S.O.S. Titanic

Dir: William Hale

1979

***

Based on the testimonials of a group of Titanic survivors, William Hale's 1979 drama is a reconstruction of certain terns of events, seen from the perspective of the First, Second and Third Class viewpoints. It's a made for TV production but clearly on a bigger budget. It stars some heavyweight actors such as David Janssen, Cloris Leachman and Harry Andrews as a rather convincing Captain Edward J. Smith as well as then relatively new blood of theatrical actors, such as Helen Mirren, Ian Holm and David Warner, who would go on to star in James Cameron's 1997 hit Titanic. David Warner isn't were the similarities end either as S.O.S. Titanic and Titanic are extremely similar in many respects. Obviously both films are about the same tragedy but the structure and many of the scene that require artistic license are the same. By all accounts, S.O.S. Titanic is the more faithful interpretation, although much is left out, but James Cameron's film is full of mistakes and revolves around (unnecessary) fictitious characters. A truly faithful film, as much as one can be, remains unmade and after the success of 1997's hit, it will be a long time until we see another. S.O.S. Titanic is a little rough around the edges but it certainly has stood the test of time compared to many of the other films on the subject.