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Excellent but underrated film

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The story of this film project is almost as interesting as the story of the Titanic itself.At the height of the war, Goebbels started planning a massive movie spectacular that would present the Titanic story as a parable of Anglo-American capitalist greed, with a fictitious German officer heroically battling the cynical boardroom villains, out to secure the Blue Riband at any cost, to save their shipping line from bankruptcy. (This claim still pops-up from time to time, though there seem to have been other reasons for the undue haste to reach New York.)A surprisingly large budget was provided, and director Herbert Selpin got to work. The film required hundreds of naval personnel as technical advisors - a dream posting, well away from their units, in a film-colony atmosphere, with access to drink and women, of which they took excessive advantage. Selpin told them that their conduct was unprofessional as well as unpatriotic. A so-called friend reported him to Goebbels, who ordered him to retract his statement. He refused, and was found hanged next day.Now everything started to slide. Film people were disgusted at Selpin's fate, and morale never recovered. By the time the movie was finished, the Germans were losing the war, and Goebbels realised it would be a mistake to show scenes of drowning civilians, so no screenings were allowed. The film would only come to light many years later, as a historical curio.As this version was pure propaganda, we get all the Titanic clichés we expect (before they became clichés), with heavy emphasis on fine dining in gorgeous evening dress with a grand orchestra, while the freezing water pours into the engine-room and then rises steadily into the cabins. None of the performances stand out, and none of the actors seem to have moved on to bigger things, though their postwar careers would be dogged anyway by their association with the regime. But it is a tribute to the production values that several scenes are believed to have been directly reproduced in the British film 'A Night to Remember'.

"Titanic" is a German 1943 film, so this one is almost 75 years old. it was made in Germany, during the days of World War II, so you probably know already that the film has its fair share of propaganda too, even if most of it is not as obvious as other films from that era. "Titanic" runs for slightly over 80 minutes and gives us an insight into Nazi Germany's idea of how the ship sank and who is really responsible for it. It is actually quite ironic how they are trying to tell us that those (Jews, of course) responsible for it were not only not punished but profited from it while exploiting this catastrophe themselves. There are some prolific actors from back in the day in here, but none of them are really famous anymore today. This is a sound film and it's actually okay to listen to compared to other sound films from a couple years earlier. The industry has certainly advances fairly quickly, not only in the United States, but also in Europe.The most interesting thing about the movie is probably the background story involving writer and director Herbert Selpin. Unhappy with the impact the Propaganda Ministry had on the film, he was quite vocal about his concerns and thought on the entire political climate. The consequence was that he got arrested and most likely killed while making it look like a staged suicide. Official comments indicated anyway that he was about to be sentenced to death soon. As spectacular as all this may seem, none of the film is really spectacular or memorable. I found it a pretty boring watch for the most part and only a few scenes were interesting, certainly not enough for a film that crosses the 80-minute mark. The acting is also really mediocre. I do not recommend watching this film here. Quick little note: When this was made, James Cameron wasn't even alive yet.

The Teutonic TITANIC's been called everything from "artistically terrible" to "morbidly compelling" and with good reason. It's also talky (or, in this case, subtitle-y) and doesn't really kick in until the final minutes but considering the anti-British agenda, the doomed ship was merely a medium for the message anyway. Not only is the film of historical importance as a pluperfect example of Nazi agitprop, the backstory's as tragic as the events unfolding on screen:Third Reich Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels heartily endorsed the project because he thought the tragic tale was "a classic case of British incompetency" but, ironically, after its completion he banned the film in Germany, thinking the scenes of panic and despair hit too close to home for a beleaguered populace in a time of heavy Allied bombing. The director, Herbert Selpin, was overheard making a crack about the German navy and promptly hauled off by the Gestapo who put him in prison; he was later found hanging in his cell, a "suicide", of course. Troubled star Sybille Schmitz was also the real-life inspiration for Rainer Warner Fassbinder's VERONIKA VOSS but the darkest of all fates awaited the S.S. Cap Arcona, a one-time luxury liner used in the filming. In May, 1945, the Cap Arcona, commandeered by the German navy, was ferrying prisoners of war in the Baltic when it was sunk by the RAF. "Pilots of the attacking force stated that they were unaware that the ships were laden with prisoners who had survived the camps... The RAF commanders ordering the strike reportedly thought that the ships carried escaping SS officers." More than 5,000 lost their lives that night (five times Titanic's death toll and the second worst maritime disaster in history) and it's said that survivors in the water were picked off by Nazi snipers as they tried to swim ashore. As late as 1971, skulls and bones were still washing up on beaches. After WWII, TITANIC was considered one of the "spoils of war" and American and British filmmakers were free to use footage from it whenever they wanted. Snippets show up in 1958's A NIGHT TO REMEMBER as well as a slew of U.S. television shows in the 50s & 60s. The panic, terror, and grisly particulars of the sinking of the Cap Arcona are as dramatic as any Titanic re-telling:"Equipped with lifejackets from locked storage compartments, most of the SS guards were able to jump overboard from the Cap Arcona, and there appear to be rumors that despite the water temperature of only 7°C, they were busy shooting any prisoners who tried to escape. German trawlers sent to rescue Cap Arcona's crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors, 400 SS men, and 20 SS women. Most of the prisoners who tried to board the trawlers were beaten back, while those who reached shore were shot down. The prisoners that managed to swim ashore were mainly gunned by the SS. Only 350 of the 4,500 former concentration camp inmates who had been aboard the Cap Arcona survived. RAF Pilot Allan Wyse of No. 193 Squadron later recalled, "We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water . . . we shot them up with 20mm cannons in the water. Horrible thing, but we were told to do it and we did it. That's war." Severely damaged and set on fire, the Cap Arcona eventually capsized. The death toll was estimated at 5,000 people."One last thing about the Cap Arcona catastrophe -quite a few of those concentration camp survivors were captured American soldiers which makes this the most horrific case of "friendly fire" ever.

Titanic (1943) *** (out of 4) Very interesting and highly entertaining version of the disaster told through the eyes of a German director and cast. This is certainly a war propaganda film and the closing line takes a direct hit at the British but even with all of that the film still manages to entertain. It's clear the German's wanted Americans and the British to look like idiots but why on Earth would they keep the cast speaking German? Who knows. The one good guy in the film, a German officer, is the hero here. Even stranger is that the film was originally banned in Germany and wasn't shown there for over six years. Interestingly, director Herbert Selpin was arrested by the Gestapo during filming and the next day was found dead in his cell. Some say he was murdered but the Gestapo claimed suicide.