Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck

Although it was never known for strict authenticity, the elegant 1953 production of Titanic holds just as much fascination as A Night to Remember and James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster. It...( read more  read more... )s original screenplay by Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard L. Breen deservedly won an Oscar® for its brilliant, dramatically involving creation of fictional characters--primarily a strained couple on the verge of divorce (Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck)--whose lives are forever altered on that fateful morning of April 15, 1912. Director Jean Negulesco focuses on this human drama, lending a personal touch to the luxury liner's fatal collision with an iceberg; if the scale-model disaster (complete with motorized miniature lifeboat rowers) looks quaint by modern special-effects standards, it still captures the emotional impact of Titanic's ultimate fate. While Titanic's sinking is inaccurately depicted (here the ship is damaged on the port side, and sinks in one piece), the Webb/Stanwyck relationship is handled with sophistication, style, and well-earned redemption. As would happen with Cameron's Titanic 44 years later, fiction proved a perfect vehicle for tragic factual history. --Jeff Shannon

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73% liked it

79,043 ratings

Unrated, 103 min.

Directed by: Jean Negulesco

Release Date: April 16, 1953

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DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003

Stats: 2,408 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,408)


  • December 5, 2008
    Titanic from 1953 starring the great Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb is a true gem. This is another telling of the ill fated ship focusing this time on an older couple whom are divorcing and having to deal with skeletons in the closet. A very well done Fox film worthy seeing.
  • February 18, 2008
    the 1953 "titanic" is based upon the interactions of human drama in spite of its technical inaccuracy for the shipwreck event. barbara stanwyck glows radiantly again as a troubled matron with marital discord. and thelma ritter finally grasps a chance to emit some scale of eleganc...( read more)e as the society woman which is different from the spunky servant role she has taken all along her career, such as "rear window", "all about eve" and "a letter to three wives"...etc.

    stanwyck plays the american spouse of some meticulous british gentleman(clifton webb) who deems his sacred british courtesies as his supreme duty but stanwyck just wanna revitalize her life in her simple primitive american lifestyle with her children. accidentally she reveals the illict birth of their precious son in the rage of feuds so her wronged husband decides to nullify his kinmanship with his "alleged" only son....meanwhile her daughter casts some generous eye upon a naive american country boy...this is the main thread to web the mutiple relationships in this flick. and there's also an alcoholic priest who gets banished by church. various characters have their own issues of status conflicts and irreconciled disorientations....but the sudden unexpected catastrope of titanic dissolves their grudges against each other to sublime themselves into another level of compassion and sheer love thru the course of sacrifice and breavements.

    the mostly touching line would be clifton webb's iceberg man who melts into tenderness at the scene he fogives his wife's infidelty by saying "at that june i saw you, you're so fair that i vowed my pledge to you forever...would you do me a favor by allowing me to do it now again?"...and the puberty son's determinated to stay with his father to die together just to perform his male obligation since his dad just buys a pair of trousers to encourage his manhood.

    men gallantly yields the lifeboats to their beloved women, reciting the solemn hymn when the giant ship of titanic is sinking. no sappiness to glorify the remained survivors but just a tranquil affair of natural disaster which inspires the noble spirit of a bunch of flawed individuals who eventually seek peace in the cartharsis of selfless devotions. there's no grandeur scenes to flaunt the extravaganza of titanic or any detailed sensationalism on the shipwreck. tastefully understated in a humanistic way.
  • July 16, 2007
    OOOOH Its the original sinker!
  • June 1, 2007
    If you want to see some romance but with a pinch of ocean spray, you should see this one with Brooklyn native Barbara Stanwyck!. . .
  • January 22, 2007
    This is worth watching just because it's so radically different from the even more successful 1997 version.
  • November 22, 2009
    I've never seen this version of Titanic.
  • November 21, 2009
    IT WAS SAD BUT I LIKED IT
  • November 15, 2009
    is luv really so strong?
  • November 14, 2009
    would love to watch again and again
  • October 29, 2009
    I love this movie, I have the sound track....

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    February 4, 2007
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Titanic Trivia


  • How old is Rose when she sailed on the Titanic in the movie " Titanic"?  Answer »
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