The premise that the loss of fifteen hundred lives aboard HMS Titanic was due to Bruce Ismay's bribing Captain Smith to maintain a speed of 26 knots in order to reach New York ahead of schedule is patently absurd but presumably Goebbels believed that the German public would lap anything up. The record had already been established by the Mauritania in 1909. The real tragedy was due to the lamentable lack of lifeboats, for which Ismay must be held accountable and the failure of Captain Lord of SS Californian to respond to radio messages and distress signals.
The premiere was planned for 1943 but Goebbels pulled it, obviously realising that the film would be more likely to depress than entertain. A censored version was finally shown in Germany in 1955. Goebbels was apparently none too impressed with the acting but it looks okay to me. Some very classy females on display here. The tragic Sybille Schmitz, Kirsten Heilborg, regarded as a traitress by her fellow Norwegians, Charlotte Thiele who made a speedy exit to South America and the delightful Monika Burg who reinvented herself in France as Claude Farrell. Ernst Fritz Fuebringer is a reprehensible Ismay and Karl Schoenboek utilises his elegant aristocratic persona to great effect as the ruthless Astor. Hans Neilsen is excellent as Petersen although his character is rather self-righteous.
The film itself certainly has merit especially the scenes following the collision. As is well documented director Herbert Selpin was bumped off by the Nazis and replaced by uncredited Werner Klinger. A previous reviewer has incorrectly noted the connection with the ill-fated ship Wilhelm Gustloff. In fact the exterior sequences were shot aboard the equally ill-fated Cap Arcona. Hardly any of Goebbel's overtly propogandist films achieved their original intentions but they nonetheless remain horribly fascinating. This is no exception.
Review of Titanic
