Titanic
by James Cameron
Our Price: $62.90
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $22.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jason Barry, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicholas CasconeDirector: James Cameron
Brand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 194 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-08-31
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Titanic
Movie Review: Romantic Epic
Summary: 5 Stars
James Cameron's vision of a dramatic love story running parallel with the greatest maritime tragedy of our time is all at once grand, terrifying and very emotional. With a running time of over three hours not many directors could have kept the pace so brisk, but Cameron is well known for his skill at story telling and making sure you know where and what is happening at all times.
First and foremost, if you watch this movie with your emotional guard up you are not likely to get the full affect. You have to let yourself truly feel what these two characters are going through to let this movie get a grip on you. Leo and Kate perform well with a casual script that lays down the ground work of two young people who obviously have immediate chemistry. Leo plays Jack Dawson, a young (poor) traveling artist who inadvertently saves Rose (Kate Winslet), a young Pennsylvanian girl betrothed to a rich snob (played with sneering egocentric guile by Billy Zane) as he finds her ready to jump from the back of the ship. This rescue is a symbolism for the entire movie. Rose feels trapped in her life and as she witnesses Jack's carefree existence it starts to bring out her spirited side as well. She wants more than just to marry into a rich family as her mother has forced her to do for her own purposes.
Cameron's underlying message of breaking free of that which is holding you back and to live the way you should could very well be misunderstood as liberal but could also be seen as a revelation to those who can relate. Cameron does not set out to bash rich people either though. The other wealthy characters are flawed but overall good people, treating Jack with polite curiosity during a meal in the first class dining room.
As Rose finally defies the marriage arrangement and two start to realize their love, the real tragedy starts. The iceberg strikes and the ship starts it's long death scene. Thankfully, suspension of disbelief is not needed. The visuals of the sinking ship are strikingly realistic, especially when the ship splits. The special effects are incredible and the stark reality of the way some of these people died could be disturbing to watch as bodies fall off the ship, striking things on the way to the icy water.
There is a subplot that gets the whole movie started; The Heart of the Ocean, a huge blue diamond pendant. It is the focus of a search expedition that brings Rose, and her story out to the site where Titanic sunk. It brings the movie together, but is forgettable at the same time, which is what I think Cameron wanted. His stamp of detail is intertwined throughout the movie.
The historical accuracy is pinpoint as well. Many things that happen around Rose and Jack actually did happen. From the rich first class passengers characterizations to the discussion between the captain and the President of the Starlight company about speeding up the ship in order to arrive early. From the gymnasium to the dining room to the suites. From the officers who helped load people into the boats and allegedly shot some passengers to keep order, to the cook who was seen standing on the back of the ship in it's last seconds before it submerged. All of it was documented as actually history by at least more than one account. Cameron did extensive research on the events and only recreated that which was consistent in multiple testimony and/or historical documentation.
Titanic won best picture and best director as well as many other awards, all well deserved. The pre-release bashing due to delays in production made it sour to some who may have expected something different, but it made it sweet to those who are Cameron fans and watched it's gross income rise every week. In no way was this movie meant to be as popular as it was but it is a credit to Cameron to make something that is not only so obviously personal but to also make it so appealing, engrossing and emotional.
Update: 11/28/2005
I just recently purchased the 3-Disc collectors edition and I have to say this DVD is even more spectactular. The digital transfer is awesome, great picture and sound. The deleted scenes even look complete. There is great one with Jack actually beating the crud out of Lovejoy; for those as observationally astue as I am the scene was in the trailer, but not in the movie. I for one thought Lovejoy deserved to get pummeled and was glad to be able to see this scene. The special edition discs are loaded, and I do mean LOADED. With missing scenes, documetaries on the making of the movie, the trips down to the actual wreckage, time lapsed film of the set construction and a fantastic alternate ending where Bill Paxton's character has an epiphany when he discovers that Rose had the diamond the whole time. I can't say enough to recommend this Special Edition DVD.
Summary of Titanic
Nothing on Earth can rival the epic spectacle and breathtaking grandeur of Titanic, the sweeping love story that sailed into the hearts of moviegoers around the world, ultimately emerging as the most popular motion picture of all time. Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar-nominee Kate Winslet light up the screen as Jack and Rose, the young lovers who find one another on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic their passionate love affair becomes a thrilling race for survival. From acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron comes a tale of forbidden love and courage in the face of disaster that triumphs as a true cinematic masterpiece.When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era, and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman, and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time, and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain, and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world, and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story, and although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Similar DVD Movies
Jaws 2SCHEIDER/GARY/HAMILTON; Release date: 2001-05-22; Published: 2001-05-01; DVD
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops:
Titanic Poster Movie N 11x17 Kate Winslet Leonardo DiCaprio Billy Zane Kathy Bates MasterPoster Print, 11x17Poster Discount; Poster Discount; Poster Discount; Kitchen; Home
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
ArmageddonBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1999-01-05; DVD
Best price: $6.09
Price in other shops:
Artist Not Provided - Titanic: How It Really SankWarner Brothers; Release date: 2009-05-12; DVD
Best price: $13.76
Price in other shops:
Titanic - The Definitive Documentary Collection + BONUSRelease date: 2012-01-10; DVD
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
A Night to Remember (The Criterion Collection)Criterion; Release date: 1998-05-13; DVD
Best price: $49.97
TitanicFox; Release date: 2003-09-02; DVD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Titanic Poster Movie F 11x17 Kate Winslet Leonardo DiCaprio Billy Zane Kathy Bates MasterPoster Print, 11x17Poster Discount; Poster Discount; Poster Discount; Kitchen; Home
Best price: $3.34
Price in other shops:
Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2001-12-04; DVD
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
National Geographic - Secrets of the TitanicWarner Home Video; Release date: 1999-12-14; DVD
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops: