BFI Classics: Titanic

• 13th May 2011

Author: David M. Lubin

The ball is severely dropped with this title which maybe came out a little too soon after the film’s release. And despite the fact that the film had a huge impact on the public, it’s perhaps a little presumptuous to call it a classic, as in retrospect it seems to have lost a lot of the weight it had upon its first release.

Titanic is more a film which made a cultural impact in its own time, but not one that’s since gone on to build a legacy. It will only be rememberd for the fact that James Cameron would go on to have an even bigger impact on the box office with his return to cinema 12 years later.

This book spends most of its time recounting the story from start to end, and occasionally offering a rough take on scenes and comparisons to classic cinema before it.  it’s easy to say that Rose and Jack are outcast lovers like you may find in the likes of West Side Story or Rebel Without A Cause, but the book rarely offers more than comments like that, and neglects to go into any depth.

If I want to know the story I’ll watch the film. Like any bad commentary, this book is just someone telling you what you already know.

Steven Hurst