Forty-four years before Jack and Rose, there was Giff and Annette…

The 1953 film Titanic was not the first movie to tackle the topic of the Titanic, but it won the Academy Award in 1954 for “Best Writing, Story and Screenplay” and was nominated for “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White”.

Julia Sturges (Barbara Stanwyck) is an unhappy wife who wants to get her children, Annette (Audrey Dalton) and Norman (Harper Carter), away from the privileged British aristocratic way of life, and return to her down-to-earth roots in Michigan. She has taken the children aboard the ship under the guise of a family reunion, but has no intentions of returning to Europe. Her husband Richard (Clifton Webb) suspects something is up, and manages to buy his way onto the ship. He surprises his family by joining them in the ship dining room. While Julia is shocked and upset, the children are thrilled to see their father.

Richard really enjoys his proper, somewhat snobbish, way of life. He knows that Annette also enjoys her privileged life, and Norman is eager to be a man, and would do anything to please his father. So he starts passively revealing the truth of Julia’s intentions, hoping to garner the children’s to his side, but Julia has her own dark secret up her sleeve. Meanwhile, Purdue student Gifford Rogers (Robert Wagner) expresses interest in Annette, and Julia sees this as an opportunity to help her daughter fall for a more down-to-earth young man, rather than ending up in some high society arranged marriage.

Much of this film follows the drama of the Sturges’—the husband and wife who were once in love and now have grown apart, the blossoming love between Annette and Griff, and Norman’s attempts to grow up and please his father. It is not until the final third of the film when the iceberg tragedy occurs.

One can’t help but compare this film with the more recent Titanic film from James Cameron. With more than twice the run time, the 1997 film has a lot more time to develop characters and explore the life and class systems aboard the ship. In this film we are introduced to a defrocked priest George Healey (Richard Basehart) and the Molly Brown-inspired Maude Young (Thelma Ritter), but these characters are never explored in great detail. This film also only gives the viewer a glimpse of the boiler room and steerage life—we don’t get that real detailed exploration of the class struggle like we do in Cameron’s Titanic.

In this film, there are also mentions of things like the push from the ship’s owner to try to beat the Trans-Atlantic speed record, the lack of binoculars for the crew in the crow’s nest, and the insufficient number of life boats—which all helped to lead to the tragedy—but again, these are just mentioned in passing. The special effects are also certainly not up to par with Cameron’s film—in several scenes, you can tell the performers are just acting in front of a video screen. And in one scene when water is rushing onto the ship, you can even see white outlines around the characters in the foreground.

That said, the human drama between the Sturges family is interesting, and I really enjoyed the arc and redemption of the James Sturges character. Barbara Stanwyck is able to show so much about her character without saying a word. When James surprises the family in the the dining room, the look on her face says so much. Clifton Webb is also great as the snobbish James Sturges—you love to hate this character and are happy to see his redemption by the end of the film. Plus, it was great to see a really young Robert Wagner early in his career—before he made it big on television.

The film is presented in its original 1:33:1, Black and White format. For the most part, the picture looks great, especially for a 60 year old film. The picture is really clear and crisp and didn’t have a grainy look, but there are a few scenes that are a bit too dark. The mono audio is for the most part sufficient. The only problem I found was near the beginning of the film—there is a constant “faint whistle” sound, and since this is coming from the one and only sound channel, it becomes more annoying than effective (sounds more like a dying hard drive, struggling to read data).

All told, this film was another interesting tale of human drama aboard the world’s most famous ill-fated ship, and definitely worth checking out.

What’s Included:

Film (98 min)

• 1080p / Standard 1.33:1 B&W
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono, French Dolby Digital Mono
• English SDH, Spanish, French subtitles

Extras:

• Commentary By Film Critic Richard Schickel (1:37:45)
  Schickel provides an interesting commentary on the film, discussing the film’s plot points, historical information about the Titanic and society at the time. He also talks about the actors and their other work as well as general movie-making at the time.

• Commentary By Cinematographer Michael D. Lonzo, Actors Audrey Dalton And Robert Wagner, and Historian Sylvia Stoddard (1:37:45)
  This is a nice blend of viewpoints—a cameraman who talks about the making of the film and the special effects, a film historian who discusses what is known about the Titanic and its doomed voyage, and two of the original cast members. While these are all interesting, sometimes the cuts between the speakers are a little abrupt and awkward—you can tell these four were recorded separately and edited together. It would have been nice to have some discussion between the parties.

• Titanic Aftermath: Audio Essay By Sylvia Stoddard (11:24)
  Titanic Historical Society member Sylvia Stoddard talks about the aftermath of the sinking of the ship, and the experience of the passengers who made it onto the lifeboats and the men who survived by standing for hours on an overturned collapsible boat.

• Fox Movietone News (2:22)
  • “Titanic” Premiere Thrills In South (1:10)
    Footage of the film premiere & fundraiser events at the Naval Base in Norfolk, VA.

  • CinemaScope And “The Robe” Win “Oscars” (1:12)
    Footage of 26th annual Academy Awards ceremony winners for Twentieth Century Fox Studios.
• Still Gallery
  Step through a gallery of behind-the-scenes photos from the making of the film.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:29)

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I found the 1953 Titanic film quite enjoyable. The picture looks really great for a film that’s 60 years old. However, one can’t help but compare it with James Cameron’s epic 1997 film of the same name—but with half the run time and a fraction of the budget/special effects technology, there is just no way this film could equal that film in scope and grandeur.

That said, I think this film is still worth checking out as it provides a different, interesting human drama that plays out aboard that doomed ship. The performances are great, and this blu-ray provides some interesting bonus features, including two feature-length commentaries.