A Night to Remember Review

A night to remember is a gripping, true tale of a ship doomed to sink from an iceberg, and the film is able to turn reality into something so captivating that seems like it’s straight from a Hollywood movie. The film’s decision to not have a main character and instead tell the story with an objective view of everyone on board helps tell the tale of the Titanic in detail that wouldn’t be captured otherwise, and the fact that every single scene is purely based on real accounts makes it feel all the more real, alongside the actors being able to portray the feelings and emotions of that night with an incredibly genuine feel.

The movie does a great job at showing off the story from the view of the captain, crew, and passengers from first class to third. It also has some scenes that show the other ships nearby like the Carpathia and Californian, and how they reacted to the situation. The switching of focus is used really well in some places, with one scene in particular sticking out, where they show first class passengers in the dining room with no idea going on, and then jump-cuts to the bottom compartments being completely flooded with water, before cutting back to the passengers.

For the writing of the novel of A Night to Remember, Walter Lord interviewed many people who were on board the Titanic that day, and combined all their stories to provide a comprehensive, full account of the events of that night. The movie does a more than spectacular job at showing this off, showing exactly how it was like to be there, from boarding to sinking. At the beginning of the movie, there are a few instances of subtle but noticeable foreshadowing of the disaster yet to come, as it shows off how people had full faith in the extravagance of the ship.