TITANIC

Details

• Release Year: 1943
• Genre: Action, Drama
• Plot: Before James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster 'Titanic', the Hollywood 'Titanic' of 1953, the 1958 British film 'A Night to Remember', and the 1997 Broadway musical 'Titanic', there was the Nazi German film 'Titanic'. A Tobis production begun in 1942, this production nearly sank as decisively as the doomed ocean liner. The film's director, Herbert Selpin, infuriated with the slow second-unit shooting in the port of Gdynio , was overheard making remarks damning the German army. Reported to the Gestapo, Selpin was arrested and later found hanging in his prison cell, the victim of an arranged 'suicide'.; ; In April, 1943, the film was banned by the Berlin censors for German release because of its terrifying scenes of panic, all too familiar to Germain civilians undergoing nightly Allied bombing raids. After extensive cutting, 'Titanic' was released in occupied Paris and a few army installations. The film was seen in Germany finally in late 1949, but banned a few months later in the Western sectors (though not in the Soviet zone, because of its unmistakable anti-British-capitalist theme). ; ; Technically, this 'Titanic' is an excellent catastrophe film; its shots of the ship sinking were later used by the 1958 British film, without credit. Somewhat true to the facts---though peppered with fictional good Germans both on and below deck, in steerage---the film ends with a trial scene that acquits the White Star Line management, followed by a final slide denouncing England's 'eternal quest for profit.' These packed a powerful propaganda punch; cut from the post-war prints, they have been restored for this 'Kino on Video' version.
• Cast: Sybille Schmitz, Hans Nielsen, Kirsten Heiberg, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer, Karl Schönböck, Charlotte Thiele, Otto Wernicke, Franz Schafheitlin, Sepp Rist, Claude Farell, Jolly Bohnert, Fritz Böttger, Hermann Brix, Karl Dannemann, Kurt Alexander Duma, Peter Elsholtz, Karl Fochler, Fritz Genschow, Herbert Gernot, Susi Jera, Josef Kamper, Lieselott Klingler, W.P. Krüger, Hans Leibelt, Theodor Loos, Karl Meixner, Edgar Pauly, Werner Scharf, Just Scheu, Georg H. Schnell, Hans Schwarz Jr., Theo Shall, Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur, Walter Steinbeck, Walter Steinweg, Erich Stelmecke, Herbert Tiede, Charlotte Tiedemann, Toni von Bukovics, Peter Voss, Heinz Welzel, Herbert Selpin
• Director: Herbert Selpin
• Runtime: 1:25
• Company: Tobis Filmkunst, Kino on Video
• Media Format: Movie