S.O.S. Titanic (1979)

[James Luckard]

I just got my copy today and was surprised to find no thread for this.

Kino Lorber's 2-disc set includes:
-the long-lost 144 min original 1979 US broadcast cut, in a new HD transfer
-the 103 min 1980 overseas theatrical cut, which has been on DVD for many years, with a brand new 4K transfer

I'm watching the longer US broadcast cut now, and it's thrilling to see something I haven't seen since I was a kid, probably 35 years ago.

The transfer on the broadcast cut looks nice, considering it was a miracle they were even able to track it down. I believe someone in another thread or forum said KL found a copy of the broadcast version at ABC, which originally aired the film, even though they licensed the theatrical cut from StudioCanal, which controls the title now, through their acquisition of EMI, which originally produced the film.

One thing, the broadcast cut is framed at 1.66, except for the opening newsreel, which is 1.33. I'm not entirely sure why this is, it would almost certainly have been broadcast at 1.33 in 1979, but I did notice probably four or five times, in certain shots, that a few pixels of original matte boxes are visible at the bottom of the frame. Perhaps it was framed for 1.66, since they probably knew it would have an overseas theatrical release, and the sides were cropped off for the original broadcast.

KL has been good about including broadcast versions in the OAR previously, like The Day After, which was 1.33, so I'm assuming this is the correct aspect ratio, the framing certainly looks perfect, nothing appears cropped on the top and bottom on their BD.

[James Luckard]

I found that someone uploaded clips of the scenes that appeared in the broadcast version, but were cut from the overseas theatrical cut.

SOS Titanic Deleted Scene #3 - YouTube

As I suspected, the film seems to have been framed for 1.66 and cropped on the sides for broadcast at 1.33, so KL is giving us the proper aspect ratio:

BROADCAST VERSION


KINO LORBER BLU-RAY


(Please excuse the fact that I had to photograph my TV, it's just too time consuming to rip the video file to make caps just to compare aspect ratios, the KL is clearly superior in every way.)

[James Luckard]

Having watched the full broadcast version (the one I grew up with), I watched a few scenes of the 4K scan of the shorter theatrical cut. It's also 1.66 and definitely looks a bit better, but I can't fathom how 40 mins could be cut from the film, it's paced and structured very well. I HIGHLY recommend watching the original broadcast version first.

[critterdvd]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Having watched the full broadcast version (the one I grew up with), I watched a few scenes of the 4K scan of the shorter theatrical cut. It's also 1.66 and definitely looks a bit better, but I can't fathom how 40 mins could be cut from the film, it's paced and structured very well. I HIGHLY recommend watching the original broadcast version first.

Thank you for posting this! My copy is arriving from target tomorrow and I've been trying to find any information on which cut is preferred over the other. I'll definitely go with the TV cut when I watch this later this week.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by critterdvd

Thank you for posting this! My copy is arriving from target tomorrow and I've been trying to find any information on which cut is preferred over the other. I'll definitely go with the TV cut when I watch this later this week.

The 144 minute cut is the original one, so I think it would definitely be preferable.

For one thing, the shorter theatrical cut seems to delete the entire opening framing sequence on the Carpathia, which runs about 5-10 minutes, and has one of Ian Holm's best moments of performance in the entire film. The shorter version cuts in right as passengers are boarding in Southampton.

Someday I'll make a comparison of the two in more depth, but it would involve running them side by side to see what is missing. Based on the "deleted scenes" posted on YouTube and based on my quick scan of the shorter cut, it's not just whole scenes that were cut, portions of scenes were also cut.

It's very weird, I have crystal clear memories of renting a VHS with a cover that looked like this in the US as a kid:


But I also only ever remember seeing the version with the Carpathia opening, and this VHS is seemingly the shorter version. I suppose I either saw the longer version syndicated on TV and conflated it with my memory of renting the VHS, or perhaps there was some super rare VHS of the full version that my local video store had. I was obsessed with the Titanic when the wreck was discovered, so I'd have seen this originally about 1985.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Never seen this film, but have a great interest in alternate versions/expanded television cuts. 41 mins is a LOT of material.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

Never seen this film, but have a great interest in alternate versions/expanded television cuts. 41 mins is a LOT of material.

