tweed]

Not to be morbid, but Natalie Wood crossed my mind, due to Giff, and she drowned off a boat.
And I love West Side Story and Rebel Without.
Just struck me.
Wondering Aloud, Don