Seven Sins Marathon Movie 5: A Night To Remember (1958)


Pride is something that we all have.  It’s in every person to be proud of their accomplishments, or of others’ accomplishments.  It’s human nature to be like that.  It’s also a sin, and that’s where we are in the Seven Sins Marathon.  What better way to show pride than with one of the proudest achievements in modern history, as well as one of the most documented disasters?  I’m talking about the sinking of the Titanic.

The fifth movie in the Seven Sins Marathon is a 1958 film by the name of A Night To Remember.  The movie is about the maiden voyage of the Titanic and the disaster that happened during that voyage.  It’s basically the same story as James Cameron’s Titanic, except without all of the Leo and Kate relationship stuff.  Some might say that getting rid of that stuff made for a better, more compelling movie.  I both agree and disagree with that.

I went into A Night To Remember thinking I had seen parts of it before.  The thing is, nothing in the movie sparked my memory.  Maybe I hadn’t seen it.  I’m glad I have now.  The structure of the movie made it about the sinking and what the characters do during it, rather than making it a character movie that happens to have a ship sinking within it.  It makes a huge difference where the focus lies.  With the focus on the event, more characters can be equally fleshed out, or close to equally, and instead of the movie being mostly about select characters, you can see how it affects everyone within the situation.  It makes it more compelling.  It makes it larger.  With a large boat, and a largely infamous disaster, being able to see more points of view focused upon helps to make the movie feel as big as it should.

The movie looks great.  Visually, there is a lot here to like.  For a movie made in the age that A Night To Remember was made, the effects all hold up really well.  This could be because it’s models and practical effects and such.  It makes the movie feel more real and adds to the tension that you feel watching as the Titanic sinks.  The water rushes into all of the compartments.  You watch it rush in.  You watch people get away.  It is real water, and they are real people.  Watching something that is real feels better than watching fake water or seeing computer graphically created people.  That’s what A Night To Remember does well.  It puts everything on a real, or close to real, level that the viewer can associate with.

There is a lot more to say about A Night To Remember, but I’m not going to write all of that stuff because most of it would be comparing it to the more well-known and widely seen James Cameron film Titanic.  It wouldn’t be fair to compare the two without a rewatch of the James Cameron movie.  I will end with that I prefer A Night To Remember.  It is a captivating tale about how pride in an unsinkable ship can turn into disaster with the help of a single iceberg.  This is a must-see for anyone interested in the Titanic and its maiden voyage.

Next up in the Seven Sins Marathon is a movie called Envy.  I’ve seen this one a few times and have a strange affection for it.  Something about it just hooks me in every time.  I’m not quite sure what.

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