''Atlantic'' (1929) (also known as ''Titanic: Disaster in the Atlantic'' for its mutilated home video release) is a British

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed and produced by

Ewald André Dupont Ewald André Dupont (25 December 1891 – 12 December 1956) was a German film director, one of the pioneers of the German film industry. He was often credited as E. A. Dupont. Early career A newspaper columnist in 1916, Dupont became a screenwrit ...

and starring

Franklin Dyall Frank Poole Dyall (3 February 1870– 8 May 1950), professionally known as Franklin Dyall, was an English actor. In his early years he was a member of the companies of the actor-managers George Alexander, Ben Greet, John Martin-Harvey and ...

and

Madeleine Carroll Edith Madeleine Carroll (26 February 1906 – 2 October 1987) was an English actress, popular both in Britain and America in the 1930s and 1940s. At the peak of her success in 1938, she was the world's highest-paid actress. Carroll is rememb ...

. Originally, two versions were made, the English and German-language version '' Atlantik'' were shot simultaneously. Subsequently, the production of a French version (''Atlantis'') began in spring 1930 using different footage and partially an altered storyline. The fourth version was released as a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

. The story was taken from the West End play '' The Berg'' by Ernest Raymond. The film is available online.

Plot

''Atlantic'' is a drama film based on the and set aboard a fictional ship, called the ''Atlantic''. The main plotline revolves around a man who has a shipboard affair with a fellow passenger, which is eventually discovered by his wife. The ship also has aboard an elderly couple, the Rools, who are on their anniversary cruise. Midway across the Atlantic Ocean, the ''Atlantic'' strikes an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

and is damaged to the point where it is sinking into the Atlantic. A shortage of

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

s causes the crew to only allow women and children in (though the captain allows a few men to take to the last remaining boats as the disaster reaches its zenith) and many couples are separated. Mrs. Rool refuses to leave her husband and after the boats are gone all the passengers gather on the deck and sing "

Nearer, My God, to Thee "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because ...

" as the ''Atlantic'' sinks into the ocean. The final scenes depict a group of passengers saying the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gos ...

in a flooding lounge.

Cast

Production

An urban legend claimed for many years that the movie was filmed aboard the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...

ship RMS ''Majestic''. However, this is probably untrue, as the White Star Line would never have permitted their current flagship to be used as a cinematic stand-in for the worst disaster in the company's history. The origin of this legend may be due to the fact that early on in the film, there is a short scene where three of the characters meet on a grand staircase. The 'set' is almost identical to the first class entrance & staircase of either 'Majestic' or her older sister, the 'Leviathan'. However, the fact that the 'set' is vast and would have been costly to build, yet appears only once in the film, does make it plausable that this scene was filmed on board one of the two ships. It is known that some scenes were actually filmed on board a P&O ship, the ''Mooltan''. Indeed, the film was originally made as ''Titanic'' but after lawsuits it was renamed ''Atlantic''. These lawsuits were initiated by the White Star Line, which owned the RMS ''Titanic'', and which was still in operation at the time. (White Star had in fact also owned a liner called which was lost in 1873 with a heavy loss of life, but at the distance of half a century it was no longer considered as immediately traumatising as the ''Titanic''). As well, the name ''Atlantic'' is sort of ubiquitous as numerous vessels, large and small, English language and other, have held the name. The final scene of the movie was filmed as a shot of the liner sinking, but it was removed at the last minute for fear of upsetting ''Titanic'' survivors. This footage is now considered lost. A reconstruction of the original ending using an outtake from final scene of the 1953 ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' film has been made available onlin

Sound

''Atlantic'' was one of the first British films made with the soundtrack optically recorded on the film (

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

), and was Germany's first sound movie feature. In England, it was released in both sound and silent prints. The French version was the fourth French feature with

. As the first sound film about the sinking of the ''Titanic'', it is also the first to feature the song "Nearer, My God to Thee," which is played by the ship's band and sung by passengers and crew.

References

External links