Cinema
Titanic
Herbert Selpin · 1943
Synopsis
In April 1912, the Titanic sets out on her maiden voyage. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, has let the price of his company's shares fall and intends to bring it back up by winning the crossing record; he promises Captain Smith a bonus for every hour gained. First Officer Petersen, the only German in the crew, demands in vain that the ship slow down in an ice zone. On board, the financier John Jacob Astor manoeuvres on his own account to take over the company.
Context
The film answers a request from the Ministry of Propaganda, which wanted subjects hostile to England; the screenplay, revised by Walter Zerlett-Olfenius, adds an invented German officer to it. Shot in 1942, in a studio in Berlin and, for the exteriors, at Gotenhafen, it was completed after Selpin's death by Werner Klingler, who does not appear in the credits. Goebbels banned its screening in Germany; it was released in Paris in November 1943, then in West Germany from December 1949, in a cut version.
Who it is for
A propaganda film that mixes invented characters and plots with the facts of the sinking, beginning with its German hero.
Prizes and reception
A few images from its shipwreck scenes were reused in 1958 in the British film Atlantique, latitude 41°.