Titanic: The Complete Story

Description

Product Description

The "unsinkable" Titanic was a dream come true: Four city blocks long and a passenger list worth 250 million dollars. But on her maiden voyage in April 1912, that dream became a nightmare when the giant ship struck an iceberg and sank in the cold North Atlantic. More than 1,500 lives were lost in one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. Now, the complete sensational history of the premier liner is recounted in TITANIC: THE COMPLETE STORY. Using newsreels, stills, diaries, and exclusive interviews with survivors, TITANIC: THE COMPLETE STORY charts the fateful history of the ship and its passengers as well as providing an overview on the popular culture phenomenon that this tragedy has become.

This set includes 3 feature-length programs:

• DEATH OF A DREAM - The largest ship ever built is christened in Ireland before a cheering crowd of 100,000. Witness the disaster this trek becomes as numerous iceberg warnings go unheeded and the ship sinks in the icy North Atlantic.
• THE LEGEND LIVES ON - Overpacked lifeboats edge away from the crippled liner as futile SOS signals flare into the night - leaving 1,500 passengers to a watery grave. Also, witness the courageous deep sea expedition to unearth Titanic s secrets.
• TITANIC S ACHILLES HEEL - Elite divers explore the explosive theory that the doomed liner may have had a fatal design flaw - using advanced CGI technology, archive documents and photographs, as well as footage from modern-day HISTORY expeditions.

A tragedy that only grows with each telling, the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic resonates on a variety of levels, including as a cautionary illustration of Man s hubris in the face of Nature, as an unforgettably vivid example of class divisions during those frenzied final hours, and through the myriad of personal stories of courage recorded by the survivors. This compilation of three feature-length documentaries provides both the broad strokes and minutia surrounding the incident. The first two documentaries on the disc--both produced several years before James Cameron turned his attentions to the subject--take a Ken Burnsian approach to the material, utilizing a wealth of recovered artifacts and survivor interviews to fill in the blanks surrounding that famous night. The first installment, Death of a Dream, details the elements leading up to the voyage, spanning from the ship s construction in Belfast to the composition of the fatal iceberg. The Legend Lives On, meanwhile, delves into the aftershocks of the event, including the fascinating trial of the remaining crew--and, most notably, the head of the shipping company, J. Bruce Ismay--just days after being brought to safety. Finally, the third feature, Titanic s Achilles Heel, takes a distinctly more modern approach to the material, as a team of scientists use the latest in computer imaging to explore the engineering behind what was once the largest ship in history. When one expert advances a theory that a flaw in the design may have been responsible for the disastrous aftermath of the collision, a team of divers undertake a risky mission to examine the wreck of Titanic s sister ship Britannic for confirmation. Taken as a whole, this engrossing package provides enough detail to intrigue both casual viewers and hard-core historians. The title Titanic: The Complete Story may be an exaggeration, but not by much. --Andrew Wright