Search - Titanic: Echoes of Titanic on DVD

The content is great, the sound quality is lousy.

08/03/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The content of this DVD video is great. There are actual interivews with survivors from the Titanic as well as summaries of newspaper articles that reported the disaster shortly after it happened. There is even a summary of those that testified at the trial that detail the last hours of the tragic sea voyage.All this is undermined though by the fact that the sound quality of this DVD is in most part non existent. This impairs greatly our ability to listen to what could be a top notch oral adventure of what really happened to the ship that night and the world's reaction to it.I was not able to watch the entire DVD because the sound quality was so bad."

Interesting but can become tedious for non-fanatics

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 04/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This video, the first of five in the Titanic: The Mystery & The Legacy series, is for those interested in the complete story of the Titanic as it has evolved throughout the years since the disaster; those interested only in the dramatic sinking itself may find themselves bored in significant stretches of this presentation. One must also contend with a somewhat mediocre sound quality, which makes it close to impossible to catch every single word being uttered, especially from those speaking with a strong accent. The story featured here really starts in the aftermath of the sinking itself, as it chronicles some of the stories, books, and movies (not including the James Cameron mega-movie that was to come a year after this Titanic series was produced) that have appeared over the years based on the Titanic drama. There are a couple of interviews with elderly survivors of the disaster; in one case, though, the witness goes on and on about her life after the Titanic without saying much about the horrifying experience itself. Significant bits of vintage newsreels are shown, including shots of Captain Smith inspecting a ship that is passed off as the Titanic but is actually the Olympic (the footage having been shot a year before the Titanic set sail); there are also lingering shots of the captain and crew of the rescue ship Carpathia, but this footage consists mainly of young stewards hamming it up in front of the camera. We are shown a number of newspaper headlines and stories dating back to the days and weeks after the disaster, and the difference between initial American and British reports is quite striking. From here, we move on to accounts of some of the films based on the disaster. I was quite surprised to learn that one such film was made only months after the disaster and starred an actual survivor wearing the clothes she wore on the fateful night itself; sadly, no print of this early French production now exists. A German film was made shortly thereafter, but the video devotes much more of its attention to two movies from 1929, filmed in both an English and a German version, with some pretty extraordinary shots of the panic-stricken passengers trying to save themselves. Most of the attention and praise is devoted to Walter Lords' magnificent book A Night to Remember and the extraordinary movie that was based on his account of events. This look at the legacy of the Titanic disaster in print and film can become somewhat tedious at times, so those without a significant passion for all things Titanic may do well to pass this video by."