If only…. The saga of H.M.S. Titanic resonates with if only…
If only the designers, builders and owners hadn't bought into the ultimately fatal myth of her being unsinkable…. If only the chairman of the White Star Line hadn't decided, in a fit of corporate hubris, to try to chop a day off the trans-Atlantic crossing record by ordering the Titanic's speed increased to a dangerous 22-plus knots, even though icebergs were a well-known menace…. If only the Titanic had been adequately supplied with lifeboats. There were, in fact, places for only 1,200 people, although 2,228 passengers and crew were aboard the glittering pleasure palace for her maiden " and final ” voyage.
What makes the Titanic saga so compelling, of course, are the private stories of those who embarked on the fateful crossing, many of whom we meet in this gripping miniseries:
John Jacob Astor and his beautiful wife Madeleine. Astor is America's richest man; Madeleine, his second and much younger wife, is afraid she'll be an outcast when the couple returns to New York. Isabella Paradine. Traveling alone, she's a strikingly attractive young woman, married to an older man, who's back in America with their daughter. Aboard the Titanic she discovers a dashing former lover, Wynn Park. Will she endanger her marriage (and risk losing her child) by having an affair with Park? Jaime Perse. A young, desperate Englishman, he's a pickpocket who literally steals his way aboard the Titanic. Jaime falls in love with Osa Ludvigsen, an innocent immigrant from Scandinavia. He also falls under the spell of Simon Doonan, a cocky Irishman who's a wily crook. Molly Brown” the famous, the infamous Unsinkable Molly Brown,� immortalized in song and verse. Molly's the salt of the Earth. We don't get wine like this in Denver, she tells the other First Class diners. She's totally unlike the insufferably snobbish Mrs. Hazel Foley. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, owner of the Titanic. He turns out to be a sniveling coward, but that's after he has uttered such pathetic lines as, We have built the largest, most beautiful and technically perfect ship in the history of mankind. We're not going to need lifeboats.� Captain Edward J. Smith. Commanding the Titanic on this crossing was his final assignment before retirement. He was a brave leader of his 900-man crew, and probably knew in his heart that no ship including the Titanic is truly unsinkable.�
In the end, the facts are simple ” and grim. The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:39 the night of April 14, 1912. At 2:40 a.m., three hours and one minute later, the Titanic literally broke in half and slid under the surface of the Atlantic. Survivors reported a long, stunned silence followed the sinking.
Seven hundred five people were rescued, many of them plucked barely alive from the almost calm sea, which was a frigid 28 degrees. Fifteen hundred twenty-three people perished. Most of the bodies were never recovered. To this day, it is a tragedy that grips the imagination.
Winner of the 1997 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special
Nominated 1997 Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special.
