Recycled Review: A Night To Remember by Walter Lord

A Night To Remember
by Walter Lord
Henry Holt, 2005 edition
Trade Paperback (from library)

It has been over one hundred years since the Titanic disaster, and people are still fascinated by the ship and her fate. Lord’s classic account of the sinking is still noteworthy for the painstaking detail, much of it based on eyewitness accounts by survivors still alive in 1955. Step by step, he takes us through the events of that night, starting with the lookouts who didn’t see the iceberg in time because the binoculars they were supposed to be using were locked in a chest and the key was in London. (The result of a last-minute change in the officers assigned to the ship.)

We hear from people from all three passenger classes – the very wealthy, the middle class, and the lowly immigrants – and crew members from the officers to humble stewards. Though at times the book reads like fiction, it is not. He did an impressive amount of research which is detailed in the Acknowledgements section at the end. From the retrospective of the 21st century, the book represents an impressive undertaking in a world of print-only resources.

I also rented the film, produced in 1958, but it wasn’t the movie I remembered from my childhood. That one was Titanic, starring Clifton Webb, which came out two years before Lord’s book. The film version of A Night To Remember is a British production starring Kenneth More as Second Officer Lightoller and a young David McCallum as Officer Lord. I was surprised at first to realize A Night To Remember was filmed in black and white, but I soon understood why. By not using color, they were able to mix archival footage of the actual ship with the movie reels. So we see the Titanic being christened and sailing off from Southampton as it really happened. There was no such thing as CGI in 1958!

 For the best sense of what it might have been like to actually be on the Titanic, nothing can beat James Cameron’s 1997 epic. Like the fictional love story or despise it, the special effects are overwhelming and incredible. In my opinion, it deserved the Oscar simply for being a monumental and innovative piece of moviemaking. And the musical score is both beautiful and haunting.

After reading A Night To Remember, I think I understand why the story of the Titanic still draws us. It was one of the greatest disasters of all time, and it changed maritime history (and law) forever. But at its heart, it’s a very human story– of arrogance and hubris, negligence, bad luck and denial, bravery and cowardice, indifference and sacrifice. A testament to the bad and the good to be found in human nature. And for that reason, it is a story that will live forever in human memory.

At the end of a recent documentary on the Titanic, James Cameron talks about the ship as a microcosm of 1912 society, with its class distinctions. He also sees the image of the unwieldy ship sailing into the iceberg as a metaphor for a continent about to go over a cliff and into one of the most destructive and unnecessary wars of all time. (WWI) And then he talked about how things are not much different now. We are headed for an iceberg called “global climate change” and it’s too late to correct the system in time to prevent the crash.

If you haven’t read this book, I do recommend it.

Linda

First posted at Flights-a-Fancy 6/6/12

6 thoughts on “Recycled Review: A Night To Remember by Walter Lord

  1. Haven’t read the book but I saw the movie. (Funny that today I had a post on GK Chesterton, British author. His stories were screened, several times, as series Father Brown, and in the 1974 series, Kenneth Moore played the role of the detective-priest.)
    The tragedy of the sinking Titanic inspires authors and directors. What a waste of human lives!

  2. I’m always fascinated by anything to do with Titanic and I think the Kenneth More version is my favorite! Not to diss James Cameron but there’s sure a lot of extra plot in his. An interesting novel about Third Class passengers was The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor, based on a true story.

    • Veronica, you are right. There’s a ton of extra plot in Cameron’s version, but I think that’s what most people liked about it. Jack and Rose. I’ll have to check out The Girl Who Came Home. Thanks for the recommendation.

  3. Excellent review, Linda.
    One of my daughters-in-law was furious about the Oscar for Cameron’s version. She works in the TV industry and felt other films were more deserving. Maybe she didn’t have the background you took time to research and compare.

    I loved Cameron’s film, but wouldn’t revisit it due to the sadness of it all.

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