IMAX film Titanica

[Catherine Ehlers]

Has anyone ever seen the IMAX film "Titanica"? I understand it is shown on a huge screen. Is it still shown anywhere? And is it worth seeing?

 

[Steve Kiger]

I have this on video--never got the chance to see it on IMAX. Its a good documentary of a post discovery dive on the wreck site. Some of the footage of the crew in the submersible rings a little phony--specifically as they are examining a piece of luggage and the sub's skipper argues against recovering it. In fact they weren't allowed to recover anything, since those salvage rights belong exclusively to George Tulloch's company, RMS Titanic Inc. It's a good look at the wreck though, and if compared to the national geographic video made from Ballard's original search and discovery, shows how much further the wreck has deteriorated in only a few years.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Catherine- yes, I am very familiar with THAT effort on film. As far as I know, it is no longer playing in IMAX omni-theatres. I enjoyed working briefly with the folks who put it together. They sent the raw footage down to our TI New York convention, about 10 months before the release of the finished product. The uncut footage was spectacular- just dreamy panning , fish drifting by- no sound, no music-on the huge screen at the natural history museum. We were thrilled to bring Walter Lord to the preview. I was sorry so much silly dialogue and crew stuff was thrown in, the underwater stuff was incredibly poignant all by itself-we all were transported in time and place. The amusing bit is after months of planning and phone calls, the morning we were supposed to go to the theatre to see the footage, the man from IMAX stared at me blankly in the lobby and said "What film?"- he thought it had been sent down from Canada already! A phone call later, the cans of film (which are HUGE) were on Air Canada by courier and made it into NY City in time for an evening preview! One of my most memorable moments.

 

[Mary Hamric]

The Titanica IMAX is presently playing in conjunction with the Titanic artifacts exhibit presented by RMS Titanic, Inc. Currently it is being shown in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Center Museum. It was being shown temporarily when the exhibit was in Chicago, but was quickly replaced by the more revenue-generating Michael Jordan IMAX film.

 

[Colleen Collier]

Where is Charles Sachs??
Instead of opening up a new thread, I thought I would just add it to this area. I was wondering where Charles Sachs has been keeping himself. Is he still alive? I first heard of him on the original Titanica movie, and he showed quite an impressive collection of items, including a piece of carpet, and some very rare ship captains cards. In the new Titanica, he had been completely cut from it, and I haven't been able to even find him on a web site. Is there a web site out there that may show any of his collection? I have looked up "Oceanic Navagation Steam Company", (Isn't that the name what he called his company?) and as you can imagine, I got 5,000 Titanic hits instead. Any leads would be appriciated!
Thanks in advance. Colleen

 

[Beverly J. Crowder]

Colleen,

I was thinking of purchasing Titanica on DVD, and I was wondering if it was worth it or not.

Thank you so much,

Beverly

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Colleen- I understand Charlie died a couple years ago. Hard to believe. Also John Whitman who had that Titanic Museum out in Ohio in a cornfield is dead. He was building an entire Titanic town- he had some nice stuff-wonder where it all went....

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

His magazine- Ship to Shore was splendid- when it came out- which was sporatic. Charlie loved to dress up as Capt. Smith- and was- in all charity- quite an eccentric. Yes, the ONSC was indeed the name of his business. Can hardly believe Jack Grimm is dead either.

 

[Beverly J. Crowder]

Shelley,

How do you find out all these things. I had no idea they had died. I wonder what ever happend to the idea of a Titanic Town??

BTW: How have you been and good to see you posting.

Beverly

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Beverly- the only good thing about being a fossil is that all those Titanic people above have at one time or another crossed my path! I had gone to Virginia to testify in the original salvage claim but had met Jack Grimm before that-right after he wrote BEYOND REACH. He was no spring rooster then- anno domini caught up with him. John Whitman had quite a vision and had actually started on his 1912 town- nice guy- kind of a maverick! When I met him he had a long pony tail tied back with knee-high leather fringed boots-he came to a TI convention as a dealer- ran over a deer on the way to Jersey- pleasant man-REALLY devoted to Titanic. Charlie Sachs travelled extensively-frequently was in the right place at the right time- made good connections and produced a dazzling magazine when he got around to it. Charlie was a friend of Ralph White and befriended the Russian team during the IMAX shoot. He even dressed in his Capt. Smith uniform for the filming. Had the pleasure of working with Stephen and Alex Low on a small scale on that project- mostly supplying bits of historical info. They sent the raw footage to Manhattan for TI to view as a thank-you- it was spectacular( I liked it better than the finished project!)Walter Lord was brought to the Natural History Museum to see it- as was Maxtone-Graham, Lou Pope, Bea Sanstrom,Ake Dubois and others. Those were the days- we had a lot of fun -I must be getting old- feeling nostalgic. Am doing pretty well, thanks, post kidney stones and flu! Am doing an MTV Real World episode Tuesday at the Lizzie Borden house-go granny go!

