Tad Pole . . . that with a whimper. This TITANIC of 1953 certainly provides viewers with plenty of Big Bangs, unlike the whimper fest of James Cameron's infamous 1997 TITANIC bladder-buster. Cameron's hatchet job makes the Billionaire Class out to be the bad guys, as they scuttle around the sinking vessel shooting at each other with guns! Jean Negulesco's 1953 TITANIC, on the other hand, is surely more realistic, depicting--as it does--the rush of Monied Men down to steerage to carry the shell-shocked poor immigrant women and children to the safety of lifeboats. These wealthy role models of the Fox Corporation Film Studio's 1953 TITANIC outing teach their sons that if they're old enough to wear long pants, they're old enough to surrender their life boat seat to the odd woman out. Barbara Stanwyck's character in the 1953 TITANIC hails from the century-long GOP stronghold of Michigan's Mackinac Island, won hands-down by Leader Trump in 2016. This 1953 TITANIC suggests that had the 20 richest Americans supporting Trump sailed on the TITANIC, he would have seen his entire Cabinet go down with the ship. (If Michigan's Betsy DeVos had orange hair, this would remind me of a certain Eurhythmics song.)

vincentlynch-moonoi I remember first seeing this film on "Saturday Night At The Movies" on NBC. I enjoyed it then, and still enjoy it today. I don't really try to compare this and the Leonardo DiCaprio version...too many years in between and a different approach to the story, but I like them pretty equally.I am reviewing this film based on the recent Blu Ray edition. Sometimes it is very obvious that a Blu Ray edition of an old film is a significant improvement, this time it is not. That is not to say that it isn't a good transfer. There's little to complain about in this edition in terms of clear picture, other than a bit of graininess that may just be a result of 63 years.First off, this film is not about the Titanic. The Titanic is the setting. The story is actually about one family that is disintegrating, and their final act happens to occur on the ill-fated journey. The warring man and wife are Clifton Webb, in what is probably his finest role, and Barbara Stanwyck, in perhaps her best later role. The dialogue between two is about the best you'll find of a man and wife at war; top notch writing and delivered with real sting. The daughter is siding with the father and is quite bitter toward the mother. The younger son is left adrift by the father when he learns that he is not the father.Robert Wagner plays a young college man with romantic attention toward Webb's daughter...not unlike Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the later film...though here their romance is secondary to the failing marriage of the parents.Audrey Dalton plays Webb's daughter and is quite unpleasant about it. Harper Carter (still living as of this writing) is quite good as the young son.Filling out the cast is the wonderful Thelma Ritter, here -- I'm assuming -- representing the real Molly Brown, though named Maude Young in this story. Brian Aherne is the Titanic's captain. Richard Basehart has a very good role as a defrocked priest who is an alcoholic. Allyn Joslyn -- more often a very good comic actor -- plays an average guy who tries to latch on to the rich passengers on the ship, and turns out to be the coward on board.I have noticed in a couple of posts that reviewers said that the special effects were poor. Come on folks...this was made in 1953. For that era, the scenes here are darned good. There is one spot -- when the son is trying to find his father after the Titanic begins to list -- where it's obviously just a drastically tilted camera, because people are walking and climbing and descending stairs too normally. Ah well.I've actually watched this "Titanic" more often than the Leonardo DiCaprio film. I don't try to compare them. They're both excellent in different ways.

Wayne Maynard I saw this when I was very young but it always stayed with me. Though the story has been told many times and the movie remade several times, this edition sticks with me as the best as the characters and cast are unbeatable. The Stanwyck / Webb duo is one of the best match-ups a film could ask for. The special effects are surprisingly good for its time and this, combined with a good storyline make it my favorite rendition of this sad tale. We see a very young Robert Wagner and the ever brash Thelma Ritter as vital supporting characters. Though the James Cameron version got more hype with some better graphics, our 1953 films far surpasses it for story and character substance. It's a winner all around.

DKosty123 I watched the 1953 Version with Babara Stanwyck on You Tube. According to the opening credits all the nautical dialog was supposed to be accurate.In a lot of ways this production is very well done. We have a young Robert Wagner on the ship doing some heroics. The Iceberg hit while not as thrilling a spectacle as later versions, is done accurately. It is as technically correct as there was knowledge of in 1953.There is a lot of music in this one including everyone on board singing "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship goes down. The whole thing is handled well and not over length. If flows very very well.Thelma Ritter is very good in her supporting role as Maude Young, with her usual brassy type of character.