The interesting thing here is that it's not the conventional "expanded television cut," where a feature film of a set length was padded out with extra material.

This was a TV movie shot for a 3 hour slot, running 144 mins without commercials, so the broadcast version is the original. The shorter theatrical version was actually cut down by 41 mins for release in Europe a year later.

The presentation here is ideal, we get the full uncut 144 minute version, which has never been commercially available before, but we also get the full 1.66 image, which appears never to have been seen before, based on the videos above that show the broadcast version was cropped on the sides, which is unusual. Since the matte lines are visible a couple of times on the broadcast version at the bottom on the KL BD, I have to assume the film was shot hard matted at 1.66.

[latehong]

Could you kindly verify whether the English SDH is on the theatrical cut only or both? Thanks in advance.

[500movies]

Can someone put up pictures of the set?? Is there a slip??

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by 500movies

Can someone put up pictures of the set?? Is there a slip??

No slip. (Has KL ever done one? I see they've announced some upcoming ones, but I've never seen one up till now)

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by latehong

Could you kindly verify whether the English SDH is on the theatrical cut only or both? Thanks in advance.

The broadcast cut has subtitles, I turned them on a couple of times when I couldn't understand lines of dialogue.

[Havenbull]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

No slip. (Has KL ever done one? I see they've announced some upcoming ones, but I've never seen one up till now)

Deep Star Six just arrived with a slip.

My copy of SOS Titanic also arrived. Can't wait to watch.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's very weird, I have crystal clear memories of renting a VHS with a cover that looked like this in the US as a kid:

[Show spoiler]

But I also only ever remember seeing the version with the Carpathia opening, and this VHS is seemingly the shorter version. I suppose I either saw the longer version syndicated on TV and conflated it with my memory of renting the VHS, or perhaps there was some super rare VHS of the full version that my local video store had. I was obsessed with the Titanic when the wreck was discovered, so I'd have seen this originally about 1985.

Thanks for all the info. It makes me super excited to finally see the uncut broadcast version on Kino's release. What a major surprise!!!

As far as that Thorn-EMI VHS in the US, I can confirm it ran only 98 minutes and was letterboxed.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

Thanks for all the info. It makes me super excited to finally see the uncut broadcast version on Kino's release. What a major surprise!!!

As far as that Thorn-EMI VHS in the US, I can confirm it ran only 98 minutes and was letterboxed.

The weird thing is all the old US VHS editions seem to be listed as 98 mins, which is even shorter than the overseas theatrical cut.

What I suspect happened is that 98 mins is the UK PAL running time, and they just lazily put that on the US VHS too, or maybe the US VHS was a PAL-NTSC conversion, and ran fast. Here's the back of the UK VHS, which also says 98 mins. It would be impossible for a PAL and an NTSC VHS of the same film to have the same running time unless one was a conversion of the other:



Was it letterboxed at 1.66?

The film clearly appears to have been shot hard matted at 1.66

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The weird thing is all the old US VHS editions seem to be listed as 98 mins, which is even shorter than the overseas theatrical cut.

What I suspect happened is that 98 mins is the UK PAL running time, and they just lazily put that on the US VHS too, or maybe the US VHS was a PAL-NTSC conversion, and ran fast. Here's the back of the UK VHS, which also says 98 mins. It would be impossible for a PAL and an NTSC VHS of the same film to have the same running time unless one was a conversion of the other:

[Show spoiler]

Was it letterboxed at 1.66?

