I'll tell you why so serious

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

BACKGROUND: "Titanic" was a pet project of Nazi Germany's evil propaganda minister, Dr. Goebbels. In the true story of the 15 April 1912 tragedy in which 1,503 people lost their lives, Goebbels saw a grand opportunity to denounce British opportunism, stupidity and greed. Goebbels had the script written by a fanatical Nazi, Zerlett- Olfenius. Direction was entrusted to Herbert Selpin who had successfully handled movie versions of other maritime disasters, despite the fact that Goebbels was well aware that Selpin had little love for the Nazi regime. However, Zerlett-Olfenius was entrusted with shooting the second unit work on location in the port of Gdynia in Poland. In May 1942, whilst Selpin shot the interiors in Berlin, Zerlett-Olfenius was detailed to direct the matching exteriors in Gdynia. When no footage at all arrived from Gdynia, the frustrated Selpin journeyed to that port to investigate. He confronted Zerlett- Olfenius and the two men had a bitter quarrel during which Selpin made many insulting references to the German armed forces. Zerlett- Olfenius reported Selpin to the Gestapo. Selpin was arrested and thrown into jail on a charge of treason. Unwilling to delay shooting and bring the matter to trial, the evil Goebbels ordered the prison guards to murder Selpin in his cell on the night of 31 July 1942. The propaganda minister then gave out that the treasonable Selpin had admitted his guilt by committing suicide. Werner Klinger was contracted to complete the film.However, Selpin had the last laugh after all. When Goebbels viewed the completed picture, he had enough wit to realize that its propaganda effects would be the exact opposite of what he and Zerlett-Olfenius had intended. Not only were the scenes of panic among the passengers uncomfortably akin to the contemporary reactions of German civilians under Allied bombing raids, but the instigator of the whole tragedy, Ismay, was shown to be a corrupt, self-seeking leader, reckless of people's lives in his own lust for power, money and "glory". A Hitler figure, in other words. "Titanic" was shown in Paris (in order to recoup at least part of its enormous cost), but in Germany it was not released at all until 1950.COMMENT:There are a number of movies dealing with the Titanic tragedy, but for sheer entertainment zing and gusto, this version is hard to beat. Not only are special effects absolutely marvelous and the scenes of shipboard panic and mayhem absolutely riveting, but the sets are superb, the costumes startling, and the acting dazzlingly charismatic. Nielsen hugs audience sympathy as the harassed Petersen, Miss Schmitz (despite a long dark wig that is a trifle disconcerting) transforms realistically from riches-into- rescuer, while the stunningly-gowned Heiberg limns the most decorative of high-class vamps and the evil-visaged Wernicke makes a human figure of the luckless Captain Smith. And a special clap to Jolly Marée who performs the sexiest dance number by which all others will now be measured.Selpin's driving, pacey direction, boosted by Behn-Grund's splendid camera-work nails home every hideously fascinating detail of this most terrible of maritime tragedies.

The story of this film project is almost as interesting as the story of the Titanic itself.At the height of the war, Goebbels started planning a massive movie spectacular that would present the Titanic story as a parable of Anglo-American capitalist greed, with a fictitious German officer heroically battling the cynical boardroom villains, out to secure the Blue Riband at any cost, to save their shipping line from bankruptcy. (This claim still pops-up from time to time, though there seem to have been other reasons for the undue haste to reach New York.)A surprisingly large budget was provided, and director Herbert Selpin got to work. The film required hundreds of naval personnel as technical advisors - a dream posting, well away from their units, in a film-colony atmosphere, with access to drink and women, of which they took excessive advantage. Selpin told them that their conduct was unprofessional as well as unpatriotic. A so-called friend reported him to Goebbels, who ordered him to retract his statement. He refused, and was found hanged next day.Now everything started to slide. Film people were disgusted at Selpin's fate, and morale never recovered. By the time the movie was finished, the Germans were losing the war, and Goebbels realised it would be a mistake to show scenes of drowning civilians, so no screenings were allowed. The film would only come to light many years later, as a historical curio.As this version was pure propaganda, we get all the Titanic clichés we expect (before they became clichés), with heavy emphasis on fine dining in gorgeous evening dress with a grand orchestra, while the freezing water pours into the engine-room and then rises steadily into the cabins. None of the performances stand out, and none of the actors seem to have moved on to bigger things, though their postwar careers would be dogged anyway by their association with the regime. But it is a tribute to the production values that several scenes are believed to have been directly reproduced in the British film 'A Night to Remember'.

