As this weekend marks the centennial of the Titanic sinking, I thought it might be interesting to revisit probably the least-known and easily forgotten cinematic tale centered around the doomed ocean-liner.
Sure, we've all seen James Cameron's 1997 Oscar-winning epic Titanic; a few of you may even remember Roy Ward Baker's A Night to Remember (1958) and Jean Negulesco's Titanic (1953). As one would expect, all three films focused on the ship's maiden voyage and its eventual sinking that chilly, ice-infested night in April 1912. There is one film, however, that actually concerns traveling the two and half miles to the ocean floor and bringing the ill-fated ship back to the surface with the help of a special foam pumped into her hull. Yes, you read that right: a special foam. That film is 1980's Raise the Titanic.
Based on Clive Cussler's 1976 novel of the same name, Raise the Titanic tells the story of a covert U.S. government plan to find the ship, raise it using the aforementioned foam and a few well-placed explosives and retrieve a rare mineral called Byzantium stored inside her hold. It seems this mineral is the crucial ingredient to a weapon-deterrent initiative, one that could render nuclear warfare obsolete.
The retrieval expedition is led by retired Navy captain and adventurer Dirk Pitt (Richard Jordan) and Naval Intelligence scientist Dr. Gene Seagram (David Selby). About as compatible as oil and water, both clash early but eventually put aside their differences as the ship is finally discovered and prepped for salvage. To complicate matters, the Soviets (this is 1980 afterall) get wind of the mineral and the operation to retrieve it and set in motion a final, winner-take-all confrontation aboard the resurfaced water-logged behemoth.
It's a bit hard to suspend disbelief when watching Raise the Titanic. While the salvage technology may exist, it's rather hard to fathom it being used on a ship of Titanic's size. Coupled with what we know today of the vessel's current physical remains via the Robert Ballard and James Cameron expeditions for National Geographic, ludicrous is a word that comes to mind frequently while watching the film, especially when the fully intact ship quickly rises from the inky depths and conveniently parks itself on top of the Atlantic Ocean. Not helping matters is watching everyone who resurfaces from two miles down just walk away from their submersibles as if exiting an automobile. Anyone ever heard of decompression?
As outrageous as the science may be, the film is fast-paced and undeniably entertaining (I still watch my crappy full-screen DVD every couple of years). Jason Robards, Sir Alec Guiness and Anne Archer provide nice supporting work and composer John Barry delivers one of his more memorable scores.
Raise the Titanic cost a then-whopping $36 million to produce, grossed an anemic $7 million and was quickly forgotten; it's now frequently mentioned as one of cinema's greatest turkeys. As producer Lew Grade would later say: "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic."
