Review of Night To Remember, A

Video

A Night To Remember is perhaps the most well known Titanic movie until James Cameron’s 1997 extravaganza hit our screens. Barry Norman on Film 98 described it as ‘more moving’ than Cameron’s version, and a five star rating was received from Empire magazine. This film dates from 1958, and of course is black and white. It was also the most successful British film of that year, and stars Kenneth More (‘Reach For The Sky’), Honor Blackman and a very young David McCallum.

The special effects are good for their day, but are obviously not up to today’s CGI standards. The models used are excellently detailed, although the sea just looks a little ‘big’ next to them! Kenneth More plays Charles Lightoller, the first mate of the doomed liner, and the story is told from his perspective.

We get a 1.85:1 transfer here and given the age of the film, can be described as excellent. A few pops and scratches were seen but we can overlook this! Black and white films tend to look very nice on DVD and can often make a relatively cheap projector seem like one costing three times as much.

Audio

Nothing much to say here except you get a Mono Dolby Digital soundtrack. The only issue being I heard some crackling from the right hand front speaker at some stages, which was recorded on the DVD.

Features

For a reasonably priced DVD I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice batch of extras here.

Firstly you get the excellent ‘The Making Of A Night To Remember’ on side 2 of the disc, and has to be one of the best documentaries I have seen. This was only made two or three years ago (for the DVD) and takes the viewer to local filming locations 40 years later – Pinewood Studios and Ruislip Lido where all the lifeboat scenes were shot (not far from Pinewood). It contains interviews with the surviving film crew, and some in depth details into how the special effects were done. It is amazing to think that a lot of this ‘cutting room floor’ and making-of footage still survives, and thankfully has now been restored to the benefit of this DVD audience. The programme contains a lot of footage of the original ship.

You also get the biographies of the stars (including information of their salaries of the day!), and both the UK and USA trailers.

Conclusion

This film was directed by William MacQuitty, who himself saw the original ship launched as a child. The ‘making of’ documentary has a lengthy interview with him, which makes for compelling viewing. Walter Lord is also interviewed who wrote the original book the film is based on.

Titanic fans will already know this film well, from its many repeats on the television. It is glorious to see the film uncut and in it’s widescreen originality and this film was made at the height of Kenneth More’s popularity.

This DVD has to be recommended. If you shop around you can probably pick it up for less than a tenner, and as one of the greatest and most famous British movies of the time, the transfer to DVD has done it the justice it deserves.