Titanic

1996
5.8| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

Titanic is a made-for-TV dramatization that premiered as a 2-part miniseries on CBS in 1996. Titanic follows several characters on board the RMS Titanic when she sinks on her maiden voyage in 1912. The miniseries was directed by Robert Lieberman. The original music score was composed by Lennie Niehaus. This is the first Titanic movie to show the ship breaking in two.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 7-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
GeorgeSickler I'm kidding, but the network executive who OK's this turkey should have gone down with the ship.I was born on an April 15 (but not 1912, the date the RMS Titanic sank), so this has been a favorite subject of mine -- beginning when I read Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" as a kid not too long after it was published in 1955. And then there's that tremendously emotionally charged movie of the same title and based on the book that came out in 1958. I felt like I was there, and experiencing it from the perspective of passengers in steerage, second & first class, as well as the crew.Many others have commented on the factual inaccuracies, wooden acting, and contrived plot developments that supposedly were added to "spice it up," as if this human tragedy of titanic proportions needs "spicing." What bothered me the most were a number of scenes which made me just cringe, fold my arms and slowly shake my head, thinking, "Oh, Come on! Nobody could/would do that and expect to get away with it. Do they really think viewers are so dense to buy this" As just a few examples, and these may or may not be spoilers: Do you really think Capt. Smith would let a passenger (female or male) take steerage control of the ship on a visit to the bridge, just for fun? If he actually did, and it got to the White Star Line in New York, I suspect he would have started his retirement before his last return trip home. Test this on your next cruise: try to go to the bridge and ask to steer the ship for awhile.Do you really think J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, would climb down to the boiler room and order more boilers to be fired up for more speed? He would do this to defy the orders of their boss, Capt. Smith? And the crew would go along with it? No crew would go against the orders of their next in command, as ordered by their captain. Get real.Bruce Ismay is another real person just trashed by this movie. He did save himself by climbing into a lifeboat when there were no other women or children at that station (although there were plenty elsewhere). At the inquiries, he said he did that so that the full story could be told. Nobody believed that. He lost his job at White Star; White Star was absorbed by Cunard, and I understand Ismay died alone and lonely in the U.K. in the 1950s.The contrived character Simon "Snidley Whiplash" Doonan is so blatantly obnoxious and evil as a member of the ship's passenger crew, that he should have been reported by someone -- but never was. Instead, he strolls into cabins at his leisure and takes his time robbing first cabin passengers. And gets away with it.The often mentioned rape-in-the-shower scene: What are the odds? The Titanic was the largest ship afloat, with well over 1,500 passengers on board. The vast majority were in steerage, where the rape scene occurred. "Steerage" on the Titanic was better than 2nd class on other liners: the food was better, the service and cabins were better. . . . most passengers never had electric light or indoor plumbing at home. They had it here for the first time. If there were communal showers -- and I don't think there were -- I suspect they'd be in constant use as a real novelty. And they'd be segregated by sex.So, here's this gal in a communal shower. But she's ALL BY HERSELF -- in a steerage section filled with several hundred other women who have never had the experience of a hot shower before. And "Snidley" Simon casually strolls in without a care or fear in the world and rapes her --and smirkingly gets away with it.Oh, come on. What are the odds? And then there's the business with Frederick Fleet in the lookout tower being ordered to release his binoculars for their return to the bridge, as if that were a mega blunder and contributing factor to the disaster.Oh, pleeeeeeze! What bridge command on any ship would order the lookout to give up his binoculars? Especially after receiving ice warnings. What does the bridge want to see that's different than what the lookout NEEDS to see? They could call on the phone and ask Fleet to look.Anyway, on the night of April 14, there was no moon, but a dead-calm sea and a velvet sky blanketed with stars. The two lookouts didn't have, and didn't need, binoculars because it was pitch black. What tipped Fleet off was that, dead ahead, there was a growing blackness due to an absence of stars. It was the iceberg, which led to his clanging the emergency bell in the lookout tower and calling the bridge.If there were moonlight, they would have seen it sooner. If the sea were a bit rougher, they would have seen the white foam of the churn hitting the outline of the base of the burg.To claim, as this film does, that the lookout was forced to give up the binoculars is a lie and a gross disservice to the memories of the officers and crew of the RMS Titanic.Anyone who wants to understand and be profoundly moved by this tragedy as experienced by realistic and representative folks of all classes, crew and officers -- try "A Night to Remember." It doesn't need shower scenes, rapes, "Snidley Whiplash" or other contrived plots to make it "interesting."
