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Post by Gene Hunt on Aug 10, 2015 9:22:12 GMT
35 years ago this week, Raise The Titanic was released. Starring Jason Robards, Richard Jordan & Anne Archer, it proved an epic failure at the box office - costing $40 million to make and taking less than $14 in sales.
Despite this, I enjoy the film and watch it on DVD from time to time.
Lew Grade was quoted as saying it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic than make the film.
Gene.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2015 17:26:26 GMT
Never seen that film Gene, I wonder why it was a flop, was it due to the special affects or something.. I've got a triple Dvd boxset documentary all about the Titanic, one of the discs is all about a remote submarine which goes through all the rooms on a guided tour, it says the stories of the inhabitants of each room are told, its very good!
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Post by Gene Hunt on Aug 10, 2015 18:01:18 GMT
That sounds like a good documentary GC.
The film itself drew mainly negative reviews. Lew grade blamed it's failings mainly on the fact a TV film "SOS TITANIC" was released around the same time. A scale model of the Titanic was made which was 50ft long and weighed 10 tonnes. Only after it was built did they discover that there was no water tank that it would fit in, resulting in one of the worlds first horizon tanks being manufactured at a film studios in Malta.
It grossed just $7 Million at the US box office and took $6.8 Million in video rentals and many believe that this led to Lew Grade withdrawing from the film industry.
Gene.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2015 19:20:42 GMT
That's a costly mistake about the water tank not being big enough, cant imagine that happening today, will have to look into buying that film! I bought a slightly smaller scaled one out of lego type pieces which is nearly 2ft long took me 5 hours to build it lol, Yes the documentary is good about 3 hrs long, If I remember I will bring it to the meet and ya can borrow it!
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Post by Charles Bronson on Aug 10, 2015 19:45:35 GMT
I've not seen this film either. It's a shame though that it was such a flop for Lew Grade. Forty million was a hell of a lot to put into a film, given the state our film industry was in during the seventies. We owe Lew Grade a lot though, for the fantastic job he did in the early days of British television. He really knew how to entertain us then. Seeing as how you enjoyed it Gene, I will give it a go next time it's on the box.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Aug 10, 2015 19:49:44 GMT
.....Yes the documentary is good about 3 hrs long, If I remember I will bring it to the meet and ya can borrow it! Cheers GC - I'll certainly give that a watch .....Seeing as how you enjoyed it Gene, I will give it a go next time it's on the box. I don't think you'll be disappointed Bronson
Gene.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Aug 10, 2015 20:39:33 GMT
I'm guilty in saying that I've not seen this one either! I'll certainly have a butcher's at it whenever it is on next, in fact I'll see if Dickie Branson's Tivo will allow me to preset a recording...
I've seen plenty of the Dr Bob Ballard documentaries on Discovery over the years as well as visiting the exhibition when it was on at Greenwich some years ago. Such a tragic story but one that holds such fascination for many.
Sam.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Aug 10, 2015 20:59:23 GMT
Yes Sam, I went to the Greenwich exhibition too and enjoyed it.
If memory serves, it was only a short time after the film was made that they discovered that the Titanic was actually in two pieces so could never have been raised the way the film portrays.
Gene.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Aug 10, 2015 22:27:21 GMT
Dr Bob Ballard found the wreck in September 1985 so it was only five years after the film that he discovered that it was in two pieces.
The history of Bob Ballard's research is almost as fascinating as the story of The Titanic itself but I won't hijack the thread with that so, back to topic...
Sam.
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Post by Batgirl on Aug 11, 2015 3:46:32 GMT
I have seen 'Raise the Titanic' and I thought it was a good film. I also visited the 'Titanic' exhibition when it was in Melbourne a few years ago. The exhibition was really good. Everyone was give a copy of a passenger ticket when they arrived with a name of a passenger, their ticket class and a bit of information about them. You didn't discover if your passenger survived until you arrived at the exit. Mine did and my son's did too thankfully. I wondered if they only gave out survivor's names. Anyway there were recreations of state rooms, bunks, the grand staircase and of course real items that had been raised from the ocean. I bought a book written by the survivors of the time. It is just fascinating. I don't rate the Kate and Leo film version but I still watched it of course. The producer certainly made an impressive looking film. Kate and Leo's film would have been better if they stuck to the truth and explored more characters equally, not just a mythical romance. Ok off topic and talked enough.
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