Rating: 
Summary: Good Titanic Epic
Review: THIS IS A GOOD PRESENTATION OF THE TITANIC STORY. ITS
CHARECTORS ALL EXISTED AND THEIR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS WERE
USED AS GUIDELINES FOR THE PLOT ALTHOUGH DRAMATIZED FOR
THE THE STORY. THE CAST IS GOOD ALTHOUGH THEY DONT RESEMBLE
THE PEOPLE THEY ARE PLAYING AT ALL. DAVID JANSON DONT RESEMBLE
JOHN JACOB ASTOR, NOR DAVID WARNER LOOK LIKE LAURENCE BEESLY OR
CLORIS LEACHMAN AS MOLLY BROWN. ALL IN ALL THIS IS A GOOD FILM
AND I WOULD RECOMMEND IT.
Rating: 
Summary: Below Average DVD of Above Average TV Movie
Review: "S.O.S Titanic", originally an ABC TV-movie from 1979, is not a prefect telling of the Titanic story but ranks far better than any other Titanic drama save "A Night To Remember" (and it is light years better than Cameron's putrid work!). The only problem is that this DVD gives us the edited version that was released theatrically in Europe and which runs more than 40 minutes shorter than what American TV audiences saw. At a three hour running time on TV, "S.O.S Titanic" could afford to spotlight many of the intriuging characters and subplots associated with the Titanic, but with 40 minutes lost in this presentation we get a much more rushed look at things that seem very incomplete at times. Why Image Entertainment didn't try to get the original TV cut for release is beyond me.There are some good performances in the presentation that haven't been topped in other productions. Ian Holm is particularly excellent as the often villainized J.Bruce Ismay, this time playing him more as a real three-dimensional figure. David Warner (who was sadly wasted 17 years later in a thankless one-dimensional role in Cameron's movie) is also the very embodiment of Lawrence Beesley, giving for the first and only time in a Titanic drama, the voice to the neglected Second Class perspective. Some Titanic buffs have objected to the not-quite romantic relationship he has with the fictional character played by Susan Saint James, but I had no problem with it because the purpose of her character was to give Beesley someone to talk to and express orally his observations about the Titanic that he would set down in his book after the sinking. All of the things they talk about are in fact taken directly from Beesley's book. Pick it up if you're interested in completing your Titanic collection, but keep hoping that a cable channel will replay the full original version some day and tape that!
Rating:
Summary: Below Average DVD of Above Average TV Movie
Review: "S.O.S Titanic", originally an ABC TV-movie from 1979, is not a prefect telling of the Titanic story but ranks far better than any other Titanic drama save "A Night To Remember" (and it is light years better than Cameron's putrid work!). The only problem is that this DVD gives us the edited version that was released theatrically in Europe and which runs more than 40 minutes shorter than what American TV audiences saw. At a three hour running time on TV, "S.O.S Titanic" could afford to spotlight many of the intriuging characters and subplots associated with the Titanic, but with 40 minutes lost in this presentation we get a much more rushed look at things that seem very incomplete at times. Why Image Entertainment didn't try to get the original TV cut for release is beyond me. There are some good performances in the presentation that haven't been topped in other productions. Ian Holm is particularly excellent as the often villainized J.Bruce Ismay, this time playing him more as a real three-dimensional figure. David Warner (who was sadly wasted 17 years later in a thankless one-dimensional role in Cameron's movie) is also the very embodiment of Lawrence Beesley, giving for the first and only time in a Titanic drama, the voice to the neglected Second Class perspective. Some Titanic buffs have objected to the not-quite romantic relationship he has with the fictional character played by Susan Saint James, but I had no problem with it because the purpose of her character was to give Beesley someone to talk to and express orally his observations about the Titanic that he would set down in his book after the sinking. All of the things they talk about are in fact taken directly from Beesley's book. Pick it up if you're interested in completing your Titanic collection, but keep hoping that a cable channel will replay the full original version some day and tape that!
Rating: 
Summary: Historical inaccurate
Review: A movie produced with an evidently short budget, special effect are poorly designed and absolutely not realistic, but what a shame.. the movie is filled of historical inaccuracies.. one of many.. as Titanic strucks the berg the engine room is reported to being flooded.. engine room is at the very poop of the ship and didn't fill until the final plunge.. and not much attention is given to the 1500 people trapped on the doomed ship.. we can't see one raising the railings and screaming trying to save himself..
