[TommyGunn]

For those of us who take note of historical events, tonight, April 14-5, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Royal Mail Steamship Titanic.
At 11:40PM April 14, 1912 the R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, opening about 300 feet of her 882'9" hull to seawater. Two hours and forty minutes later she foundered and sank, breaking in half just in front of the #3 funnel.
About 1500 people died, 705 survived and were rescued by the Carpathia.
Several films have been made about the disaster; a 1930s German film, "Titanic," basically a anti-British propaganda film (interesting watching British seamen barking orders in German.....) two 1950s film, a Hollywood production, again titled "Titanic," and a well-received British production based on a book by Walter Lord, "A Night to Remember."
A 1980 production, "S.O.S. Titanic" is notable for being one of the last films with ex-Fugitive alumni David Janssen, and then of course, there was the famous 1997 Cameron film, "Titanic". A TV miniseries came out that same year with a familiar title (bet you can't guess ) and tonight ABC is running yet another TV movie about the liner.
In addition the liner has been mentioned in other books, plays and TV shows, not the least of which was the pilot to the 1960s TV series "The Time Tunnel," in which two hapless scientists found themselves being zapped around in time, the first unlucky adventure being aboard the ill fated liner with the name we should all know by now.
The real disaster sparked reformation of many maritime rules; icebergs were tracked by the International Ice Patrol, springtime shipping lanes were moved south by law rather than "suggestion," and the British Board of Trade began requiring lifeboats for every passenger aboard a ship, rather than using some obtuse formula based on tonnage.

One hundred years ago tonight.​

 

[threefeathers]

I'm going to try to dupe this in my bathtub.

 

[t-star]

that ought to be good- an iceberg in a bathtub in ARIZONA?
your boys are gonna SHRIVEL

 

[phantom4570]

Robert Ballard, The Titanic, the Scorpion and the Thresher

In the summer of 1985, Ballard was aboard the French research ship Le Suroît, which was using the side scan sonar SAR to search for Titanic's wreck. When the French ship was recalled, Ballard transferred onto a ship from Woods Hole, the R/V Knorr. Unbeknownst to some, this trip was being financed by the U.S. Navy specifically for secret reconnaissance of the wreckage of two Navy nuclear powered attack submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, that sank in the 1960s and not for Titanic.

Raise the Titanic Nominated for three Golden Raspberry awards.

 

[TommyGunn]

Raise the Titanic Nominated for three Golden Raspberry awards.

Phantom, that movie was based on a book by Clive Cussler that came out in 1976. It was an excellent book (I have the original hardcover) and was well researched and imaginatively written. It's one great flaw today is that it depicts the ship in one piece. This was a decade before Ballard's discovery, and most poeple believed the ship had in fact sunk in one piece, even Walter Lord. Lord would explain why he erred in a sequel to his book, A Night to Remember, titled The Night Lives On.
If there were to be an award for the "worst movie made from the best book," I think Cussler's book would easily win the prize. It featured a nice cameo by Alec Guinness as a elderly crewman which was nice, and a great music score by John Barry, but the movie was a lackluster bunch of goo from which all the book's drama and pizzazz had been sucked. Great music won't save a dull flick.