Titanic (1943)
Directed by Herbert Selpin, Werner Klingler

Film Review

Viewed through the highly distorting prism of Nazi anti-British propaganda, this account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic offers little in the way of historical accuracy but was a major cinematic achievement for its time.   Commissioned by Joseph Goebbels, the German Minister of Propaganda, Titanic was the most expensive German film of its time and, even by today's standards, its special effects are impressive and authentically convey the scale and horror of the most famous maritime disaster in history.   This was not the first film account of the sinking of the Titanic (there had been three earlier silent films and a well-known early sound film entitled Atlantic, released in 1929), but it is one of the most spectacular and realistic.   A few shots from it even found their way into the 1958 British film A Night to Remember, which is widely accepted as the most accurate dramatic account of the disaster.

The film Titanic lived up to its name, in more ways than one.  In spite of its colossal budget, it was a highly fraught production and failed to recoup more than a fraction of its cost.  The film was directed by Herbert Selpin, a successful German filmmaker who had made his name by directing popular comedies and melodramas at UFA in the 1930s.   Titanic was to be his last film, one of a series of propaganda pieces he was compelled to direct after the outbreak of WWII.  Selpin's personal view of the British was fiercely at odds with what he was being asked to present in his films and he was also outspoken in his criticism of the German military.  It was this unapologetic anti-Nazi sentiment which led him to be arrested by the Gestapo whilst making the film.  Within 24 hours of his arrest, Selpin was found dead in his prison cell, apparently having hanged himself.  The film was completed, at great expense, by Werner Klingler.

Despite its prestige and overt pro-Nazi agenda, Titanic enjoyed only a short release after its 1943 premiere.  Goebbels disapproved of the film, mainly on account of its all-too realistic portrayal of panic and death, and authorised its ban.   A scene in which steerage passengers are divided up according to age and sex, chillingly reminiscent of what was later found to have happened in the Nazi concentration camps, may also have contributed to its censure.    The film resurfaced in the late 1940s but was banned in most western countries, probably because of its strident anti-capitalist subtext.  It was only in 2005 that the film was restored and became widely available in its unexpurgated form, a curiosity piece for film enthusiasts and anyone with a keen interest in the subject matter.

To give the film added realism, several scenes were filmed on a functioning passenger liner, the SS Cap Arcona, which would later feature in an even greater real-life human tragedy.  In May 1945, just one day before the capitulation of the German army, the ship was sunk by RAF bombers in the Baltic Sea.  On board were many thousands of passengers, mostly evacuees from Nazi concentration camps, of whom around 5000 were drowned, more than three times the death toll of the Titanic sinking.  The pages of history are scented with the cruellest ironies.

These days, the Titanic story is so widely well-known - thanks to James Cameron's hyped 1997 blockbuster film and endless documentaries and dramas on the subject - that it is too easy to fault this little-known German film on its historical inaccuracies and obvious national bias.  Among the most egregious lies/errors presented in the film is the assertion that White Star Line, the company that operated the Titanic, was listed on the stock exchange, whereas it was in fact a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Mercantile Marine conglomerate.   The film over-emphasises the part that White Star chairman J. Bruce Ismay played in the disaster and insists he was unjustly exculpated afterwards.  It is now accepted that human arrogance and hubris (coupled with a terrible conspiracy of circumstances), not capitalist greed, were the primary drivers of the Titanic tragedy.

Today, the film's anti-British stance is more laughable than offensive, and its attempts to portray German heroism in the face of disaster are so skewed and caricatured that they rob the film of genuine poignancy.  Yet, for all its failings, Titanic is a fascinating piece of propaganda cinema and, having ranted on and on about the failings of capitalism for over an hour, it has no difficulty redeeming itself in its final two reels.  Arguably, the film's dramatic ending evokes the scale and terror of the Titanic disaster with a more visceral edge than any other film since, and it leaves the spectator with a bitter taste of what was experienced by those poor damned souls in the bleak North Atlantic, in the fateful early hours of 15th April 1912.

Film Synopsis

April, 1912.  As the share price of the British shipping company White Star Line begins to tumble its president, Joseph Bruce Ismay, conceives a plan that will save both the company and his personal fortune.  He persuades the board of White Star to sell their stock, depressing the share price even further so that they can buy back the shares at a lower price.  Ismay will then boost the share price by leaking news that will make maritime history.  On the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, he will send a telegram declaring the ship to be the fastest passenger liner in the world and prove it by ensuring it crosses the Atlantic in record time.  Convinced that the Titanic is unsinkable, Ismay ignores warnings from its crew when the ship enters an iceberg field and insists that it maintains its present course and speed.   Ismay will indeed make history, but not in the way he planned...