The film clearly appears to have been shot hard matted at 1.66

Yes, it could be one or the two. I no longer have the US VHS, but I did write up comments after watching every tape I ever had with the actual running time of the film itself and not what's listed on the box. And I put down 98 for the actual running time of the US vhs. Now, I could have made a mistake and accidentally used what the box said this time, but in any event, it is probably the same exact version, just with a PAL speedup. As far as the aspect ratio, I unfortunately just said the US vhs was "letterboxed" at the time I watched it (many years ago) and didn't mention the aspect ratio. Most likely 1.66:1, I'd assume.

But I think most of us will simply watch the uncut version anyway, but it's cool Kino is including both!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

Yes, it could be one or the two. I no longer have the US VHS, but I did write up comments after watching every tape I ever had with the actual running time of the film itself and not what's listed on the box. And I put down 98 for the actual running time of the US vhs. Now, I could have made a mistake and accidentally used what the box said this time, but in any event, it is probably the same exact version, just with a PAL speedup. As far as the aspect ratio, I unfortunately just said the US vhs was "letterboxed" at the time I watched it (many years ago) and didn't mention the aspect ratio. Most likely 1.66:1, I'd assume.

Yep, back in the days of VHS many European titles had PAL-NTSC converted masters for the US, because nobody really noticed the difference. Some of the first DVDs even tried this, but the ghosting was awful.

Originally Posted by iamnoone

But I think most of us will simply watch the uncut version anyway, but it's cool Kino is including both!

It's funny, the short version was all they originally intended to release, and it's a new 4K scan that definitely looks markedly better than the other cut.

The theatrical cut was discovered and added on as basically a bonus feature, as I understand it. They said they postponed the title a while to wait on the new scan of the longer cut, from what I remember on their Facebook, and they should be commended for it.

It's funny though, I agree, I suspect most people will want to watch the newly discovered original longer cut, even if the image quality is a tiny bit inferior. There's just SO much good material that's cut out of the short version.

It's actually very similar to their release of Terminal Station/Indiscretion of an American Wife, where they were able to do a brand new 4K scan of the shorter US version and then included a 2K scan of the longer overseas cut, which is also infinitely superior.

[SGFfilmfan]

The longer cut is better. The picture quality is good enough.

Glad to finally have this in HD!! First 'Titanic' film I remember seeing and then I lost the VHS tape, so this was a pleasant experience for me. Yes, the sets aren't like the real Titanic at all, but I didn't mind.

Ian Holm is the best J. Bruce Ismay so far. I thought David Warner & Susan Saint James worked well together and had better than usual TV-dialogue to work with.

A worthy addition to the Titanic cannon. People should buy this...it's only $11.99 during Kino's on going sale.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SGFfilmfan

The longer cut is better. The picture quality is good enough.

Glad to finally have this in HD!! First 'Titanic' film I remember seeing and then I lost the VHS tape, so this was a pleasant experience for me. Yes, the sets aren't like the real Titanic at all, but I didn't mind.

Ian Holm is the best J. Bruce Ismay so far. I thought David Warner & Susan Saint James worked well together and had better than usual TV-dialogue to work with.

A worthy addition to the Titanic cannon. People should buy this...it's only $11.99 during Kino's on going sale.

I don't think they had all that much money for this film, so I don't think there are actually many sets.
The grand staircase is Seaford House, a mansion in London:


The dining room is the palm court of the Waldorf Hotel in London:


And most of the exteriors are on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

But they manage to achieve a sense of the grandeur of the ship, even if the actual designs don't resemble the originals in any way.

I agree, Holm is amazing, especially in his first scene on the Carpathia. And the script is, indeed, well above most TV movies.

[huskersports]

Originally Posted by latehong

Could you kindly verify whether the English SDH is on the theatrical cut only or both? Thanks in advance.

The English subs are on both versions. The bonus materials are on the TV version. The only bonus material on the theatrical cut is the commentary. No commentary on the TV cut.

[SGFfilmfan]

Based on this TV film, The Boxer, and Veronica Guerin, the actor Gerard McSorley has a fascinating stare. I don't know if I'm scared to death by him or entranced.