Day 7: A Night to Remember (1958)

The sinking of the White Star Line’s R.M.S. Titanic was a tragedy of international proportions- a bleak reminder that, no matter what age, gender, class, or nationality, the sea takes no prisoners, even when mankind believes itself to be “unsinkable”. In a “A Night to Remember,” director Roy Lord Baker, producer William MacQuitty, and writer Eric Ambler deliver an almost minute by minute account of that terrible night, relying heavily on research found in author Walter Lord’s book of the same name.

For Baker, MaQuitty, and Ambler, this film was a chance to set the record straight. Five years before, 20th Century Fox had released “Titanic,” starring Barbara Stanwyck, a depiction of the tragedy that had failed miserably to give an accurate account of both the evening’s events and the passengers on board. It had relied instead on fictional characters to move its story forward, putting the wide range of actual interesting people from the event in supporting roles at best. For “A Night to Remember,” it was a goal from day one to do the story better justice. In fact, for producer MacQuitty, it was a personal quest. At the age of six, he had watched the actual “Titanic” launch from it’s port in Belfast, never to return again.

In “A Night to Remember,” the story bounces back and forth from several prominent figures from the voyage- Second Officer Charles Lightoller, ships architect Thomas Andrews and even passengers like the “unsinkable” Molly Brown. Though some fictitious characters are used, their purpose is simple- to give us a generalized idea of how certain groups reacted to the ship and its sinking. In fact, this is what the film ultimately is about. Even with all the accuracy and maritime mumbo jumbo, it never really makes the film about the ship. Instead it uses the sinking as a catalyst to see how a collage of different outlooks and backgrounds will react to death- some facing it with dignity, others with panic, and even some with a shrug.

But the beautifully written script is not all that makes the film a classic. The directing and pace in which the story unfolds is a slow burn, adding a great amount of tension to a plot we all are probably familiar with before the opening credits even role. In fact, “A Night to Remember” uses the common knowledge of the ship’s demise to frustrate the audience. We know it’s going to sink, but, as we watch the characters go about their final hours of life in ignorance, we want to scream at them to pay attention. A great example of this is a scene in the wireless room of the Titanic, where a communiqué about the upcoming ice flow is mistakenly shuffled into an old pile of telegraphs and stuck on a paper spear- appropriately foreshadowing the ship’s future.

Since I was a child, I have loved the story and lore of the R.M.S. Titanic and “A Night to Remember” truly honors the reality of what occurred in those icy waters and the heroes that grew out from it. It is a voyage not to be missed.

To learn more about “A Night to Remember,” check out Criterion’s page here.

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