My heart will go on...in 3D

Moving forward, from the Kony saga that I focused on in my last posts (an issue which is still under scrunity especially after the Jason Russell incident yesterday) to an overview of the films regarding the Titanic. As many are aware, "Titanic" in 3D is going to be released in April 2012 to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic. James Cameron's beloved classic film, was originally released in 1997 starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. It won 11 Oscar's in the 1997 Academy awards, took in $600 million in the US, and grossed an extrordinary $1.2 Billion abroad, making the it the first film to reach the $1 billion mark in global threatical distribution (p. 76, Klinger, B., "At the edges of Hollywood: New distribution, exhibitions and reception contexts", in Cook, P., The cinema book, third ed, Palgrave Macmillian; 2007). I'm sure that it's re-release will take in even more money, but probably due to the extortionate ticket price to see a 3D film.  In preparation to go and see the film i decided to start doing research on the history of the Titanic. I found that although the wreckage of the ship wasn't found until 1985 people had been making films on the subject for 73 years with the first film released just months after the ship sunk with "In nacht und eis" (1912).

Some historical fundamental facts of the RMS Titanic. The ship collided with an iceberg on its' maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York, US: it sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on the 15th April 1912. There had been more than 2,000 passengers on board, but due to board of trade regulations the ship only had enough lifeboats for a third of its passengers. Built in a dock in Belfast from 1910-11 it was to become known, mainly due to the result of media speculation, as unsinkable. Thousands of passengers and crew members lost their lives and it is one of the biggest peacetime maritime disasters. Disasters, like the Titanic, don't just happen, they are a chain of critical events and it is the timing of these 'events', how they come about and why, that make the Titanic a 'marvellously dramatic subject for a motion picture' (Alfred Hitchcock). This is why films about the Titanic have transgressed important cinematic progressions: from the silent era to sound with "Titanic: Disaster in the Atlantic" (1929) the first Titanic talkie, to the use of the subject to aid war with the Nazi Titanic in 1943, and now it's crossing over from 2D to 3D. Two Titanic films in particular have caught my eye:

"Titanic" (1943) was directed by Herbert Selpin and commissioned by the Nazi's Minister of Enlightenment and propaganda, Joseph Goebbels in 1942. The narrative was written by Walter Zerlett-Olfenius. The film was originally going to be used as propaganda against British bureaucracy although when it was eventually released (1950) the propaganda element was removed.

Channel 5(UK) has recently made a documentary on the production of this film "Nazi Titanic: Revealed". The actual film itself turned out a movie disaster with the death toll 3 times bigger than the amount of people who died on the Titanic in 1912. In the beginning Selpin demanded:  87 shooting days, 9 huge sets, and a 20ft replica of the Titanic itself: this was already a huge ask to the Nazi government during war time. The film cost around 4 million reichsmarks and before the film was finished Selpin made a mistake and denounced the government and imprisoned (where he was either murdered or committed suicide). The film uses the metaphor of the ship to represent a negative perspective on English society. The president of the White Star Line, Sir Bruce Ismay is a manipulative and controlling man who will not let the Captain slow the ship down, then once the ship is sinking tries to weasel his way onto a boat though bribing. There is cheating, stealing, lying and really the only strong figure in the film is the German Officer, Herr Peterson who will not marry a woman for her money and also rescues a child. He is the representation of the German government.

However, perhaps the most controversial part of this film, is not the very fictional telling of the story of the Titanic sinking, but the use of the SS Cap Arcona. The boat (seen in the image below) can be seen moving from the left to the right of the screen during the film to show the progression of the Titanic.

