It's epic and it's exploitation, and it's also reasonably engaging almost in spite of itself. Richard Jordan plays a salvage expert attempting to literally raise the Titanic from her watery grave in order to recover a rare mineral, the plot concerned with his herculean effort to beat the Russians to the plate, in a Cold War twist to the sunken saga.
The "special" effects are sometimes regrettable (the parts of the ship being towed back into harbour look more than just a little dubious), but director Jameson has still managed to craft a half-decent drama that contains a surprise or two, not just confined to the plot, but also the casting. Sir Alec Guinness has just a few minutes, but his presence as a survivor re-telling Jordan of his experience is very moving and a moment that almost redeems the entire picture from its plodding excesses.
Aside from the durable Jordan, an unorthodox leading man who died well before his time, David Selby and Anne Archer co-star, while the minor roles go to Jameson's B-movie brigade, Michael Pataki, Stewart Moss, Paul Carr, Michael C.Gwynne, Norman Bartold - the list goes on. Not to be confused with, nor compared to, "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", while unlikely to appeal to the modern audience whose appetite for the Titanic was whet on James Cameron's 1997 epic, it should still suffice for a late afternoon sojourn into fantasy.
The "special" effects are sometimes regrettable (the parts of the ship being towed back into harbour look more than just a little dubious), but director Jameson has still managed to craft a half-decent drama that contains a surprise or two, not just confined to the plot, but also the casting. Sir Alec Guinness has just a few minutes, but his presence as a survivor re-telling Jordan of his experience is very moving and a moment that almost redeems the entire picture from its plodding excesses.
Aside from the durable Jordan, an unorthodox leading man who died well before his time, David Selby and Anne Archer co-star, while the minor roles go to Jameson's B-movie brigade, Michael Pataki, Stewart Moss, Paul Carr, Michael C.Gwynne, Norman Bartold - the list goes on. Not to be confused with, nor compared to, "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", while unlikely to appeal to the modern audience whose appetite for the Titanic was whet on James Cameron's 1997 epic, it should still suffice for a late afternoon sojourn into fantasy.