A Night to Remember

I was watching James Cameron's movie Titanic the other day. Although my 25" TV screen doesn't do it justice, I remember sitting in awe at the movie theatre when it first came out in 1997- the sheer size of the boat is conveyed so amazingly with sweeping camera shots, and seeing the size of the passengers as compared to the massive sinking stern.

Viewing the film put me in mind of the book A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. A wonderfully detailed account of what happened on that fateful night, Lord based his chronicle on interviews with over 60 Titanic survivors. Recounting the event from the moment the mighty ship hits the iceberg, until the final survivors are saved by the Carpathia, the book communicates the wildly varying actions and reactions of the passengers. The best and worst of humanity was brought out that night.

A Night to Remember was also dramatized into a 1953 film written by Walter Lord and Eric Ambler.