The ship hits the iceberg 45 mins into the film but the sinking scene was removed, as by the time the film was completed in 1943 the Germans were losing the war and Goebbels realised that the devastation was exactly what the German naval officers were facing. The film ends with Ismay being put on trial for his crimes but he is acquitted. Ironically, Heinrich Himmler, to avoid being interrogated for his war crimes, committed suicide on the 23rd May 1945.  Himmler used the SS Cap Arcona (and two other German naval ships on the Bay of Lubeck) as the final destination for some 10,000 concentration camp victims for the 1945 Death Marches. On the 3rd May 1945 the ships were attacked by the RAF. Then, to add to misery, some SS Officers were waiting at the bay's shore to kill any remaining survivors. Around 5,000-6,000 prisoners died in this final act of war and thus ends the tragedy of Selpin's Titanic film.

The second film is "A night to remember"(1958). It is a British production filmed at Pinewood studios, and has to be my favourite Titanic film. It was directed by Roy Baker and the screenplay by Eric Ambler based on the 1955 book by Walter Lord. The film opens with the christening of the Titanic with the smashing of a bottle of champagne (this never actually happened in 1912) but this highlights that the film is going to be about the Titanic itself rather than the personal narratives surrounding the story.
                                                   

Blueprints of the real Titanic were used to re-create the sets and the fourth officer of the Titanic, Joseph Boxhall and ex-commoarade Harry Grattidge helped with the account of events. The film begins by showing the hype before the voyage and the departure from loved ones at home. The film portrays the unsinkable Molly Brown, as she insists on going back to rescue remaining survivours. Baker also uses several visual representations throughout the film leading up to the sinking, for example the close up shot of the waiter filling a glass with ice and the child's rocking horse. Unlike Selpin's Titanic, Baker represents the separation of the classes in a better way as they are blocked from entering the lifeboats and he shows the mixture of nationalities on the ship as well.

There are several other clear visual elements throughout the film which aim to make a statement as the ship is going down: the scene where Thomas Andrews is facing the fireplace in the first class smoking room and looking at a painting by Norman Wilkinson, "The approach to Plymouth Harbour", a painting which represents the hope of arriving to the new world and which did perish as the Titanic went down; the second image is of the old man holding a young boy in his arms as they both die showing that no one was safe from the horrors of the Titanic.  Although "A night to remember" (1958) has been classified as a realist film and uses detailed construction of the ship and digital effects, some of the scenes of the ship are very similar to the ones used in Selpin's "Titanic" (1943) as seen here. The film ends with a strong quote: "Everything that was humanely possible has been done" as the 700 or so survivors board the SS Carpathia.  Scenes from "A night to remember" were also used for Phil Collins video- Hang in long enough (1989).

Finally I arrive at James Cameron's more recent "Titanic" (1997). This version of the film uses the foundations that Baker built but combines this with the development of new technology and the discovery of the wreckage itself in 1985. In addition he represents both the upper and the lower classes instead of focusing only on the upper, and even in some ways even idealises the lower class, which was never done in earlier versions as the class separation was still strong at the time the previous films were released.

Here is the 2012 trailer:

The forensic analysis of the ship in Cameron's version is very different to the use of paper diagrams in the previous films and the computerised ship is very different to the toy boat used in the 1912 version of the film. But all of the films use similar components:  a shot of the crowds of people at the ships send off, there are ice warning sighs, the temperature drop is noted, there is the confirmation of 'mathematical certainty' that the ship is going to sink, one woman falls through the space between the Titanic and the lifeboat and finally there are  musicians playing on deck to boost the morale of the passengers. These repeated events form the basis of the Titanic story. After the disaster the board of trade regulations changed its law and increased the amount of lifeboats on board.

When watching each of the films I hoped that somehow the ending would change, that perhaps that the ship didn't sink. Without a doubt, I'm sure millions of people will still get teary-eyed watching "Titanic 3D" next month, even though they would have seen the film hundreds of times. The focus of the human condition in all three of the films makes the topic of the Titanic timeless. James Cameron said in regards to the re-release of his 1997 film: "we can still squeeze a little applause out of a 15-year-old movie." No James, I am sure that the Titanic's fascinating story portrayed on film will continue to 'squeeze' out applause for many years to come, in 3D or not.

PS. There is going to be a fabulous Titanic mini-series released in April 2012 by Jullian Fellows on ITV: