Stairway to the Bridge and Lowe with a Moustache

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

Doesn't look like anyone has ever posted here (which is surprising), so I guess I'll be the first...

Has anyone ever noticed while watching this movie that the boat deck set has a stairway heading upwards to a bridge on a supposedly higher deck? This is the only movie that has done that. I have often wondered why they did this, but then it occurred to me that the reason might be due to the possibility that a stairway on the boat deck made for a much more dynamic and dramatic appearance. Multiple stairways on a ship set, whether they logically belong there or not, tend to make that ship seem 'larger' and more 'intricate,' and therefore more captivating in some psychological way.

Also, this is the only movie in which Lowe has a moustache. Actually, I remember seeing several officers with moustaches in this movie (except for Pitman, who actually had one).

All in all, it appears that accuracy wasn't of any consideration on this movie. I would strongly question the sensibility and Titanic background of anyone who asserts this movie as 'most realistic.' Still, it was an interesting variation.

Just trying to get some conversations going here. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

I haven't seen SOST in very many years so I can't recall much about it, but didn't they use the Queen Mary as a stand-in for the Titanic? In which case the scene mentioned might have been the QM boat deck rather than a film set.

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

Yes, Bob, QM stood in for the Titanic in SOST.

As far as actors with or without mustaches - I seriously doubt that was even an issue for the casting director. About the only character who would *need* facial hair would be Capt. Smith.

No, I don't think historical accuracy was much of an issue in SOST. However, it was nice to see Beesley's statements and actions given a cinema airing. Even though they added a love interest for him! (another case of ignoring historical accuracy)

 

[Inger Sheil]

Been so long since I've seen it I can't remember Lowe having a moustache in SOS Titanic - he didn't make much of an impression on me, although I do recall wincing a bit at his voice/accent during the exchange with Ismay. Must drag out the tape again.

Bill, the Beesley romance is one thing that does spring to mind when I think of SOS Titanic...along with the vaguely insinuated Andrews-with-a-wandering-eye. And the Countess of Rothes (was it her? Or just 'The Countess') in the Turkish bath, with an envious Madeleine Astor looking on.

Was nice to see the Harrises get some screen time, though.

Re mo's...Boxhall seems to have had a short lived one in his early career, and Lightoller's and Murdoch's earlier stints with what Ned Flanders would call a 'soup strainer' are well documented. Pitman ditched his post-Titanic (I wonder why - it was quite a nice specimen of the breed). Moody never seems to have got around to experimenting with facial hair (no doubt it would have happened - as a friend observed, it seems obligatory for most men). There is perhaps one photograph in which Lowe might have a moustache - taken in later years, and it's hard to tell. More likely just a trick of the light.

 

[Kritina Johnston]

"Anyone else have thoughts on this?"

Not on this matter, but on this movie, or something about it...Ian Holm was too short a specimen to play Ismay. But he had the nice evil streak going on, though that was better served to playing an android.

 

[Adam Usher]

It was not Lowe who had the moustache!

It was Lightoller who tells the carpathias captain what happened during the sinking. Lowe looked very young and did certainly not have a moustache.

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

Well, it has been a long time since I've seen it, but I do remember seeing someone there who had a moustache that shouldn't have had one. Was it Lightoller? Murdoch?... or even Boxhall?

 

[Allan T Condie]

I suspect that the set used for the sinking scene in SOS Titanic was a compromise between using the Queen Mary's Bridge for some shots and the studio for others, hence the bridge one deck above what it should have been. As for the lifeboats QM had completely different davits!

 

[Matthew Newman]

Was there a set used for S.O.S. Titanic? I thought they just tilted the camera on the deck of the Queen Mary and had some water hoses laying around. Does anyone know where to find pictures of this set? I love Titanic movie sets. I always find them interesting. How close they try to get to history, but yet how far they stay from history. Except for Cameron's set which was basically flawless. Anyway, if anyone can tell me about the S.O.S. Titanic set I'd love to hear about it. Thanks, Matt.

 

[Allan T Condie]

As far as I am aware the only large set used was part of the boat deck, and an innacurate rendering at that with the bridge one deck up. The rest of the film was shot either on the Queen Mary, the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool, and other locations. A pumping station was used for the engine scenes and the boiler views in it are again totally inaccurate.

You will notice continuity errors as the QM had gravity davits and the set used fake Wellin ones.

 

[Ernie Luck]

Matthew

I take it you have seen the sets for ANTR in the 60-minute film 'The Making of ANTR'?

 

[Matthew Newman]

Oh yes Ernie. That was a pretty cool set they built for that movie. A little inaccurate, but they did a great job with the budjet they had. I liked the fact that they built the set tilting so they acually had to tilt the cameras to make it seem like the ship is on even keel prior to the sinking scenes. The interior sets were the closest to being accurate of any Titanic movie until JC's Titanic came out. Good movie and good documentary.

 

[Eric Paddon]

To address a couple points from awhile back:

1-Murdoch and Boxhall are depicted with moustaches, but Lowe is shown clean-shaven.

2-The Beesley "romance" is not really a romance per se, but was set up so Beesely could have a character to talk to and vocalize many of the things he wrote down in his book. For instance, when they watch the young boy in Third Class and Beesley speculates he's likely from a First Class background, that comes straight from something Beesley wrote about, as do their comments on the stars and the sea when they're out on deck. Read "Loss Of The Titanic" all the way through sometime and it becomes apparent that what was done with Beesley's character in SOS Titanic isn't as outlandish as you first think.

 

[kosta kokkinozis]

It was not Lightoller who had a moustache in the film, that was Boxhall talking to the Carpathias captain.

Where in the film where the Liverpool Adelphi sets used?

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

I think most of the 1st Class interiors were from the Adelphi. The dining room set was ridiculously inaccurate.