I watched this many times on TV as a kid, mainly interested in the exciting final scenes. When I reacquainted myself with it as an adult I realized how much I missed.
The obnoxiously pretentious and pontificating character portrayed by Clifton Webb makes Billy Zane's later effort look anemic - and Zane did a great job. Stunning Barbara Stanwick plays the kind of magnetic woman that no man could watch walk away without making a last stand. Robert Wagner exhibits the same irresistible rascally charm he still shows as Dinozzo's dad on NCIS.
The scene containing the interchange between the two main stars when Stanwick finally and powerfully plays her "high trump", then turns away to leave an emotionally eviscerated Webb slack-jawed and speechless is a cinematic gem. Each suffer a private Gethsemane in their own way and the sense of loss and bitterness both feel is palpably grim and painful to see. Of course the Titanic does sink and those who die and those who survive are separated with cold, irreversible finality.
The special effects are not that special, even by 1950s standards, but that is not what this movie was really about in the first place. Don't expect the 1996 version, this isn't for kids, it's drama played by 2 stars at the top of their game.
The obnoxiously pretentious and pontificating character portrayed by Clifton Webb makes Billy Zane's later effort look anemic - and Zane did a great job. Stunning Barbara Stanwick plays the kind of magnetic woman that no man could watch walk away without making a last stand. Robert Wagner exhibits the same irresistible rascally charm he still shows as Dinozzo's dad on NCIS.
The scene containing the interchange between the two main stars when Stanwick finally and powerfully plays her "high trump", then turns away to leave an emotionally eviscerated Webb slack-jawed and speechless is a cinematic gem. Each suffer a private Gethsemane in their own way and the sense of loss and bitterness both feel is palpably grim and painful to see. Of course the Titanic does sink and those who die and those who survive are separated with cold, irreversible finality.
The special effects are not that special, even by 1950s standards, but that is not what this movie was really about in the first place. Don't expect the 1996 version, this isn't for kids, it's drama played by 2 stars at the top of their game.