Did the Cameron movie get Andrews' cabin all wrong

C

Catherine Ehlers

Guest
Y'all please excuse me for nitpicking, but in watching the Cameron epic, right after the collision with the iceberg, Thomas Andrews is shown leaving his stateroom, blueprints in hand, headed for the bridge. And he is shown leaving a room far down the hall where there are other staterooms, including the stateroom of the Countess of Rothes (I think), who comes out and asks a steward why the engines have stopped and is reassured by the steward that it's probably just a propeller dropped. Andrews brushes past them on his way. In examining the deck plans, however, it seems that Thomas Andrews' stateroom, A36, was located all by itself not far from the first class smoking room on A deck, with no adjoining cabins at all. (Andrews' nearest neighbor seemed to be Father Francis Browne, on the other side of the ship in A37.) The movie's corridor looked like--maybe B deck? So--did Cameron muck up here? Was Andrews' cabin in the wrong place?

BTW, have I also heard that the decor of Andrews' cabin was wrong, as well?

This may be nitpicking, and maybe budget constraints (oops, excuse me, I forgot, WHAT budget constraints?) dictated everything on one corridor, but since Cameron made such claims about everything being so accurate, I just thought there was some disagreement here.

Thanks for any comments or insight.

Cathy
 
Oh I'm sure it was budget constraints allright. The movie cost as much to film as it actually did in terms of 1996 dollars to build the ship. Overbudget, behind schedule, it's a wonder that Paramount and Fox didn't pull the plug. In fact, I recall that they very nearly did if memory serves.

I had the impression that they redressed and reused sets as needed. A common enough practice in cinimatography so they can keep costs under control.

All in all, it's a wonder the flick was completed at all!

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
 
Hi Cathy,

From memory Cameron depicted the B-deck fore-aft passageway as having rooms leading off both sides. As with where he placed Andrews and others this was incorrect. I recall that he even had at least one of the beds in the Parlour Suite facing the wrong way. All of the beds in 1st Class had the head or foot boards facing the stern or the bow not the side of the ship.

I hope this helps,
Lester
 
Actually, Fox etc. are lucky they didn't pull the plug as the movie racked in more bucks than they bargained for!

Anyway, Andrew's cabins is incorrectly decorated, surprisingly, as on the sketches it seems correct.

After the impact Andrews went down the stairs through the B deck corridor to the fore staircase. So I guess the movie would be correct in this respect (I can't remember, is he actually shown leaving his cabin on B deck - I thought he was only shown walking along the corridor), but if one really wants to nitpick, he is shown going down the starboard corridor, where in reality he went down the port corridor.

One might wonder why he went down a deck to go to the forward staircase, only to ascend to the Boat deck. My interpretation is that he knew/thought the Lounge was closed, there'd be a dead end going that way. So he went down a deck and quickly passed along the corridor at B deck ...

Regards,

Daniel.
 
Hi there,

Just one point about the *lay out* of Andrews room. I thought it had the same panneling as the gymnasium. When you look at the picture (though it isn't very clear) taken by Father Browne in his stateroom, it shows the same Romanesque arches and panneling details as those in the gymnasium.

So I wonder why Cameron just didn't used the same decor, of course without that electric camel, to shoot the Andrews cabin scene.

Many regards,
Rolf
 
Mr. Andrews is not shown leaving his cabin in the Cameron film. He is simply shown walking down the corridor, clutching his deckplans. Since we're examining this scene for mistakes, I would just like to bring up the fact that I thought Andrews wasn't even aware the ship had had a collision until Smith summoned him to assist in sounding the ship. In the film, he is seen pouring over his plans (which he was actaully doing just prior to the collision), then he sees the crystals on his light begin to shake. Is it true that he didn't know the ship had had an accident until he was summoned?

-B.W.
 
Brandon wrote:Is it true that he didn't know the ship had had an accident until he was summoned?

I think that first came up in Walter Lord's 1956 book, perhaps Lord thought that it was the likely reason that Andrews did not arrive on the bridge for a while, and that, i.e. Sixth Officer Moody went to fetch him. We'll never prove it.

Best regards

Mark.
 
