A Night to Remember (1958)

Col. Archibald Gracie: [looks at rockets being fired by the Carpathia as he and Lightoller sit in the stern of a lifeboat] Will that be the Carpathia?
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: [silently nods in the affirmative]
Col. Archibald Gracie: Aren't you glad to see her?
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: Yes I'm glad. But then, *I'm* still *alive*.
Col. Archibald Gracie: If only she'd been nearer.
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: There are quite a lot of "ifs" about it; aren't there, Colonel?
[turns and shouts to another lifeboat they're towing]
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: Keep up, quartermaster. Keep that line slack.
[turns to address Colonel Gracie again]
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: If we'd been steaming a few knots slower, or if we'd sighted that berg a few seconds earlier, we might not even have struck. If we'd been carrying enough lifeboats for the size of the ship instead of just enough to meet the regulations, things would have been different again, wouldn't they?
Col. Archibald Gracie: Maybe. But *you* have nothing to reproach yourself with. You've done all any man could and more. You're not...
[stops himself]
Col. Archibald Gracie: I was about to say, you're not *God*, Mister Lightoller.
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: *No* seaman ever thinks he is! I've been at sea since I was a *boy*. I've been in sail. I've even been *shipwrecked* before. I *know* what the sea can *do*! But, *this* is different-!
Col. Archibald Gracie: Because we hit an iceberg?
Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: No- Because we were so *sure*! Because even though it's *happened*, it's *still* unbelieveable! I don't think *I'll* ever feel *sure* again, about *anything*!

---

Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: [bursts into Captain Rostron's cabin] Sir! SIR!
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [waking up with a start] What the devil's going...?
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [rolls over and sees Cottam]
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [annoyed] Haven't you learned to *knock* before coming in here?
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: It's a distress call, sir! From the Titanic. She's *sinking*!
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [gives Rostron the paper with the distress message]
Officer: [comes into cabin to apologize for the intrusion] I'm sorry sir, I...
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [reads message and gives Cottam a long look] Mister Dean, turn the ship 'round. Head northwest. I'll work a course out for you in a minute.
Officer: Aye, aye sir.
Officer: [rushes away to carry out the orders]
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [gets out of bed] Now, Cottam, you're sure this is the *Titanic*?
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: Yes sir.
Capt. Arthur Rostron: You're certain?
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: Absolutely.
Capt. Arthur Rostron: All right. Check back. Find out *everything* you can. Tell them we're coming as *fast* as *possible*!
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: Yes sir!
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: [rushes back to his wireless equipment as Rostron goes to get dressed]

---

Capt. Arthur Rostron: [sees Cottam coming onto the bridge with a wireless update] Oh, what is it, Cottam?
Wireless Operator Harold Thomas Cottam: From the "Titanic", sir. Her engine room's flooded and she's sinking by the head. Her wireless operator says he won't have the power to transmit for much longer. Her captain wants to know how long we'll be.
Capt. Arthur Rostron: [sadly looks at clock in the wheelhouse] Tell them, another two hours.
[Cottam wordlessly goes to relay this bad news back to "Titanic"]

---

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Each page of the script was marked with the angle of the ship's deck at that point in its descent. This way, when they shot scenes out of order, they could maintain accuracy and continuity.
Walter Lord recorded that the painting hanging in the First Class Smoking Room was of New York Harbor and was called "The Approach to the New World". The painting was faithfully reproduced for the film and after completion it was presented by the Rank Organization to Lord, who later discovered that the painting had actually hung in the Titanic's sister ship, Olympic. It was a painting of Plymouth Harbor that hung in the Titanic.
This is the last Titanic film to be made exclusively in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of the real Titanic. S.O.S. Titanic did film in the UK (at Shepperton Studios, The Waldorf Hotel), but also filmed in the United States aboard the (former British) RMS Queen Mary. Titanic written by British screenwriter Julian Fellowes, features a British cast but was filmed in Hungary.
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