The story behind this movie is more interesting than the movie itself, but that's okay, seeing as it's only about 42 minutes long, it's very straightforward, and it's also 110 years old. It's pretty easy to cut it at least some slack, for those reasons.
Apparently, this was made and released the same year the Titanic sunk, and that's exactly what it depicts: the lead up to the Titanic's fateful collision, the chaos it caused, and the rescue of those who survived. Being made so close to a tragic event, this could arguably be the first exploitation movie, too.
I feel like maybe it needed a little time before telling the story in such a direct way, but then again, who knows what people wanted back in the 1910s, or whether this film was seen as exploitative or educational back then. We can't ask anyone who was around when this came out, either; they're all gone.
Of course, the special effects used to depict the collision are kind of bad, but cutting to all the different parts of the ship one by one, all showing their reaction to the collision was effective. And even if there's little by way of story or characters (title cards tell you whether each character survived or perished as they're introduced), the brief runtime makes that more forgivable.
Overall, it's not a very good movie, but it's fascinating from a historical perspective, and considering its position as an early docudrama/possible exploitation film. Also interesting is how it was believed to be a lost film until a print was discovered some 86 years after its release (and the restored version on YouTube looks really good). It's another thing that makes this film more interesting to read about than watch.
Apparently, this was made and released the same year the Titanic sunk, and that's exactly what it depicts: the lead up to the Titanic's fateful collision, the chaos it caused, and the rescue of those who survived. Being made so close to a tragic event, this could arguably be the first exploitation movie, too.
I feel like maybe it needed a little time before telling the story in such a direct way, but then again, who knows what people wanted back in the 1910s, or whether this film was seen as exploitative or educational back then. We can't ask anyone who was around when this came out, either; they're all gone.
Of course, the special effects used to depict the collision are kind of bad, but cutting to all the different parts of the ship one by one, all showing their reaction to the collision was effective. And even if there's little by way of story or characters (title cards tell you whether each character survived or perished as they're introduced), the brief runtime makes that more forgivable.
Overall, it's not a very good movie, but it's fascinating from a historical perspective, and considering its position as an early docudrama/possible exploitation film. Also interesting is how it was believed to be a lost film until a print was discovered some 86 years after its release (and the restored version on YouTube looks really good). It's another thing that makes this film more interesting to read about than watch.