Sad part in the film

[Rachel Walker]

I was flipping through my friend's copy of "Titanic an Illustrated Screenplay" and I came across something I found very disturbing:
"The Cartmell family are at the top of a stairwell, jammed against a locked gate like Jack and Rose were. Water boils up the stairwell behind them. Bert Cartmell shakes the gate futilely, shouting for help. Little Cora wails as the water boils around them all."

Cameron said he filmed the death of the Cartmells but cut the scene because it was too intense. I think so too, but I also think it may have added to the drama and gotten a good cry out of those who watched it. What do you people think?

 

[Daniel Cox]

I think it was ashame that the scene was cut.Yes it would of been a tough scene to watch and there would of been alot tears around.But at the end he (cameron) didnt seem to have any problems showing people fall down and hit bollards and rails when the stern was upright.
Now when you watch and listen to the movie carefully they have added in the full sound effects of peoples bodys crushing against these rails ect.So i dont see how watching the father and daughter drown behind a lock gate was helping protect the audience from any unhappy thoughts the movie was projecting.
If you search though these boards you will see quite a few topics on the deleted scenes from the movie, i too have the Screen play book and some of the so called deleted scenes were well worth keeping in.I know the movie was long and he had to make cuts.......lets hope the so called Special DVD edition does come about that has been rumoured for some time now.......Dan

 

[Jeremy Lee]

They should screen it- after all, that was what REALLY happened and the audience should be informed.....

 

[Beth Barber]

I believe Cameron achieved that with showing the scene of the Irish Mother at the gates with her 2 children and then showing her reading to them and tucking them in bed, her knowing that they would all die. How many of those type of scenes were needed? ~Beth

 

[Daniel Cox]

Im not trying to be heartless here as im a big softee and do cry in sad scenes of movies.
But watching the mother read aloud to her children was not what i see as a heart breaking scene.Why you may ask?...because by this time it is known that the gates were no longer locked and she would of have the free will to go up on deck if she wanted.

In regards to the opening post of this topic "The Cartmells" were trapped behind the gates and were trying to escape and you knew they had no chance. The Cartmells were seen all though the movie from the pre-departure ("daddy its a ship!) to been on deck playing with a doll and then latter dancing with Jack.By this time the audience had a connection to the two of them and it would of been truley heartbreaking to see how they died.
The mother and children on the other hand were only seen when the gates were 1st locked then in there cabin latter been read too , by this time there was so much action going on i think many people overlooked the true impact of that.If Cameron had introduced us to them earlier in the movie (say playing on deck while the mother watched)i do feel there final scenes(been read too) would of been much more powerfully protrayed and the audience would of absorbed it more.
Dan.

 

[Beth Barber]

The irish mother and her children were in several scenes of the movie. In the beginning when everyone was coming aboard the Titanic. And in the scene where they were waiting at the gates - the irish mother had a speaking part telling her children they had to be all ready when it was their turn to get on one of the boats and then when she was tucking them in and reading to them, knowing they were going to die.

To each their own - I am sure I wasn't the only one who noticed this. ~ Beth

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

The saddest part in the film is when 1,500 souls - children, women, men, first-class, second-class, third-class, and crew - all perished. I would emphatically say that that was the saddest part about the real occurrence as well.

 

[Rachel Walker]

he might have deleted it for pacing, but if they used it during Nearer My God to Thee, even with the scene with the Irish mom, it would have done a little something more. I think it should have been kept or should at least be included in the special edition dvd (James Cameron, if you are by any chance reading this PLEASE make one).

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Yeah I agree on that one also!

 

[Holly Peterson]

I'm glad they cut out that scene. I've got a real soft spot when it comes to little kids and, for me, seeing a little girl die would have been absolutely heartbreaking. The scene with the Irish woman and children in their room was unbearable enough; think of how horrible it would be to die that way, with all the water coming into the room. To me, it doesn't matter if we don't know the Irish family very well; they're still innocent lives being lost.

 

[Roy Kristiansen]

There seems to be some understanding amongst filmmakers that you never show the dog being killed. (Well, hardly ever!) I'd imagine the same thing holds true for cute kids as well.

 

[Will C. White]

Roy-Yep! Big trauma when a child is killed. Think about near the end of 'The Killing Fields' (if you've seen it); even after all the carnage, when the little boy (an extra role) is mortally wounded by the land mine-big audience reaction. Then, of course, there's 'Old Yeller'. Has to be a very strong need in the story before you bump off cute animals or cute kids-riles the paying public up!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

The one scene cut from most prints of ANTR showed Lightoller on collapsible B gently lowering a dead baby back into the water. It was generally thought that the film was harrowing enough without that particular image. Instead we get (behind the closing credits) the standard metaphor of the floating toy - a rocking horse in this case. The marine equivalent of the teddy bear in the rubble.

 

[Roy Kristiansen]

I've seen that moment in some video transfers, Bob. Not the current Criterion/Voyager DVD, but I think I remember the VHS tape's U.S. release including it. Wasn't it originally shown in British theatres, but cut for U.S. audiences? Something like that?

Roy

 

[Bob Godfrey]

It's certainly in the early prints, Roy, so would have been seen widely over here before the US release. When ANTR is shown here now on TV it's usually the cut version, but the full print has been seen occasionally. I was really surprised to find that Criterion didn't restore the scene for their dvd.