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Titanic

Play trailer Poster for Titanic 1953 1h 37m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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91% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Stuck in an unloving marriage, rich socialite Julia Sturges boards the Titanic with her two young children with the intent of divorcing her husband, Richard, when she arrives in the States. At the last minute, Richard discovers her plan and manages to get on board the ship in an attempt to convince her to stay with him. Their marital problems take a backseat, however, when the Titanic collides with an iceberg and begins its descent into history.
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Titanic

Critics Reviews

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Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies 08/27/2022
4/5
Its character based storytelling approach draws you into the story, and by the time the ship begins to sink you’re thoroughly invested. Go to Full Review
Mattie Lucas From the Front Row 08/06/2019
2.5/4
It's standard Hollywood stuff, but Webb and Stanwyck are both in fine form, adding moments of humanity and emotional truth to the otherwise stilted surroundings. Go to Full Review
Virginia Graham The Spectator 06/13/2018
Titanic, the story of the great liner's first and only trip across the Atlantic, is a perfectly excellent picture, finely balanced between fact and fiction, stocked with plausible characters, working up quietly but strongly to its shattering climax. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 03/18/2013
B
Though Stanwyck and Clifton Webb make for an unlikely married couple, this b/w Oscar-winning 1953 melodrama about the sinking of the famous liner is worth seeing. Go to Full Review
Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily 10/06/2005
2/5
Ryan Cracknell Apollo Guide 01/19/2005
76/100
Not as big as James Cameron's computer-generated bonanza, but it's nonetheless impressive. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Liam D @Mediawatcher2003 12/26/2024 I liked this way more than the 90s movie because it’s a lot more shorter and better paced with an completely bleak ending See more Old Movie Watching with R @RT98783728 06/07/2024 A well made drama set around the Titanic disaster. I liked the balance of Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb as the struggling couple about to face the unexpected disaster. See more DanTheMan 2 @DanTheMan2150AD 04/15/2024 Happy Anniversary to the big silly boat with a million films based on her. Chances are when you hear Titanic, it's most likely your mind will think of the James Cameron film, one that combines tragedy with authenticity, this 1953 film instead opts for melodrama and wildly laughable inaccuracies. It doesn't help that most of the characters are archetypes or cardboard cutouts, going through all the motions you can expect, it's all too safe reflecting the cautiousness of Hollywood productions from the time. However despite the lousy screenplay, I do have to credit the film's passable direction, Joseph MacDonald's occasionally beautiful photography and ultimately the film's model sequences that depict the titular ship. Ultimately, Titanic isn't a gruelling experience, clocking in at a respectable 97 minutes. Still, there isn't enough meat to dig into with this tale, clearly wishing to be the happy-go-lucky depiction of the sinking but not to the point where it does what the animated films did... and yet it still feels really cheap, ending by just stating what happened after the sinking, almost as if it was only made to be a backdrop and bank on the public's familiarity with the name. There was little reason for this to be called Titanic unless they were going to devote more time to it outside of the transition shots... the iceberg even hits the wrong side! See more 04/13/2022 It is understandable that the movie has some inaccuracies. Many thing about Titanic were yet to be discovered. However, what i did not like is supposed to be 1912 and yet the clothes the actors wear are very current (at the time ) .So they look 1940's /1950's people and not people from earlier 20th century. Takes you out of the story. See more deke p @RT96675217 01/30/2022 Imho, BETTER than the more recent James Cameron version, tho the latter was, of course, many decades more advanced in technique than this 1953 version. But the AWESOME! "So Fresh!, Must See!": so max 5 Tomato Stars. This version also only 39 years after the actual sinking. Cast incuded STANWYCK & CLIFTON WEBB as a quarrelling married couple, plus RICHARD BASEHART as a Priest recently demoted for alcoholism; & a much younger THELMA RITTER! Plus some on board church service themes, which Hollywood would rarely feature today. See more jordan m @RT33422384 05/12/2021 Not only does the 1997 version of Titanic basically serve as a remake to this with its melodrama & lack of focus on the sinking itself, the sound of my phone vibrating from across the room is basically a remake of the obnoxious, anxiety-inducing distant fog horn sound they made up for the beginning and end of this movie. When the sound started my wife checked her phone with such haste that for a brief moment I was sure she was worried I had discovered her secret lover. Anyway, while the acting was solid I didn't like many of the characters and felt they were mostly wasting my time getting to the juicy sinking bits. This was similar to the 20-odd Godzilla sequels in that this was one of the first important Titanic movies & they were already using the sinking as a backdrop for the real story they wanted to tell. They could just as easily, and had might as well have, turned this story into a musical as at least with some nifty songs the family drama wouldn't come off as so incredibly mundane. I'll end by noting that I try and review movies from the perspective of what I imagine the standard audience member to think, but in my case I did not at all like the plot detail of the guy having raised his son for ~10 years and then heading in the direction of no longer caring for him, regardless if he corrected himself by the end. Stanwyck was awesome though! See more Read all reviews
Titanic

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Movie Info

Synopsis Stuck in an unloving marriage, rich socialite Julia Sturges boards the Titanic with her two young children with the intent of divorcing her husband, Richard, when she arrives in the States. At the last minute, Richard discovers her plan and manages to get on board the ship in an attempt to convince her to stay with him. Their marital problems take a backseat, however, when the Titanic collides with an iceberg and begins its descent into history.
Director
Jean Negulesco
Producer
Charles Brackett
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
Twentieth Century Fox
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 16, 1953, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Runtime
1h 37m