Titanic: Birth of a Legend

TV Movie
2005
1h 15m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dramatised documentary which follows the lives of the men who designed and built Titanic and her sister ship Olympic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, showing the violence, politic... Read allDramatised documentary which follows the lives of the men who designed and built Titanic and her sister ship Olympic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, showing the violence, political drama and financial pressures that affected those who worked on her. Eight men, the Gua... Read allDramatised documentary which follows the lives of the men who designed and built Titanic and her sister ship Olympic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, showing the violence, political drama and financial pressures that affected those who worked on her. Eight men, the Guarantee Group, were privileged to be chosen to travel on her maiden voyage. All of them wer... Read all

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IMDb RATING

7.5/10

211

YOUR RATING

6User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The story of Alfred "Alfie" Cunningham being named a survivor initially due to mistaken identity was accurate. The first list of survivors had an "A. Cunningham" listed and this was assumed to be Alfie. It was actually a steward, Albert Cunningham, who survived.

Goofs
As the actor playing Lord Pirrie is reviewing the Titanic's blueprints in the conference room (in the scene tiled "January, 1910) for Bruce Ismay and Alexander Carlisle, when discussing accommodations for the First Class Passengers he mentions "39 private suites" , each having its own bathroom.

In reality, according to deck plans, forty-three deluxe "Parlor Suites" on the RMS Titanic had their own private built in bathrooms; the remainder of the Titanic's First Class cabins did not have their own built-in bathrooms and so the majority of First Class Passengers shared communal public bathrooms for bathing, use of toilet facilities, etc.

Quotes
Alfie Cunningham: [Notices Liam's smile] What's that face about?
Liam Flaherty: The Olympic.
Alfie Cunningham: What about the Olympic?
Liam Flaherty: You know they're laying down her keel tomorrow?
Alfie Cunningham: Aye.
Liam Flaherty: I'm going to be inside to put the shoring under.
Alfie Cunningham: So what?
Liam Flaherty: Oh, come on, Alfie! She's going to be famous, all over the world.
Alfie Cunningham: So is Titanic. And Mr. Frost says our crew's going to be fitting Titanic's engines.
Liam Flaherty: Well, Olympic's going to be built first.
Alfie Cunningham: So what?
Liam Flaherty: She's the ship that matters.
Alfie Cunningham: My arse!
Liam Flaherty: She is, too. Olympic's going to be the ship everyone talks about.
Alfie Cunningham: Aye, right?
Liam Flaherty: First to start building, first to be launched, first to cross the Atlantic...
Alfie Cunningham: Titanic's going to be a mighty ship.
Liam Flaherty: That no one remembers!

Alternate versions
An edited 43 minute version of the documentary aired on the US Discovery Channel in 2005.

Connections
Edited into Titanic al detalle (2013)

User reviews6

Review

Featured review

9/10

The best dramatised documentary I have so far seen

Just a few years ago it wouldn't have been feasible to have made this documentary. Through the wonders of CGI we can see the Belfast skyline as it was in 1907 and even a street with tramcars running along it. The recreation of the ship does vary a bit though. Largely because of out of scale water in some scenes the ship looks like a model. But the scene where she is being towed out for her sea trial and the tugs cast off their cables is incredibly realistic. The actors bear a closer likeness to their real life counterparts than in James Cameron's film except for Captain Smith. Alan Rothwell is a bit too short but on the other hand Bernard Hill made him sound too scouse. The documentary pulls no punches about how tough life was for ordinary people in the early 20th century and also that it was long before health and safety at work. It also depicts the sectarianism that has blighted Northern Ireland almost up to the present time. It's not just a documentary about the history of Titanic, it's a social documentary.