Rating:
Summary: S.O.S. Titanic
Review: Although a TV movie and looking very much like it, this Titanic picture is quite entertaining and leaves the audience with an accurate emotional impact of the tragedy. The acting, especially from Cloris Leachman as Molly Brown, is most excellent. The script is nicely paced and organized to create high sympathy for the likeable people who died in the sinking of the unsinkable ship. One of the most heartbreaking sequences is when the crying baby is sitting on the wet floor of the Titanic while it's sinking. High quality entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Titanic
Review: As a whole, I very much enjoyed this film. There were just a few faults I can find with this version. These are the parts which seemed to mirror the 1970s "Love Boat." This was particularly true with the horrible portrayal of Margaret Brown and Lawrence Beesley. They did not behave like folks in 1912. Margaret Brown's continual repeating of "Call me 'Molly'" was irritating. All the other characterizations were very well done. The character of Father Thomas Byles, played by Matthew Guinness, the son of the late Sir Alec Guinness, was perfect and reverent. Isidor and Ida Strauss were also reverently portrayed, as were J.J. Astor and his young wife. There are so many character details with people like Bride, Phillips, Captain Smith, J. Bruce Ismay, Thomas Andrews, etc., which I have not seen in other films. The character developement was quite well done. I was also impressed with the attention to detail, as seen in things such as the little music box pig carried by one passenger and used to help calm a little girl during the sinking. I recommend this DVD version. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it will please true Titanophiles. The DVD picture and sound quality is good, plus I liked the fact that it is in letterbox formate.
Rating: 
Summary: TITANIC'S POOR RELATION
Review: As someone who has all the known videos mentioned by a previous reviewer and most of the leading books, not to mention biographies of Capt. Smith, 2nd Officer Lightoller and other assorted Titanic memorabilia, (I could go on);this positively is the worst film of the trajedy.The funnels were in Cunard's black/red (with black rings) colours, instead black top/buff; the superstructure of the bridge was rounded a la Queen Mary (where it was filmed), when it should have been squared off, the overall dimensions of the film set of the ship were tiny compared to the 886 foot reality.Most farcical was when "Capt. Smith" (Harry Andrews) is bellowing instructions through his megaphone to those getting into the boats - he only looks about 10ft from them!! The portrayals of JJ Astor, J Bruce Ismay and Molly Brown were appalling, totally unconvincing, under-researched and a travesty of the reality.When will film producers realise that when you film historical events, there is an army of highly clued-up amateur historians ready to pounce on you if you make a factual error!!I say lazy reearch. The only redeeming feature for me was to see David Warner playing Lawrence Beesley, the science master who had just resigned from Dulwich College and was taking his first trip abroad.One of my books is his "The Loss of the SS Titanic - Its Story & Lessons" (Mifflin 1912).Read this if you want a factual account from a second class male passenger's perspective.The bit where he tries to seduce an American school teacher sounds almost libellous, at the least, fictitous.Strangely David Warner is the only actor I can recall who has featured in two film productions of this event.The other of course being the dastardly man servant to Cal Hockley, in Cameron's fanciful production from 1997. Yes, I've got this video in my T collection but merely to have a copy of every available depiction.I do not find all the answers in any one but a bit of truth in all of them - admittedly not much in this one.Yes, I know this was made for TV and therefore had a limited budget for such a large canvas.One scene I liked was the Irish emigrants coming out by tender at what was then Queenstown, (now Cobh - I've been there) but why no depiction of Eugene Daly playing "Erin's Lament" on his Irish pipes? Film producers have a horrible temptation to dumb down leaving serious students with a feeling of frustration, but I suppose as usual it's all about putting bums on seats, students need to read all the leading works to ascertain the truth!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Cast wasted by bad script.
Review: I saw this movie recently on an old VHS release, and boy it is terrible. I saw so many wonderful actors wasted on a bad script that looked like it was originally written as an episode of the Love Boat.
Rating:
Summary: Great Cast wasted by bad script.
Review: I saw this movie recently on an old VHS release, and boy it is terrible. I saw so many wonderful actors wasted on a bad script that looked like it was originally written as an episode of the Love Boat.
Rating:
Summary: A good film that was the first Titanic movie I ever saw
Review: I've been a Titanic enthusiast for years, and this was the first Titanic-related film that I ever saw. I'm very glad to see that it has been released on DVD, which I purchased a few weeks ago. I really like the music without voices feature, as the music used in the film is gorgeous at times. If ANYONE can name that slow Irish tune that Gerard McSorley ("Martin Gallagher") and Antoinette O'Reilly ("Irish Beauty") dance their first dance to (April 13), please e-mail me the name of it!! Although not 100% accurate on facts or people, it is still worth the watch. One downside to this DVD has already been pointed out by a previous poster, and that is the fact that several minutes of several scenes have been cut out. There is a scene with those boot cleaners that is axed, as well as a rather stirring dance in steerage on the last night, with the song "The Irish Washerwoman." There are other missing scenes, as well, but those are the main ones that come to mind. Maybe TCM will air the full movie someday, since it used to air all the time on TBS years ago. Anyway, this DVD is worth buying overall!
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