SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

JohnHowardReid BACKGROUND: "Titanic" was a pet project of Nazi Germany's evil propaganda minister, Dr. Goebbels. In the true story of the 15 April 1912 tragedy in which 1,503 people lost their lives, Goebbels saw a grand opportunity to denounce British opportunism, stupidity and greed. Goebbels had the script written by a fanatical Nazi, Zerlett- Olfenius. Direction was entrusted to Herbert Selpin who had successfully handled movie versions of other maritime disasters, despite the fact that Goebbels was well aware that Selpin had little love for the Nazi regime. However, Zerlett-Olfenius was entrusted with shooting the second unit work on location in the port of Gdynia in Poland. In May 1942, whilst Selpin shot the interiors in Berlin, Zerlett-Olfenius was detailed to direct the matching exteriors in Gdynia. When no footage at all arrived from Gdynia, the frustrated Selpin journeyed to that port to investigate. He confronted Zerlett- Olfenius and the two men had a bitter quarrel during which Selpin made many insulting references to the German armed forces. Zerlett- Olfenius reported Selpin to the Gestapo. Selpin was arrested and thrown into jail on a charge of treason. Unwilling to delay shooting and bring the matter to trial, the evil Goebbels ordered the prison guards to murder Selpin in his cell on the night of 31 July 1942. The propaganda minister then gave out that the treasonable Selpin had admitted his guilt by committing suicide. Werner Klinger was contracted to complete the film.However, Selpin had the last laugh after all. When Goebbels viewed the completed picture, he had enough wit to realize that its propaganda effects would be the exact opposite of what he and Zerlett-Olfenius had intended. Not only were the scenes of panic among the passengers uncomfortably akin to the contemporary reactions of German civilians under Allied bombing raids, but the instigator of the whole tragedy, Ismay, was shown to be a corrupt, self-seeking leader, reckless of people's lives in his own lust for power, money and "glory". A Hitler figure, in other words. "Titanic" was shown in Paris (in order to recoup at least part of its enormous cost), but in Germany it was not released at all until 1950.COMMENT:There are a number of movies dealing with the Titanic tragedy, but for sheer entertainment zing and gusto, this version is hard to beat. Not only are special effects absolutely marvelous and the scenes of shipboard panic and mayhem absolutely riveting, but the sets are superb, the costumes startling, and the acting dazzlingly charismatic. Nielsen hugs audience sympathy as the harassed Petersen, Miss Schmitz (despite a long dark wig that is a trifle disconcerting) transforms realistically from riches-into- rescuer, while the stunningly-gowned Heiberg limns the most decorative of high-class vamps and the evil-visaged Wernicke makes a human figure of the luckless Captain Smith. And a special clap to Jolly Marée who performs the sexiest dance number by which all others will now be measured.Selpin's driving, pacey direction, boosted by Behn-Grund's splendid camera-work nails home every hideously fascinating detail of this most terrible of maritime tragedies.

kluseba This version of Titanic is a propaganda movie created under the swastika during the Third Reich era in Nazi Germany. The movie is though less propaganda orientated than "Jud Süss" or "Der ewige Jude" and even though it's banned, it's not a fascist and antisemist movie in the end. The movie rather criticizes British and American values and portrays the dark sides of egoism, bribery, capitalism and liberalism. The message of the movie is that the fate of the Titanic could have been avoided if the White Star Line would not forced the crew to ride as fast as possible to the port of New York City to get some prestige and to become rich and famous with the fastest ship in the world. The movie also shows in the end that White Star Line president Ismay doesn't get punished and that the death of one thousand five hundred people isn't avenged because of the flaws and the injustice of American laws. On the side, the courageous Germans on the sinking ship try to save the passengers and are not able to be corrupted and controlled by shareholders, thieves and rich women.Apart of some wrong historical facts and the negative description of British and American values, the movie is though rather an entertainment movie. The costumes are luxurious, the location is well chosen, the acting is overall solid even though main actor Hans Nielsen is quite unpleasant and cold. What really stands out are the special effects and the highly emotional acting during the sinking of the ship. It's no propaganda at all when I say that James Cameron stole a couple of ideas from this movie and even from some other Titanic movies I have seen to put them together into a potpourri of borrowed ideas that became famous thanks to a big budget and two great main actors. For its time, the German version of Titanic is though quite charming and entertaining and should be checked out by anybody that has seen the Hollywood blockbuster. There are still some lengths in the beginning of the movie but towards the end the movie gets better and better.This is actually a surprising fact. The first director of the movie criticized the German army during the work on this movie, got imprisoned the next day and was found dead in his cell a few days after. Officially, he might have committed suicide but it's possible that the radical German government wanted to definitely eliminate the traitor. The movie was finished with a second director but the team knew about the strange death of the first director and didn't want to finish the shooting. German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels then menaced the whole team that they might follow the faithful path of the first director if they would not collaborate. Under a big tension, the movie was finished but never officially published during the era of the Third Reich as Goebbels was afraid that the scenes of mass hysteria and death in the movie could frighten the population as they were already beginning to be attacked by Allied bombing raids at that time.Today, official copies of this movie exist and even though the movie was banned I once saw it on German television a few years ago by coincidence. The movie has a certain charm, great visual and technical effects and is quite entertaining and the only negative fact left is some anti-capitalist propaganda. Overall, this still one of the more moderate movies directed and controlled by the propaganda ministry of the Third Reich and you can watch this movie without being brainwashed if you are informed about the true events and the background of the shooting.

mdm-11 This obscure film version of the Titanic Tragedy easily ranks with the big budget Hollywood productions. Filmed during the dark days of WWII, this German effort lacks none of the luster or acting quality of important cinema produced under less stressful conditions.The film shows some obvious political propaganda, aimed at pointing out the "greed and ruthlessness" of British stock market speculators. This story angle is an interesting one, as the focus is not only on the human drama and several sensitively portrayed love stories, but also on placing blame for the loss of 1,500 human lives on a few greedy men.I can highly recommend this version of the tragic, yet fascinating story. Far above most films produced with equal or better resources. The 1943 German film "Titanic" will continue to dazzle generations of movie lovers to come!

wes-connors The "Titanic" disaster movie sails again; and, this time, it's a German World War II propaganda film. The responsibility for the sinking is explicitly revealed at the end; and, if you pay attention, it should come as no surprise. There are some nicely staged scenes in the film. Hans Nielsen (as Petersen) is the heroic German, who tries to warn the decadent British about the iceberg. Sybille Schmitz (as Sigrid) offers a striking, sympathetic characterization; she and Mr. Nielsen are the doomed "lovers"… well, potential lovers, anyway.It is confusing to have strong German performers portraying wartime "enemy" (mostly British) people unsympathetically (most of the time). And, It is curious that the Germans produced their version of "Titanic" during World War II. The story of a British ship in peril isn't exactly what you'd expect Nazi Germany to consider strong story material. What were they expecting… audiences to cheer the sinking? Perhaps the film's thesis doesn't work because some of those involved had the humanity to realize their government was wrong. ***** Titanic (11/10/43) Herbert Selpin, Werner Klingler ~ Hans Nielsen, Sybille Schmitz, Otto Wernicke, Ernst Fritz Furbringer