You probably heard or testified one of those jokes that one person does and it backfires against this same person while trying to get some easy laughs from the crowd? Well, this German version of "Titanic" is a classic and horrifying example of such joke. How come? The German government, more precisely the minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels approves a movie that features social injustice, denounce wrongdoings by a major institution (White Star Line and its owner) which always claimed to be flawless, we build a ship that doesn't sink, he approved such project when it was written and then when it was made yet later the Nazi arrested and killed the movie's director because they noticed the parallel made with the nation who was killing millions. It's of cruel taste for those idiots to think the poor director was doing such infamous act. No, he's just a mirror to the events as they happen and this happened to be a little similar with the then current war period. They were trying to laugh at the British but in the end the bomb exploded on themselves and the movie suffered in its future releases, censored, confiscated among other tragedies. What draws attention in this version is the sole fact of this being a story focused on the human error brought by the arrogant White Star Line president, Mr. Ismay and his way to rush the ship to New York in order to profit with the company's actions. Who got the blame? Captain Smith, forced to undergo his directives (and profit a lot of money as well). The background we have before the deadly voyage is of a company approaching its failure, a desperate man trying to save it and his pressure on Smith. And it concludes in his trial and his acquittance. Like all the other movies we have plenty of time to know some of its notorious passengers - silly presentations, quite arbitrary and pointless at times - and unsubstantial gossips that lived on another movies for adventurous and climatic purposes, such as allegedly criminals on the boat, jewels robbery and similar. There's a bit of romance in here, this time between two workers - a clean lady and a musician - but nothing close to Jack & Rose. Everything concerning those actions mentioned drags the movie down and down again to the point of being unbearable to watch. Then the most awaited moments comes in and...nope, doesn't get better.James Cameron, hands down, filmed the most spectacular Titanic sinking ever made, so it's kind of difficult to beat that one. But the scene presented here is too dumb, the ship keeps on the same floating position even all the panic on board was taking over, so you see people running and screaming but the boat's not moving, it's not sinking. The size of the iceberg is just laughable. And here comes the parts the Nazi objected. We all know the order of saving was women and children first. The director created during the 2nd class scheme two lines (male and female/children) which later erupted in complete disorder. The first image that comes to mind are the ones from Auschwitz, Treblinka and similar presented in documentaries years later. The most beautiful scene comes while everything's out of order and the telegraphist decides to release the bird he has on a cage, to fly away from the ship. Cute moment but doesn't save the film from its disaster. It's small minded, made for entertaining reasons rather than represent actual facts. And I feel really sorry for Herbert Selpin, the director, who tried to disown this film before the authorities and became the ultimate victim of a ridiculous, sickening and unfunny joke financed, signed, sealed and delivered by the Nazi. 5/10

Slowly some of the Nazi film industry's work product is becoming available by video and by DVD. Not everything (except if you deal with extreme - right wing groups) but some of their material. TITANIC is one of the few acceptable films.I think the reason it is acceptable is that we are aware of social inequalities in the disaster that were not officially noted in 1912. The treatment of steerage passengers for example (more first and second class men survived than third class women). The misappropriation of an entire lifeboat by Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon and their small party was another. So was the survival of the President of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay (not Sir Bruce Ismay - he was never knighted before 1912, and he was a social pariah after 1912). But that's just it - Ismay and the Duff Gordons were socially ruined by their survival and the attending circumstances. The British Inquiry of Lord Mersey was not too harsh on them, but the American Inquiry of Senator William Alden Smith certainly was. Ismay was all too happy to leave New York City after Smith got through with him.So, yes, the story is truthfully full of social unfairness and bigotry and selfishness. But there is also heroism and self sacrifice, and the Goebbels' "Ministry of Information and Propaganda" overlooked that part. Molly Brown, Isidor and Ida Strauss, Benjamin Guggenheim, Thomas Andrews, Lightoller, Philips and Bride, are not mentioned - why should they be. Goebbels wanted to use the disaster as a weapon to poison German and Axis audiences against Britain, America, and Jews. Why honor Americans like Brown, Britains like Andrews, Lightoller, Philips and Bride, and Jews like the Strausses and Guggenheim? So he jettisoned them.From a technical standpoint TITANIC was an amazing film for 1943 - in fact the British film A NIGHT TO REMEMBER supposedly used some of the scenes of the sinking liner from TITANIC. But the propaganda is always there.Curiously, the British and Americans did not think of using the war to make a film called LUSITANIA. It might have been a sufficiently more honest answer to Goebbels lies and half-truths. The closest I have seen to that (aside from brief mentions of the Lusitania in FOR ME AND MY GAL, 'TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, and NIGHT AND DAY) was a sequence in the Mitchel Leisin film ARISE MY LOVE about the sinking of the steamer Athenia in September 1939 (when it was sunk by a U-boat without warning - Goebbels and Hitler caused an information freeze on that incident). Now, perhaps, we can do films about the Lancastria disaster (bombing and strafing fleeing refugees from Dunkirk with glee - and costing 3,000 - 4,000 lives) or the Cap Ancona massacre of concentration camp victims (about 6,000 lives or more). They show, in my opinion, the selfishness, greed, and class distinctions practiced by Nazis.