"Raise The Titanic" - 20th Fox ... if and when? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Huffstutler]

Ok... this may not be everyone's favorite movie and think the author abandoned having anything to do with it because of conflicts and unauthorized changes from his book BUT....

I am hoping that Fox will at least release in DVD (a VHS and LD was produced) this movie to round out the various Titanic theme movies out there. Personally, I enjoyed it though we now know it is not feasible to "raise" the ship but back then we didn't know any different. I even wrote a 2-page spread in the 1970's for a local newspaper insert focusing on the subject and costs involved.

Of course, give us the much deserved W I D E S C R E E N version so we can again view in awe the "complete" ship rising above the water.

Eric

 

[Steve Christou]

John Barry's great score is the best thing about this film, the modelwork is good, but the optical effects were pants even for their time, 1980. Considering that this was one of the most expensive films ever made they should have done a better job, it became the biggest boxoffice flop of all time.

I have a region 2 copy which isn't bad, 2 channel stereo and anamorphic widescreen.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

I think they were trying too hard and veered away from the book too much for it to be successful. The plot was weak and plausibly ridiculous but also keep in mind "The Final Countdown" came out the same year

People ranted and raved to get it on DVD though it too was a box office flop and released in the theaters the same day (August 1, 1980)!

The movie was also up against several heavy hitting competitors ["Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"; "Airplane!"; "Dressed to Kill"... etc.] which contributed to its flop at the box office. So it is unfair to say it couldn't have stood a better chance if released at a different time?

I thought the model work was very good as they used a huge replica to make the scale look more realistic when the ship came through the surface of the ocean like a submarine.

 

[Steve Christou]

I'm a fan of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, I'm not sure what he made of that though. A few big stars might have helped it at the box office, Jason Robards and Richard Jordan, good actors, were hardly gonna pack 'em in.

 

[Mike_Richardson]

The R2 Carlton DVD may be 16:9, but it's also CROPPED. It's 1.85, when it ought to be 2.35 (save for the opening and end titles, the only time it's in full scope).

 

[Shawn DuHast]

This title was given away free by a national newspaper last week I didn't get it as I understand it was the cropped Carlton version.........

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Wonder what the "free give-away" was all about? I am in Region 1 so European versions can't help me (no region free player other than computer).

Okay Fox, you released it in VHS, LD, and DVD other regions so how about a budget Region 1 version in widescreen?

Eric

 

[Jeff_HR]

Deleted.

 

[Gary Palmer]

It's been a while since I saw RAISE THE TITANIC, and I've only ever seen a pan-scan version (I know, I know, I oughta be shot! - but I stopped watching P/S versions of 2.35 movies YEARS ago, which means I haven't seen the movie at all in a V-E-R-Y long time!!), but I remember being drawn into it every time it played on TV. Fascinating premise, interesting plot developments, fine dramatic conflicts between the characters, etc. As such, I simply couldn't understand why it was trashed so mercilessly by the UK press, and why it's STILL held up by many UK movie critics as some kind of model of 'bad' cinema!! There's worse movies out there, as we all know...

As for Carlton's 2.35 credits/1.85 rest-of-movie disc, this seems to be yet another DVD which has fallen prey to the 'TV version' disease, in which the print created for UK TV (reframed at 1.78) is simply ported over to DVD - see also THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS (Panavision) and TRUE BLUE (Super 35) as other examples of this hideous practice. Avoid at all costs...

 

[Steve Christou]

I don't know what copy you guys have looked at but mine is a perfectly acceptable widescreen anamorphic copy and with stereo sound. Given the choice of having this 16/9 copy or pompously dismissing it because it was slightly cropped on the sides and waiting indefinitely for a never arriving remastered 2.35 edition, well...

 

[John*C]

Like Steve said and I also have the Dolby Surround DVD, I took the advice of a forum over there, when he said it says mono, but I can hear a Dolby Surround sound. I bought it with the "Britanic" sister of the Titanic which is not DS that went down 'mysteriously' during World War 2.


The author of a few Pitt character books, did not like how they changed the script. John Barrys score can be heard clearly, for I know Silva Screen Records had the CD soundtrack in DS, and I am a big collector of movie soundtacks in my 2 Pioneer F-1007 300 +1, and my PDF-904 100 disc 'juke'. My favorite scene is where the soviet colonel lands his helicopter and threatens them with torpedoes from a nearby soviet ship. Since their escort ship had to answer a distress call Admiral Sandecker played by Jason Robards Jr. gives Pitt the 'ok', Pitt then says bring on the surprise package; and a US Nuclear Sub surfaces while 2 fighter bombers do a thunderous flyover like in the "The Final Countdown" and John Barrys score goes ballistic. They brought up the Titanic in 1 piece from 12,500 feet down and went to New York and found 'no' byzanium the mineral they thought went down with the Titanic. Post card found by Pitt shows David Selbys character a english graveyard near the village of Sothby, and Pitt said we all thought it was a man. The two went to the graveyard and the man they found dead in the mine on the island of swarzlauv, his name was on a grave with a warning not to open his grave, they found it, but they left it there for the world had enough nukes AKA weapons of mass destruction.