A survey of 86 years of Titanicana in popular culture, with the emphasis on movies about (or inspired by) the disaster.A survey of 86 years of Titanicana in popular culture, with the emphasis on movies about (or inspired by) the disaster.A survey of 86 years of Titanicana in popular culture, with the emphasis on movies about (or inspired by) the disaster.
Photos
Stuart Fischoff
- Self - Professor of Media Psychology
- (as Dr. Stuart Fischoff)
Charles A. Haas
- Self - Author
- (as Charles Haas)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe TV-movie S.O.S. Titanic (1979) is not mentioned.
- ConnectionsFeatures In Night and Ice (1912)
Featured review
The Titanic Lives On
The sinking of the Titanic was one of those landmark cultural events of the 20th century. It has reverberated throughout our culture, becoming a synonym for incredible size and great tragedy. It arguably reached even greater heights in the late 1990s when James Cameron's epic blockbuster film hit cinema screens. 1998's Beyond Titanic might seem on the surface to be capitalizing on Cameron's film but, instead, it does something far more interesting than regurgitating the facts and theories of the sinking once again.
Surveying eighty-odd years of the disaster in popular culture, the documentary instead offers up a compelling look at just why the diaster has stayed with us. Beginning with how word reached the world of the sinking in 1912, this is the story of how facts and confusion gave birth to the mythology around the Titanic. What's incredible is just how much the disaster reverberated even then, finding its way into the arguments made by and againt suffragettes to appearing in African American folk music. From there, the liner enters the world of cinema just a month of its vanishing beneath the waves. Once there, as the documentary shows, it would find life again and again in numerous movies and TV series across the decades.
Those films and TV series are a big part of why this documentary remains intriguing viewing even after twenty years. Here are clips from across the whole range of Titanic on screen, from the earliest surviving silent films to the Nazi propaganda film made during the Second World War. There are the better-known films from the 1950s like Fox's Titanic and A Night to Remember, the latter remaining among the best Titanic films (if not the best). There are the appearances it's made on the small screen as well from One Step Beyond to The Time Tunnel. And even a few places where the disaster got unlikely namechecks including The Rocky Horror Picture Show and novels like Arthur C Clarke's The Ghost of the Grand Banks or Danielle Steele's No Greater Love. Cameron's film, still playing in cinemas when this was made, gets a fair amount of screentime later on in it, in addition to having Victor Garber (who played Thomas Andrews in the film) narrating the piece. In 94 minutes, it takes in the width and breadth of Titanic on-screen with only one or two notable exceptions such as the 1979 miniseries SOS Titanic.
It also sports a good assortment of talking heads. There are cultural historians Steven Biel and Paul Heyer offering up explorations of the Titanic's appearances in political and popular culture. Historians such as Don Lynch and Charles Haas offer up historical perspectives on the ship itself and how books and movies influenced their own interest in the ship, as does Daniel Allen Butler whose book Unsinkable was very much in vogue at the time. There are perspectives with collectors, artists, actors who've appeared in Titanic related works including Bernard Fox and Tammy Grimes, and even Titanic survivor Melvina Dean. Dean's contributions are interesting as she discusses the effect of films like A Night to Remember and Cameron's Titanic upon her, including the efforts film studio publicists went to try and get her to attend screenings of the latter in the UK. Each of them, and others too help explore the ongoing fascination with the wreck.
Beyond Titanic continues to stand out from the crowded field of Titanic documentaries for just that reason. As Garber says in the opening narration, it seems as though the Titanic has never really gone away. With countless books, songs, and films about the disaster, it isn't hard to see why. For the overview it gives of how Titanic went from a tragedy to a pop culture phenomenon, and everything in-between, it remains well-worth watching even with everything that's come in the last two decades. After all, our fascination with it has yet to diminish.
Surveying eighty-odd years of the disaster in popular culture, the documentary instead offers up a compelling look at just why the diaster has stayed with us. Beginning with how word reached the world of the sinking in 1912, this is the story of how facts and confusion gave birth to the mythology around the Titanic. What's incredible is just how much the disaster reverberated even then, finding its way into the arguments made by and againt suffragettes to appearing in African American folk music. From there, the liner enters the world of cinema just a month of its vanishing beneath the waves. Once there, as the documentary shows, it would find life again and again in numerous movies and TV series across the decades.
Those films and TV series are a big part of why this documentary remains intriguing viewing even after twenty years. Here are clips from across the whole range of Titanic on screen, from the earliest surviving silent films to the Nazi propaganda film made during the Second World War. There are the better-known films from the 1950s like Fox's Titanic and A Night to Remember, the latter remaining among the best Titanic films (if not the best). There are the appearances it's made on the small screen as well from One Step Beyond to The Time Tunnel. And even a few places where the disaster got unlikely namechecks including The Rocky Horror Picture Show and novels like Arthur C Clarke's The Ghost of the Grand Banks or Danielle Steele's No Greater Love. Cameron's film, still playing in cinemas when this was made, gets a fair amount of screentime later on in it, in addition to having Victor Garber (who played Thomas Andrews in the film) narrating the piece. In 94 minutes, it takes in the width and breadth of Titanic on-screen with only one or two notable exceptions such as the 1979 miniseries SOS Titanic.
It also sports a good assortment of talking heads. There are cultural historians Steven Biel and Paul Heyer offering up explorations of the Titanic's appearances in political and popular culture. Historians such as Don Lynch and Charles Haas offer up historical perspectives on the ship itself and how books and movies influenced their own interest in the ship, as does Daniel Allen Butler whose book Unsinkable was very much in vogue at the time. There are perspectives with collectors, artists, actors who've appeared in Titanic related works including Bernard Fox and Tammy Grimes, and even Titanic survivor Melvina Dean. Dean's contributions are interesting as she discusses the effect of films like A Night to Remember and Cameron's Titanic upon her, including the efforts film studio publicists went to try and get her to attend screenings of the latter in the UK. Each of them, and others too help explore the ongoing fascination with the wreck.
Beyond Titanic continues to stand out from the crowded field of Titanic documentaries for just that reason. As Garber says in the opening narration, it seems as though the Titanic has never really gone away. With countless books, songs, and films about the disaster, it isn't hard to see why. For the overview it gives of how Titanic went from a tragedy to a pop culture phenomenon, and everything in-between, it remains well-worth watching even with everything that's come in the last two decades. After all, our fascination with it has yet to diminish.
helpful•20
- timdalton007
- Nov 9, 2019
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Titanic: Más allá de la tragedia
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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