Remembering the Titanic on film

by Lani

This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy. The story of the Titanic's fateful maiden voyage has been portrayed on film many times over the past century, most notably of course in 1997's Titanic, written and directed by James Cameron. The epic scope of this story seems to invite filmmaking on a massive scale and Cameron's production was famously troubled. But unlike the ship of the same name, Titanic the film was a resounding success, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all-time and winning the Best Picture Academy Award. For those who were among the very small minority who did not see Titanic the first time, or perhaps were not yet alive in 1997, Titanic in 3D in now in theaters. This weekend ABC is also showing a new miniseries, coincidentally called Titanic, which was written by Julian Fellowes, lately of Downton Abbey fame. If you're interested in some "classic" film portrayals of the disaster, ."A Life at the Movies" blog has a nice round-up of the major Titanic films, and makes comparisons between older films and Cameron's film.

One of the most interesting Titanic-themed entertainments I've come across this weekend is Nazi Titanic on The History Channel's H2. During WWII, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels became obsessed with creating a blockbuster film to rival those of Hollywood. He thought he had the perfect subject in the Titanic, and set out to make a film which blamed British capitalists for the disaster and loss of life. A fictional German officer was added to the story as a heroic voice of reason amidst the greedy ship owners and a captain concerned with speed records rather than safety. Unrivaled resources were put behind the production (it was then the most expensive German film ever made), German ship the Cap Arcona was taken out of active service to stand in for the Titanic and hundreds of German soldiers were brought in as extras. However, the production became a disaster of its own when the circumstances of being at war made filming nearly impossible. The crew shot for weeks on the Cap Arcona without getting any usable footage. Furthermore, after making inflammatory statements against the German army, director Herbert Selpin was denounced and sent to prison where he died of an apparent suicide. Nazi Titanic also discusses the topic of propaganda movies of the 1940s from both sides of the war. Before now I had never thought of 1942's Casablanca as a propaganda film. It does fit the bill for effective pro-Allies propaganda; however, Casablanca also transcends that label due to smart writing, memorable performances, and a great sense of atmosphere--qualities which many propaganda pieces lack. When Goebbels' Titanic film was finally finished in 1943, he feared that the sinking ship would be seen as a metaphor for the Third Reich. Though the film was shown in Nazi-occupied Europe, it was never released in Germany.