''S.O.S. Titanic'' is a 1979

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

that depicts the doomed 1912 maiden voyage from the perspective of three distinct groups of passengers in first, second and third class. The script was written by

James Costigan James Costigan (March 31, 1926 – December 19, 2007) was an American television actor and Emmy Award-winning television screenwriter. His writing credits include the television movies '' Eleanor and Franklin'' and '' Love Among the Ruins''. Ea ...

and directed by William Hale (credited as Billy Hale). It is the first ''Titanic'' film to be filmed and released in

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

Plot

First class passengers include a May–December couple, multi-millionaire

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He was among the most ...

(

David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer; March 27, 1931 – February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen a ...

) and his new wife Madeleine Talmage Force (Beverly Ross); their friend,

Molly Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a survivor of the RMS ''Titanic'', which sank in 1912, and she unsuccess ...

(

Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She received many accolades including 22 Primetime Emmy nominations and won eight, tying Julia Louis-Dreyfus ...

); another pair of honeymooners, Daniel and Mary Marvin (

Jerry Houser Jerry Houser (born July 14, 1952) is an American former actor. He is best known for his role as Oscar "Oscy" Seltzer in '' Summer of '42'' and its sequel, ''Class of '44'', as Dave "Killer" Carlson in ''Slap Shot,'' and as Wally Logan, the husb ...

and Deborah Fallender); and

Benjamin Guggenheim Benjamin Guggenheim (October 26, 1865 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman, who was a wealthy member of the Guggenheim family. He was among the most prominent American passengers aboard and perished along with 1,495 others when the ...

( John Moffatt), returning to his wife and children after a scandalous affair. One plot line relates the tentative shipboard romance of two schoolteachers,

Lawrence Beesley Lawrence Beesley (31 December 1877 – 14 February 1967) was an English science teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of . Education Beesley was educated at Derby School, where he was a scholar, and afterwards at Ca ...

( David Warner, later appearing in the

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

1997 film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'') and the fictional Leigh Goodwin (

Susan Saint James Susan Saint James (born 1946) is an American former actress and activist, most widely known for her work in television during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, especially the detective series ''McMillan & Wife'' (1971–1976) and the sitcom '' Kate & A ...

). In steerage, the plot focuses on the experiences of eight Irish immigrants, who are first depicted approaching the ship from a tender in the harbor of Queenstown (now Cobh),

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. These characters, all based on real people, include Katie Gilnagh (played by Shevaun Bryers), Kate Mullens, Mary Agatha Glynn, Bridget Bradley, Daniel Buckley, Jim Farrell, Martin Gallagher, and David Charters. During the voyage, Martin Gallagher falls for an unnamed "Irish beauty", played by Antoinette O'Reilly. The cast also includes

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

in a small role (as Mary Sloan, a real-life surviving ''Titanic'' stewardess).

Cast

Production

The film was greenlit by

Bernard Delfont Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont (born Boris Winogradsky; 5 September 1909 – 28 July 1994) was a leading Russian-born British theatrical impresario. Life and career Delfont was born in Tokmak, Berdyansky Uyezd, Taurida Governorate, Russian ...

of EMI Films, at the same time as Delfont's brother, Sir Lew Grade, was making a film based on ''

Raise the Titanic ''Raise the Titanic!'' is a 1976 adventure novel by Clive Cussler, published in the United States by the Viking Press. It tells the story of efforts to bring the remains of the ill-fated ocean liner ''RMS Titanic'' to the surface of the Atlan ...

''. Delfont says Grade was upset about this and asked his brother to stop production but Delfont refused as it was too late. He wrote he consoled "myself with the thought that the market was big enough for the both of us. It was an expensive miscalculation. ''SOS Titanic'' and ''Raise the Titanic'' were disaster movies in every sense." Producer William Filmore called it the "thinking man's disaster film".TITANIC RESURFACES ABOARD QUEEN MARY Gore, Robert J. Los Angeles Times 6 May 1979: se_a1.

Filming

Several of the scenes on the exterior decks, as well as those in the ship's wheelhouse, were filmed on board the later British ocean liner from the 1930s, the retired in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Some interior scenes were filmed at the Waldorf and Adelphi historic hotels in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, respectively. The town of

Peel Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Peel Parish * Pee ...

on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

served as the Queenstown backdrop. Some external shots were filmed aboard, and of, the TSS ''Manxman'' which also appears as the R.M.S. ''Carpathia'' in some of the opening sequences and as the R.M.S. ''Titanic'' in a few shipboard scenes.

Versions

*''S.O.S. Titanic'' was originally broadcast as a television film on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on September 23, 1979. It ran for 3 hours, or approximately 144 minutes, excluding commercials. Although this version was shown on TV occasionally and bootleg copies sometimes surfaced on the internet, it was never commercially released until making its debut on home video from

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

on October 13, 2020, as both a Blu-ray and a two-disc DVD set along with the European theatrical version.

References

External links

* * {{RMS Titanic 1979 films 1979 television films 1970s disaster films American Broadcasting Company original films American television films British television films American disaster films British disaster films Films set in 1912 Films about RMS Titanic Seafaring films Films scored by Howard Blake Films directed by William Hale (director) 1970s American films 1970s British films