Why was some footage from the 1943 German film used in this film?

[Dan Kappes]

According to Wikipedia:

Four clips from the film were recycled and used in the successful 1958 British film A Night to Remember: two of the ship sailing in calm waters during the day, and two brief clips of a flooding walkway in the engine room

Why was this footage used in A Night to Remember? Were the filmmakers too lazy to create new model shots for these particular scenes in the film?

 

[Michael C Brady]

Special effects were expensive and laborious back in the day. I think ANTR's producers would have been happy to recycle footage from the Nazi picture to keep the budget down, especially considering;
- Few outside of Germany would have seen the original film.
- There would be few complaints from within Germany given they had lost the war more than ten years prior and the film's copyrights must surely have been forfeited (?) and the picture all but forgotten.

~Mike

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Special effects were expensive and laborious back in the day. I think ANTR's producers would have been happy to recycle footage from the Nazi picture to keep the budget down, especially considerin
- Few outside of Germany would have seen the original film.
- There would be few complaints from within Germany given they had lost the war more than ten years prior and the film's copyrights must surely have been forfeited (?) and the picture all but forgotten.

~Mike

I think Michael's comments fairly well cover the subject.
This is the first comment on this subject I have read on these forums.
I would suppose there would be no restraints from any angles on the use of some scenes in the German film especially since it was a Nazi film.
It all boils down to use the scenes to reduce costs to keep the budget down.

I have heard that this was used in some other films.
I understand that some scenes were used in another film from the 1953 "Titanic" movie.

 

[Steven Christian]

Well I hate to give the Nazi regime credit for anything but the model in their version was actually pretty good compared to a lot of other movies. So I could see where the studios would use the scenes to save costs. But it is kind of tainted that it was produced by Goebbles and his gang. Its also kind of facinating that they would spend the time money and resources to make the movies that they did when the war was turning against them and many knew they were going to lose.

 

[Michael C Brady]

I agree Steven, to their credit they made a pretty convincing model of Titanic for the picture;

~Mike

 

[Julian Atkins]

As I have mentioned on another thread, an old friend of mine worked at Pinewood creating models and knew some of those who built and used the models in ANTR. Huge model(s) of Titanic was built by an outside company, but only one half sort of on one. ANTR cost a fortune to make for Rank. There is on youtube somewhere a documentary where William McQuitty describes the making of the film (apologies cannot find the link this evening).

The Nazi film excerpts were very brief and unacknowledged, and only came to light as to the source much later.

I think myself to use a few brief excerpts from the Nazi film was a mistake, as morally tainted ANTR subsequently, though no one knew this at the time outside of Rank.

I stress it was a very expensive film to make at the time, and it didn't do particularly spectacularly at the Box Office in the UK at the time, so was quite a gamble for a Rank UK film. The 'Carry On' films and Norman Wisdom comedies by comparison were far better earners for Rank during this period.

I was particularly interested in the model of The Californian used in the film, but my friend informed me it had not survived at Pinewood (he is quite a ship expert and fan, as well as building currently a 5"g very accurate working miniature version of the famous 'Flying Scotsman' steam locomotive). If he had seen The Californian model used in the film he would have remembered if it was still at Pinewood.

We are of course going back over some 60 or 61 years ago to when ANTR was made into a film.

Cheers,

Julian

 

[Harland Duzen]

Overall, it sounds like the Engine Room footage was just readily available stock footage* that fitted the Director's vision and had no idea of the origin.

* I heard a similar thing happened recently with the horror film Birdbox, where stock footage from a natural disaster was used for a news sequence and subsequently received criticism for it's use and had to be removed.

Here's the documentary if anyone's interested:

 

[Julian Atkins]

Thank you Harland for posting the above link, and apologies for not being able to find it!

I think some of the close ups of lifeboats being lowered with real people in the lifeboats and then the lifeboats in the water were also pinched from the Nazi film. The ANTR set up at Pinewood/Ruislip used miniature model lifeboats and 'model' people.

Cheers,
Julian

 

[Julian Atkins]

Very interestingly at 27.30 minutes in you see Joseph Boxhall in 1957/8 on the 'set'. Doesn't look he is at all bothered too much or at all affected. Well worth watching. Emotional detachment? Or just covering up for all the lies he knew he told in 1912?

Also much interesting comment by Walter Lord in his obsession with the Titanic, that indicates he was far more of a fanatic and obsessive personality of the events that night than any current forum members.

He states he was on a limited budget and sent a number of letters to UK newspapers. For just a pound at the time he could have made far more direct inquiries and located and got in contact with Captain Lord very easily, yet he admitted subsequently had he done so he would not have altered his view of everything.

I personally find this type of research very poor and suspect, and of course led to all the subsequent 'hoo ha' with Harrison and Reade

Cheers,

Julian