Titanic (1996 miniseries)

Titanic is a 1996 American two-part television miniseries which premiered on CBS on November 17 and 19, 1996.^[2] Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones in one of her first major roles, along with Peter Gallagher, it follows three main story threads, involving fictional and historical characters aboard the RMS Titanic during her doomed 1912 maiden voyage. The miniseries was directed by Robert Lieberman. The original music score was composed by Lennie Niehaus. It is the first cinematic portrayal to depict the ship breaking in two, as all previous films depicted the ship sinking intact. It was criticized for its script and numerous historical errors.

In London, young pickpocket Jamie Perse steals a ticket to board Titanic in third class. He join forces with steward Simon Doonan, a hard-bitten criminal determined to rob first class passengers. In first class is the Allison family, a family returning home to Montreal with their two small children and new nurse, Alice Cleaver. They gradually become wary and suspicious of her hysterical and neurotic behavior. Isabella Paradine is traveling in first class to join her husband after attending her aunt's funeral in the United Kingdom. She finds that her former lover, self-made millionaire Wynn Park, is joining the voyage. She falls in love with him again, and after a brief affair, she sends her husband a wireless saying they cannot be together anymore (despite having a daughter). The Astors' maid asks her if she'd seen Alice in Cairo the previous month, and realizes that she remembers her from the highly publicized trial where Alice was accused of throwing her baby off a train.

Jamie becomes attracted to Aase (pronounced "Osa") Ludvigsen, a recent Christian convert and missionary. Aase is brutally raped and beaten by Doonan, causing her to lose her faith and will to live. When the Titanic hits the iceberg and starts sinking, Alice panics and quickly boards a lifeboat with Trevor, the Allisons' infant son. The parents with their small daughter are unaware that the baby is safe and refuse to leave the ship without him. Isabella reluctantly leaves Wynn when he forces her to board a lifeboat. Jamie manages to get Aase into Isabella's boat. Isabella confesses a long kept secret to Wynn that her daughter Claire is actually Wynn's. Unbeknownst to them, Doonan also sneaks aboard that same boat, disguised as an woman. Smith remains on the bridge, preparing to go down with the ship, as he mutters "Forgive me" to a picture of his wife and daughter. After the ship sinks, Aase is knocked off the lifeboat by Doonan after she recognizes him, and he attempts to hold the passengers in the boat hostage at gunpoint, but Officer Lowe, who is in charge of the boat, hits Doonan in the head with an oar; he falls into the water and drowns. Jaime himself manages to survive when he accidentally falls into one of the last lifeboats before the Titanic sinks. Later on board the RMS Carpathia, Isabella is grief-stricken when she finds Wynn's lifeless body on deck. Jaime decides to start over after he finds Aase in the makeshift hospital aboard the Carpathia. Isabella mentions how insignificant the sea makes on feel and how the Carpathia is a "ship of widows." After a beat, Officer Lowe says, "It's good, ma'am, that we don't know how things is gonna end in the beginning, or we'd never make the journeys that we were meant to take in this life. The journeys that... make us who we are." Upon arriving in New York City, Jamie and Aase plan to start a new life together, Trevor is reunited with his family while the unstable Allison is treated as a hero, and Isabella is reunited with her family who are blissfully unaware of Isabella's tryst because the telegram was never sent out due to the sinking.

Cast notes:

• Steven Spielberg took notice of Zeta-Jones in Titanic and recommended her for The Mask of Zorro (1998).
• Scott and Rees had previously acted together in A Christmas Carol, which also starred David Warner (who appeared in S.O.S. Titanic (1979) and James Cameron's 1997 Titanic film)
• First Officer Murdoch is depicted committing suicide, an alleged event also potrayed in the Cameron film

The original script had a working class British man named Alex and an wealthy American named Suzanne. The family of Sidney Leslie Goodwin were included (replaced in the filmed version by the fictional Jacks) and the near collision with the SS New York was included in the original script.

The New York Daily News commented on the fact that the acting was substandard and the ship's operators and owner are portrayed "about as sympathetically as those connected with the Exxon Valdez."^[3] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also referenced the "embarrassingly bad acting" and out of place scenes.^[4]

Titanic was criticized for its numerous inaccuracies. Some people like shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, Sixth Officer James Paul Moody, and Chief Officer Henry Tingle Wilde are omitted, with Boxhall's in place of Moody and Smith noting the iceberg damage to the ship in place of Andrews. The series depict Alice Cleaver as having been convicted of killing her own child. Other than the shared Christian and surnames, Alice Mary Cleaver and Alice Catherine Cleaver were two different people. Source: The Goofs of The 1996 Miniseries

Titanic received an Emmy Award^[5] for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special. It was also nominated for Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special.^[6]

• List of films about the RMS Titanic

• Titanic at IMDb