History Film / ANightToRemember

** A steward finds Andrews alone just before the sinking and asks, "Aren't you even going to make a try for it, sir?" Andrews shoots him an absolutely ''terrifying'' one of these.

* DutchAngle: Used over and over again in interior shots in the latter half of the film, to demonstrate that the ship is listing.

Before Creator/JamesCameron's ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', there was ''A Night to Remember'', a 1958 black-and-white British docudrama film about the 1912 sinking of the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic, directed by Roy Ward Baker and [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] Walter Lord's nonfiction book of the same title chronicling the maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board.

* StockFootage: Scattered throughout the film. The fictional christening scene (the real ''Titanic'' didn't have one) is interspersed with clips of the 1938 launch of RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' (the clothes on the women in the crowd is a dead giveaway this footage is not from 1911) and other ships. The scene of ''Titanic'' leaving Southampton is pieced together from footage of various large four funneled ocean liners leaving port. Most interestingly, four clips--two shots of the ship sailing through the North Atlantic in daytime (if one looks closely, it becomes quite noticeable that the miniature of the ship in those shots looks almost nothing like the large model used in the nighttime and sinking shots) and two clips of a flooding engine room walkway--were recycled from the [[Film/{{Titanic1943}} 1943 Nazi propaganda]] ''Titanic'' film.

* TakeThat: One of the taglines of the film was 'The Real Story of the RMS ''Titanic''', a jab at the less-than accurate 1953 ''Film/{{Titanic|1953}}'' film. Sylvia Lightoller, widow of the real life Charles Lightoller, remarked in an interview that "the film is really the truth and has not been embroidered," though there is still some artistic licence made both for dramatic effect and to avoid [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed legal action]].

** While ''Titanic'' is at sea, smoke can be seen coming out of all four of her funnels. Only the first three were connected to the boiler rooms. The fourth was a dummy installed to make the ship look grander and also to provide ventilation to the kitchen and engineering spaces.[labelnote:Fun fact!]]This is actually a holdover goof from the [[Film/Titanic1943 1943 film]], since the daytime footage of ''Titanic'' sailing across the ocean were pulled from the earlier film.[[/labelnote]]

** While ''Titanic'' is at sea, smoke can be seen coming out of all four of her funnels. Only the first three were connected to the boiler rooms. The fourth was a dummy installed to make the ship look grander and also to provide ventilation to the kitchen and engineering spaces.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Not that hundreds of women and children don't die either, but it's shown explicitly at the memorial at the end. There are men dotted in the crowd, but it's overwhelming made up of women. Also it's shown how the officers had different views in regards to this. Captain Smith gives the order for women and children to go into the boats. Lightoller takes this to be an absolute and doesn't allow any men, except for Major Peuchen (to help take charge of one of the lifeboats due to his experience as a yachtsman) and the designated crew, to get in. He even has to think about letting a thirteen-year old boy on (which he thankfully does). Murdoch takes this to mean women and children are the priority, but men are allowed if there's room available. Several married couples and single men realize this and deliberately go to Murdoch's boats to escape.

* ShownTheirWork: It's universally acclaimed at being not only a completely realistic portrayal of the disaster itself but also of the social/class structure of the time. The only major inaccuracy is that of the ship sinking whole -- entirely forgivable given the lack of information to the contrary available at the time.

** ''Titanic'' is shown sinking in one piece, which was the received wisdom at the time the film was made. The discovery of the wreck in 1985 proved that it actually broke apart as it sank. To be fair no one is known to have observed this for certain (the break probably occured when the section was already under water) so its not surprising none of the film's characters witness this happening.

* DirtyCoward: J. Bruce Ismay is depicted in this fashion when he scurries into a lifeboat at first opportunity. It's one of the movie's few {{Critical Research Failure}}s (albeit one justified by the time), since contemporary reports indicate that Ismay, far from being a coward, strenuously worked hard to get people into the boats, helped launch them and only took a seat in one of the last boats to leave the ship having made sure that there were no women and children nearby. However, in the film, he's definitely a Dirty Coward--he can't look Murdoch in the eye, and Murdoch looks at Ismay with utter contempt before calling to lower the boat.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Second Officer Charles Lightoller becomes a bit softer in this adaptation than his real life counterpart. When Captain Smith gave the order of women and children first when lowering the boats, Lightoller took that order to mean women and children ONLY, where as Murdoch, on the opposite side of the ship, was more relaxed, and allowed men into the boats if there were no women or children to put in them. In the film, when the father pushes for his son to enter the boat, stating he's only 13, Lightoller smilingly says the boy can look after his mother. His real life counterpart also let the boy in the boat, but grumbled "No more BOYS." The film accurately depicts the boarding of male passenger Major Arthur Peuchen. He was the only male passenger Lightoller willingly allowed to board a boat, due to his sea experience and a lack of crew members to man the lifeboat.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[GallowsHumour I take it you and I might both be in the same boat later?]]"]]

