Plot
Outline
Cast
Homework
Titanic Timeline
Links
Guestbook
Email
Download
Search
Hom |
A Night to Remember is
a great documentary drama story of the new White Star Liner, the RMS Titanic; which
everybody thought unsinkable. Set against the black and white backdrop of the cruel
Atlantic Ocean, it tells an amazingly true tale of what really happened that night on the
ship.  It
tells the fateful story of the RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New
York. It was a great event which everybody was a part of: from the Chairman of the White
Star Line and Captain Smith to the the rich and the poor. "My husband is proud to be
part of it," remarks Mrs. Lightoller; the wife of Herbert Lightoller, Second Officer
of the ship, who turns out to be a great hero in the movie. Everything seems to be going
smoothly on the floating city until another ship, the Californian, reports ice.
 The message is received
by the Titanic but it is disregarded. Then the Californian comes across more field ice and
decides to stop and wait until morning rather than maneuver around the ice in the dark.
The ship then attempts to report this to the Titanic, but the overworked radioman that
receives the message pays no attention and tells the Californian to ‘keep out’
of the radio traffic before she can report the location of the ice.
No more than forty minutes go by before the Titanic fatefully collides with the
iceberg.  The crew then
attempts to calmly and orderly awake and inform the passengers, the first-class passengers
anyway. Even while there is a major, life-threatening crisis going on, the steerage
passengers are treated as though their lives are less important. This is no where more
apparent than in the scene where, as the ship is sinking, some steerage passengers are
told to find another way to the boat deck because they can not go through the first-class
hallway.
Unluckily the Californian radio operator has turned off the set for the night. They are
just at the limit of visual signal range. The Carpathia, a ship about three hours away
from the Titanic, receives her distress call and is on the way for help.
 As the Titanic settles more and more into the black Atlantic, it becomes
mass chaos aboard the ship. All of the women and children are being loaded into the few
lifeboats that exist, and in fact, some women actually volunteered to stay on board with
their husbands. It has also been rumored that a man dressed up as a woman made a last
attempt at boarding a lifeboat and saving himself. Amid the final pandemonium on
board the Titanic the ship finally goes under. At the end it is every man for himself.
 One of the
lifeboats tries to rescue the survivors in the water. About four hours after the
ship collided with the iceberg the Carpathia arrives at the wreckage site and saves as
many people as it can, ironically with the Californian not out of viewing distance
throughout the whole ordeal. It is not certain how many people were lost; it is
estimated at 1522.
This is an excellent, truthful and historically accurate tale of heroism, the power of
nature, and a ship that was doomed to tragedy. Although many movies wither in comparison
to the book from which they were adapted, A Night to Remember, written by Walter
Lord, does an excellent job of portraying the fascinating events of that late night and
early morning of April 14 and 15, 1912.
|
