Apr 16th  
A Night to Remember***       
(GB 1958)

The last few days of RMS Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic.
Still the best of all the Titanic disaster reconstructions. Though constrained by British production economics (including use of stock footage), with mostly character actors rather than stars, one of Rank's most prestigious efforts, a carefully escalated historical thriller working its way up to an impressive panic-stricken finale (one that was a key influence for James Cameron on the otherwise inferior Titanic.)

Written by: Eric Ambler, from the book by Walter Lord.
Producer: William MacQuitty.
Director: Roy Ward Baker.
Starring: Kenneth More, Jane Downs, Michael Goodliffe, Laurence Naismith, Frank Lawton, Kenneth Griffith, David McCallum, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Merivale, Honor Blackman, Ralph Michael, John Cairney, George Rose, Andrew Keir, and others.
Photography: Geoffrey Unsworth.
Music: William Alwyn.
Editing: Sidney Hayers.
Art Direction: Alex Vetchinsky.

+ fragments of this film contain footage from Herbert Selpin's 1943 Nazi propaganda drama Titanic