Mark,

I agree with Sir Lord's theory. There are many accounts of passengers who state that they were in their cabin during the collision, and felt very little if anything to tell them that there had been an accident. And, if Andrews was concentrating on his deckplans, then it would make all the more sense that he did not know the ship had struck the berg. But this is just my opinion.

-B.W.
 
Personally, I agree with you and I believe that Andrews may not have noticed the initial impact because he was so absorbed in his plans.

However, I think he noticed the engines slowing and coming to a stop after the collision (I don't believe the 'full astern theory'), wondered what was wrong and then noticed the slight starboard list developing. Perhaps he then left, and bumped into Sixth Officer Moody on his way to the bridge?

Best regards,

Mark.
 
True, had he been absorbed in his work, it is not very likely that he would have noticed the 'slight shudder'. I believe he was re-examining his plans for final corrections and additions he could make before the ship's second sailing, correct?

I do agree with you that he would have noticed the slowing and stopping of the engines. I'm sure, what with his "designer's ear", this would have stuck out like a soar thumb. It did to the passengers, as well. So it probably did to Andrews more than anyone.

-B.W.
 
Quote:

<FONT COLOR="119911"> I believe he was re-examining his plans for final corrections and additions he could make before the ship's second sailing, correct?
Click to expand...
​
}

I believe so. The reading and writing room, a la carte restaurant hotpress, private promenades, second/third class heating plant...

Best regards,

Mark.
 
The reading and writing room was supposed to have been made smaller due to the fact that it didn't prove to be as popular as Andrews had imagined.

I've heard about the hotpress but I haven't heard of the other corrections. If you don't mind, what was he planning to add or correct?

-B.W.
 
There's some testimony of Bruce Ismay's regarding the reading and writing room:

Quote:

'Mr. Andrews dined with me one night...Indeed, the only plan which Mr Andrews submitted to me was a plan where he said he thought the writing room and reading room was unnecessarily large, and he said he saw a way of putting a stateroom (sic) in the forward end of it.'
Click to expand...
​


Following Olympic's 1913 refit, the L-shaped room became a normal rectangular shape with some staterooms forward of that. Her cloakroom accommodation on A-deck (according to the 'Belfast News Letter' of April 1913) was improved and her officers' quarters extended and improved to match Titanic's larger officers' quarters and square wheelhouse. Her dog kennels were improved... Many more changes were made...

Andrews' Steward Etches recalled:

Quote:

'He was working all the time, sir. He was making notes of improvements; all improvements that could be made.'
Click to expand...
​


The pebbledashing on the private promenades was too dark, he felt (I agree) and he had a plan to stain some of the wicker furniture on one side of the ship green if I remember rightly.

The second and third class heating plants were giving a bit of trouble and so they needed to be attended to and fixed.

If memory works, there were too few screws on the stateroom coathooks, but although it is often said I cannot recall offhand the source, but I believe I did see it.

(As a side note, after Olympic's maiden trip they added wicker furniture and tables to her popular reception room on D-deck, installed cigar holders in first class bathrooms, decided to change B-deck, and made other corrections such as firmer matresses. Even at a brief 81 r.p.m. the ship was noted by Ismay as 'practically quiet;' interesting because he told Senator Smith that the engines' designed maximum was 78 and that they did up to 80 r.p.m. But 81 r.p.m. had been acheived with never more than 24 boilers lit. Ismay detailed all of this in a letter to his office in June 1911, which I don't have a copy with me at the moment. Olympic carried 1,313 passengers Westward, possibly due to coal strike and other events, and 2,301 passengers Eastbound.)

There may be others, sorry I've done this from memory.

Best regards,

Mark.
 
Thanks for that information, Mark. Yes, I have heard that Andrews wanted to stain one side of the ship's wicker furniture green, and the other was to be white. The "too many screws in the stateroom coat hooks" issue has been a popular one. In the film "A Night To Remember", Dr. O' Loughlin reads this problem aloud from Andrews' notebook, and in the origional "Titanic" script, Rose was supposed to do the same. I, too, have heard about him wanting to lighten-up the atmosphere on the private promenade decks. Judging from the "screws problem", it appears that Andrews left no detail out. It's only a pity that he, as well as his notebook, went down with the Titanic. It would be fascinating to see and hear what changes he had in mind for the Ship of Dreams.

-B.W.
 

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