Filmed in a {{docudrama}} style and using groundbreaking special effects for the time, it follows the stories of several members of the crew and passengers from prior to the ship's departure to its [[ForegoneConclusion ultimate fate at the bottom of the Atlantic]]. It's [[ShownTheirWork as historically accurate as it could have been]] for the time and it [[TropeCodifier cemented the format]] for disaster movies from that point onwards.

** While ''Titanic'' is at sea, smoke can be seen coming out of all four of her smokestacks. Only the first three were connected to the boiler rooms. The fourth was a dummy installed to make the ship look grander and also to provide ventilation to the kitchen and engineering spaces.

** The dramatic moment when ''Carpathia'''s wireless operator first overhears the distress call didn't happen. In reality, ''Carpathia'' learned of the disaster when their operator contacted ''Titanic'', not the other way round. They were politely trying to let ''Titanic'' know Cape Cod had messages for them.

** The dramatic moment when ''Carpathia'''s wireless operator first over hears the distress call didn't happen. In reality, ''Carpathia'' learned of the disaster when their operator contacted ''Titanic'', not the other way round. They were politely trying to let ''Titanic'' know Cape Cod had messages for them.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: While mostly accurate to real life, there are some errors here and there. Some are mistakes from the book the movie is based on, some are from RuleOfDrama. For example, the dramatic moment when ''Carpathia'''s wireless operator first over hears the distress call didn't happen. In reality, ''Carpathia'' learned of the disaster when their operator contacted ''Titanic'', not the other way round. They were politely trying to let ''Titanic'' know Cape Cod had messages for them.

** At its most tragic with the older passenger forced away from the upturned lightboat by the panicking younger crewmembers. Accepting this, he merely calls over to Lightoller "good luck, and God bless, swimming away to his fate despite Lightoller's frantic calls for him to come back.

* StiffUpperLip: In spades, and not just from the Brits. Absolutely personified by Robbie Lucas. After figuring out early on that the ship is going to sink and that there aren't enough lifeboats for all the women and children, let alone the men, he packs his wife, two daughters and a son onto a boat and bids them farewell without doing anything more extreme than raising his voice slightly... once. All so they won't be panicked, although his wife twigs what's up when she sees him ''nearly'' [[SingleTear break into tears]] after telling his son to look after her mother. It's ''heartbreaking'' to watch.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: We see the story unfold from the points of view of the crew, first class, second class and steerage passengers.

* DisneyDeath: As ''Titanic'' begins her final plunge into the ocean the main Irish third class passengers are amongst those performing last rites and it seemed they all died. But somehow the young Irish man and most of his friends and family miraculously survive the sinking as though God answered they prayers. However the young man's father is missing and when he is not present on the Carapathia at the end of the film it symbolises he died during the sinking. And another Irish passenger who survived the sinking dies of hymphoia.

** And we can't forget the Strauses, who stay together to the bitter end. As she says to her husband when he refuses to leave the ship while other men are aboard, urging her to go:

** The appalling death toll could have been prevented if lifeboats were provisioned on the basis of passengers and if ships had to maintain a 24 hour radio watch - the ''Californian'' was visible on the horizon but their only radio operator had finished his shift and gone to bed.[[note]]Both points are arguable, however. Even if ''Titanic'' had been equipped with another 20 lifeboats, there simply would not have been enough time to launch them all. There is also [[https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/californian-incident.html some debate]] as to whether ''Californian'' could have reached ''Titanic'' in time to make a difference.[[/note]]

* SurvivorGuilt: Most demonstrably in Ismay's face as he watches the boat go down from the safety of the lifeboat he snuck onto.

* TogetherInDeath: The Strauses and the young honeymooning couple in Second Class.

* TheDeterminator: Captain Rostron of the ''Carpathia'', who tries to reach the ''Titanic'' before it sinks with no regard to the hazards facing his own ship. The crew of ''Titanic'' also count as they work to save the ship and the passengers until the last second even knowing in most cases they haven't got a hope in hell of saving their own lives.

* SpotOfTea: After the engineers are told to stay below decks to keep the lights running as long as humanly possible and that a rescue ship would be there Real Soon Now - ridding them of any chance to get to the surface where they might survive - we get this resigned response;
-->"Let's hope they're right, boys. If any of you feel like praying, you'd better go ahead. The rest of you can join me for a cup of tea."
* StiffUpperLip: In spades, and not just from the Brits.
** Absolutely personified by Robbie Lucas. After figuring out early on that the ship is going to sink and that there aren't enough lifeboats for all the women and children, let alone the men, he packs his wife, two daughters and a son onto a boat and bids them farewell without doing anything more extreme than raising his voice slightly... once. All so they won't be panicked, although his wife twigs what's up when she sees him ''nearly'' [[SingleTear break into tears]] after telling his son to look after her mother. It's ''heartbreaking'' to watch.