Based almost entirely on Walter Lord's book of thr same name, this is a tragic and detail-oriented account of the Titanic disaster, produced by William McQuitty, who was old enough in the fifties to remember the launch of the Titanic when he was a child. Though not a single established "star" was in this movie, the ensemble does an understated job of subtle acting, not hamming it too badly unless hamminess is called for (see "the drunken baker".) Though many of the details of the event can be recalled by anyone that's seen the crappy rip-off Titanic, many details of this much more historical account are gripping and often, sadly, surprising. Watching the Californian, a ship seven miles from the Titanic never catch on about the disaster is suspenseful and gut-wrenching, and the sudden death of "the newlyweds," clearly the inspiration for DiCaprio and Winslet's parts in Titanic, was a jaw-dropper.

All in all, the movie is most likely too slow and too obvious a plot for any but the commited historical genre movie-watchers, but it does reward it's audience with the kind of simple, unshowy acting that has all but disappeared these days.