S.O.S. Titanic

1979

2 hr. 30 min.

History

Drama

List

Reviews

31%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

As Capt. Edward Smith (Harry Andrews) leads the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic, he begins to speed up the impressive ship. Meanwhile, billionaire John Jacob Astor (David Janssen) chats with Molly Brown (Cloris Leachman) in first class. In second class, teacher Lawrence Beasley (David Warner) shares a wide-ranging discussion with fellow educator Leigh Goodwin (Susan Saint James), beginning what could be a short romance. A group of Irish immigrants, happy to be aboard, sing and dance in third class.

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Audience Member

Complete and utter garbage, S.O.S. Titanic is a half-assed TV movie that embarrasses itself. There's virtually no attempt at authenticity, as the ship is clearly the Queen Mary, and the interior sets don't look anything like the Titanic. Additionally, many of the long shots of the ship are just colorized scenes from A Night to Remember and don't match-up with the models or exterior sets. The performances are universally bad (except for maybe David Warner and Susan Saint James), and the historical inaccuracies are beyond egregious; they don't even get the date of the sinking right. S.O.S. Titanic is a colossal mess that has no understanding of the Titanic disaster, and it shows in every frame.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Far better,and a lot more interesting than the last theatre version by James Cameron, and a more interesting cast, however some of the actors from this film went on the appear in the 1997 version

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Complete product of it's time. Disaster movies were real big in the 70's so why not make one out of the most infamous maritime disaster of them all? Not bad performances all around and the production values/effects hold up pretty well. David Warner (who funnily enough gets a supporting role in the '97 movie) and the other second class passenger really are the best part of the movie playing two teachers who are not of the rich fancy world or the lower class world and make a great point about how out of place they feel about it. Granted they get a little TOO platitude-y, states-the-obvious about it. Even so far as to actually SAY "Isn't this ship really a microcosm of British society today?" Uh, thanks, we get it- that's kind of why people are fascinated by the Titanic. Show us that, don't just TELL US that. The other good plot line was the of the group of twenty-something Irish immigrants who we see having fun and full of hope about their trip to America and then they're desperate struggle to get up top and their women in the boats and seeing the boys praying with the priests at the end will break your heart. All in all a pretty decent little movie that holds up pretty well considering- though a bit with the Captain Obvious at points.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Terrible like most Titanic movies. David Warner is a romantic lead which is just strange.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Despite the television look and the rather depressing nature of it's script, appearance and obvious story, the actual workthrough of this depiction of events gives a godd sense of the dispair and confusion of the sinking in total contrast to later romanticised versions of the massive loss of life.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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William Hale

Director

David Janssen

John Jacob Astor

Cloris Leachman

Molly Brown

Susan Saint James

Leigh Goodwin

David Warner

Laurence Beesley

Ian Holm

J. Bruce Ismay

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Kay Gardella

New York Daily News

When the drama steers a factual course, it's absorbing viewing. Unfortunately, the three hours are padded with superficial romances and characters that never take shape because the script keeps zigzagging from reality to fiction.

Jul 27, 2021

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Synopsis

As Capt. Edward Smith (Harry Andrews) leads the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic, he begins to speed up the impressive ship. Meanwhile, billionaire John Jacob Astor (David Janssen) chats with Molly Brown (Cloris Leachman) in first class. In second class, teacher Lawrence Beasley (David Warner) shares a wide-ranging discussion with fellow educator Leigh Goodwin (Susan Saint James), beginning what could be a short romance. A group of Irish immigrants, happy to be aboard, sing and dance in third class.

Director: William Hale
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English

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