babycakes056 Overall, I thought this was a great, well told film.It's hard to choose which one is the best version of the Titanic, between James Cameron's 1997 version or the TV 1996 Version. Both were amazing and even though they were telling the same story, I found them both very different.The Earlier version is much more true to life, the stories were more realistic with the nanny and I really loved the way it switched between ships. The Cast was amazing and Tim Curry was so convincing as a villain. I though Catherine Zeta-Jones and Peter Gallagher had great chemistry together. I didn't like the romance between Jaime and Olsee (sorry, I can't spell her name) as much as Jack's and Rose's. For a low budget TV film, I thought it did a splendid job.What many people seem to forget is that this one was made before James Cameron version so the 1996 version was being made, they didn't have anything to go on to know whether or not the characters and sets were how they portrayed them.Overall a fantastic film that is worth seeing if you have a free afternoon.
Dianafan79 I am sure this drama has disappeared under the shadow of James Cameron's Titanic but I acutaly preferred this to the huge blockbuster. Having only recently seen this movie this week I was impressed. Although the effects are not great, it had, what Cameron's lacked, which was good characters, the main ones had their own stories, but it was done in a moving way, but without being over syrupy like Cameron's characters were.I love George C Scott as the Captain of the Titanic. He was always a classy actor and this is the same as anything else he is in. I was pleased to see TIm Curry in the production as well, and having only seen him in comedies (except IT) it was nice to see him play a rather shady and less then virtuous character. Catherine Zeta-Jones was marvelous in this show too. Pretty as always she really did manage to tug at the heart strings playing a young woman in mourning, not only for her late aunt but for a love that was cruely denied her. Although I was surprised that UK Channel Four, at just after two in the afternoon showed a love scene, but hey ho, the world is changing! Although a event such as the sinking of the Titanic would upset most people I found this REALLY upsetting. With Cameron's Titanic it was all about effects. This Titanic concentrated more on characters and you felt for every single one of them. Whether it be hatred (for Tim Curry's character) or sadness for the hundred of third class passengers trapped and locked behind gates. That is what a movie is about. Less of the effects, more of a story where you genuinely feel sorry for the characters and you care if they make it or not.The costumes and sets were really classy and this version of Titanic was a pleasure to watch. I'd highly recommend it. It was aired in two parts here in the UK and at the end of each one I was in tears. So if you have a few hours to spare and this is on, I'd say put your feet up with some ice cream and watch it. You wont regret it.
ptb-8 Hilarious TV miniseries that perhaps uses borrowed sets from the UK 1979 version ... maybe reused in the Meaning Of Life 'Titanic sequence" .....(SOS TITANIC of 1979 starred with Jerry Hauser and Cloris Leachman.... yes....) and adds glamourpuss Catherine Zeta Jones and George C Scott with what is clearly Tim Currie's most berserk characterization of any rocky horror he has ever played....in fact he plays it for laughs... and at such a 'Snidley Whiplash' level that must have just collapsed with laughter after ever 'take' . Wait till you see him 'disguise himself as a woman... even though he has a mustache and beard....!) Handsome JOHN DOYLE... (who...?) in a Jimmy Cagney role and various other TV and faded movie stalwarts add feathers and good haircuts to the luster of the doomed liner... but really this is no more than cheap tabloid TV 'clarrssy' movie watching for uneducated farm workers... in fact I do not believe it was made for anyone whose first language was English... even though it is in English. Capish? Bleached back projection, rabble hordes, religious fanatics, flimsy locked gates and bewildered potato head farmers and wives round out a really low budget 'oooh waaah' level of production. The best bit? The fantastic Gothic ceiling of the dining room. This is a version of TITANIC that actually dares to skimp on the actual sinking of the ship... that happens during a montage...!!!!! yep, during a montage......... urgggghh. a montage... huh??? the whole thing runs 170 minutes and the ship sinks in a montage..!!!!!!