More than a hundred years have passed, but the story of the Titanic continues to fascinate us. It is perhaps the best metaphor for the transience of life. One night you are drinking whiskey in a fancy pub and the next day you cease to exist forever. Today, almost everyone knows that event on April 14 from the James Cameron film with DiCaprio and Winslet, but in Black and White Cinema we look back further to recommend an authentic gem: ‘The last night of the Titanic’.
The movie, premiered in 1958 Y winner of the golden globe for best foreign film is the adaptation of the book by historian Walter Lord. In it, the vicissitudes of the passengers aboard the last voyage of the Titanic, the luxurious ship that sank in the cold waters of the North Atlantic in April 1912, are detailed.
Lord’s work had more than 60 testimonies from survivors of the catastrophe. Of the more than 2,000 passengers, barely 700 survived. The film successfully shows a kaleidoscope of characters that allow you to get a clear idea of how those moments were lived. Being an ensemble film, the action does not focus on just two characters, as is the case with Jack and Rose in Cameron’s Titanic, which, by the way, clearly takes inspiration from this film for his.
There are also moments for comedy in the Titanic tragedy. One of the ship’s workers, for example, decides that the best way to deal with the disaster is to get drunk. Other first-class passengers decide to continue their card game, and what to say about the famous Titanic music band… Many innocent souls lost their lives that day, but even when everything falls apart, some brave ones know how to make it.