 

[Colleen Collier]

Beverly. I believe the video is really good. It was awesome on the Big Screen, but still very good to watch at home if you get a chance. There are several versions. One I bought at the IMAX gift shop right after the movie wasn't aired any more, narrated by Anatoly Sagalovich, and several years later I stumbled on another one at Wal Mart that was narrated by Leonard Nemoy. Both are good, and each have extras that the other doesn't have. I think that the first one has a longer interview with Eva Hart, and the inclusion of the Charles Sachs diatribe, his collection that he brought to the site, and the Russians telling stories, which was humorous, but it did run a little long in the bickering department, and that was edited down in the second one. I am a big video fan, so I grab whatever I can. I hope that helped, and I don't let you down if you buy it.
Colleen

 

[Colleen Collier]

Shelly: Well, not the answer I wanted to hear, but I thank you for clearing that up. I wrote the word eccentric on my original post about him, and opted to erase it, but that word I believe is pretty accurate. In the video when he dressed up in his Captain Smith uniform and turned around, I think the look on Cliffs face was priceless.
The reason I was even asking was that I saw a piece of carpet on the THS web page and I thought for sure was the same piece of carpet that Charles Sachs showed "Big Cliff" that he had. Did THS let him "Borrow" it to take it with him? I assumed that it was his. I was sure that I came across a web page of his when I first bought Titanica, and when I tried to find it again NOW, it was gone, and I spent hours searching in vane.
If there is anyone out there who knows what happened to the collection, please let me know.I hope that it went to a good place.
Colleen
PS Kidney stones AND flu. I sympathize with you! Feel better and better every day!

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Shelley,

Charlie Sachs is going to be mightily disappointed to hear that he died.

Colleen,

Charlie lives up in L.A., and is currently working with a friend of mine to make quality Titanic reproduction items to sell on eBay. Charlie provides the reference material and Steven Hawley has the items made. Steven sells them on eBay under the moniker "stevesd@aol.com". He doesn't have any items listed today (26 Sep), but keep checking back frequently...he has a rotating inventory of quality Titanic repros. Steven works in his dad's auto body shop in San Diego and did a wonderful job repairing my Beetle after I was hit a couple of months back. He did an equally fantastic job on Charlie's BMW, but I don't know if that was collision damage or not.

Parks

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Well Parks, am glad to hear that rumours of Charlie's death were greatly exaggerated. Always good to know that colorful characters are alive and well in a dull world. I am sure he would be doubly amused. Am entirely certain that Grimm and Whitman have gone on to their eternal reward, however.

Colleen,- yes, the famous carpet remnant. As I understand it, THS was the recipient of that rather large green- patterned treasure. I believe F. Ray Dent cut it away from behind a door before sailing- as the door would not close- and stuffed it in his large pocket. Some trustees have very nice framed squares of it which I have seen and admired. At one time fibers of it were being sold at a ridiculous price. I am sure someone will correct me if I am in error.

 

[Colleen Collier]

HI Parks. Thank you for that relieving post. I thought that for certain that he did live out here in L.A. area. I haven't heard any news of him though, besides the work he is doing with your friend, what has he been doing? Does he have a web site? I thought I once saw one.
Are the reproduction items ones from his own collection. I will have to peek at ebay and see them.
Thanks again for clearing that up. Colleen

 

[Colleen Collier]

Parks. Steve has items up for sale on ebay, and it is the EXACT cobalt replica I wanted. Oh ya' it's mine now!!!!
I didn't realize that you lived in Southern California. IF you ever are in the area when we have the Queen Mary get together, it would be nice to meet you!
Sincerely.
Colleen

 

[Colleen Collier]

Parks. He asked me to pass on a hello to you as well. Thank you for the lead. I will never own an original, but will ever so proudly display these in my home!
Sincerely.
Colleen

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Colleen,

Sorry for not answering. I don't have time to check all the threads, and this one way down at the bottom escaped my attention until just now. I'm glad you got in touch with Steve...he's a great guy and as you can probably tell, he spares no effort in making a quality reproduction. I have at least one of everything he's produced.

Parks

 

[Andrew Epps]

Although it has been a few years since this thread has had any posts added to it I wanted to send out an update on Titanica in IMAX. It is currently playing in Dallas at the IMAX theater in Fair Park. If you are within driving distance to Dallas or plan to visit anytime soon, you may want take in the film. If you have only seen it on the small screen it is a treat to experience it in a large format theater. The Dallas IMAX features a seventy nine foot dome screen. It is the shorter (40 min.) version and the print is old and beginning to shed a bit which occasionally produces spots of dust projected on the screen. But otherwise the print is in good shape. It will be playing through the end of May, 2005.

 

[Charles Sachs]

Just stumbled onto this via a google search.
Alive and now in Palm Springs, CA. Collection still mainly intact plus piles more. Have added zeppelins as another interest. Sometimes put a few things up on eBay if the price and buyer are right. My thanks for the many comments which are most kind. Indeed, in Canada filming had to come up with a Capt Smith uniform (never got one then or now) and was nice to not allow the dresser to have her use a band leader with all the chest pipping, which really would have been over the top! In London, the cost to make one at Angels would have been around $4500 in 1991. For the record (a funny moment) when we were filming the cabin scene (on a freighter docked in Canada), when I said, "I need to get the WSL emblem for the hat and then would be just like Captain Smith." Steven Low (director) said, Cut" and then . . . "yes, dead." Very funny moment. Also, when Lev took the green carpet, he started to comb his heavy beard with it and I saw strands of the carpet sticking out from his beard. I leaned over and started to try to pick them out and then stopped, thinking, "No, that would really be too silly!" Great memory of one of the funnier moments. Thanks (at least when this was first posted) for not wishing I were dead with the rest of some of the Titanic expedition originals. Others maybe would have different feelings as time goes by. Yes, was cut from the second film. I signed the contract to only be in one version. Was never contacted for the shorter 45 minute one reeler that did not allow much storyline time to develop anyway. Cheers!