"A Night to Remember" Movie Review

Back in February, we watched “A Night to Remember” on a Friday night (our weekly pizza and movie night.) One of the twins had received the movie as a Christmas gift and we had yet to watch it.

“A Night to Remember” is a movie based on the book of the same name by Walter Lord. It chronicles the infamous sinking of the Titanic. The movie was filmed in 1958 and as the other movies of that era, it is pretty long at 123 minutes. While I have never personally seen the more recent “Titanic” (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet), based on what I’ve heard and read, “A Night to Remember” is far more historically accurate than James Cameron’s movie.

The movie is almost entirely a blow-by-blow account of the sinking of the Titanic, and it is well portrayed/dramatized. The viewer feels like he was really there watching these events unfold. Unlike the modern version of the movie, this classic rendition accurately portrays the attitude of chivalry present. The phrase “Women and Children First!” was repeated over and over in the film. They also accurately portray the men who tried to get in the boats, as cowards.

Whenever I ponder the story of the Titanic, I think of the great tragedy of it all. The consequences of pride are great. The designers of this ship deemed it “unsinkable” even by God. Thousands of people had to pay the price for their arrogance against Him. Out of the approximately 2,200 passengers, around 1,500 of them drowned with the ship. There were many sad twists to the story, including the fact that the Californian was within only 10 miles of the Titanic, and that many of the life boats left only half full of people.

*Important Note:* While this film was very well done and very historically accurate, there were a few unfortunate instances of mild language. With the thick British accents it is a bit hard to notice it, but they are there. For that reason, I would recommend this movie for at least ages 13 and up, but parents may want to preview the movie first and determine whether it’s appropriate. The film also deals with a very horrific incident, and while done tastefully, parents should keep this in mind.

While not 100% historically accurate, this film does an excellent job of giving a great overview of the sinking of the Titanic, and imagining what it was like to be there.