Cheap Titanic - The Complete Story (DVD) (Melissa Jo Peltier) Price

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Customer Reviews of Titanic - The Complete Story

up close & personal look at the phenomenal tragedy
A sobering and detailed look at the Titanic tragedy, from the big picture of it's historical/social context, to the haunting description of the cacophany of screams carrying across the glassy ocean waters ('not unlike the home-run roar of a ballpark stadium crowd'), echoing in the tormented memories of those survivors who watched their loved ones go down, as they sat huddled and shivering and paralyzed with fear and cold in the frigid safety of their lifeboats. The people who built it, the people who owned it, the people who survived it, the people who found it - it's all here, and more. An almost painfully thorough look at a serious tragedy that brought out incredible acts of bravery, courage, and heroism, as well as blatant acts of foolishness and cowardice, for those sincerely interested in the harsh reality of the historical truth, and not the glamorized hype of the Hollywood myth. Truly an epic documentary of an epic disaster, the trauma of which continues to reverberate through our modern consciousness.

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Survivor testimony brings this documentary to life
There is nothing like hearing the first-hand testimony of Titanic survivors. About six different survivors are interviewed in the course of this four-part special, a few were only infants at the sinking and are recalling what their parents had told them; but other survivors were from 7 to 12 to 16 when the ship sank, so their testimony is very detailed and absorbing.

The narration is wonderful; the attention to detail is amazing, and the juxtaposition of archival footage of the great ship, the retelling of the history behind the building of Titanic, recollections of the world reaction to the disaster, the survivor testimony, and footage of the ghostly remains at the bottom of the ocean, make TITANIC (A&E DOCUMENTARY) a haunting experience. This is the best documentary on Titanic that I have ever seen, and I was very pleased to see that it is available on video (I had first seen it on TV years ago, and I had thought about it over the years - lamenting that I might never see it again.)

What I found most moving about TITANIC (A&E DOCUMENTARY) is how those who work to preserve the history of Titanic become quite emotional when talking about the disaster: George Behe, Vice President of Titanic Historical Society, is actually moved to tears as he retells the last moments of the ship, which is exceptional since he appears to be little older than 40-years-old when this documentary was originally aired in 1994, and Dr. Robert Ballard (a man no older than 50) comments on how everyone in his crew wept when they found the wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic. The other thing that came to light in this documentary is the class struggle that went on during the "Gilded Age": more first class men survived than third class children. We learn that the Titanic disaster set a precedent for social change, planted the seeds of a social conscience, and influenced changes in the shipping industry that still affect us to this day.

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Excellent Presentation
Excellent presentation and goes into detail, much of which may be unknown to the viewer. One minor criticism: the participants let Stanley Lord of the Californian off much too easily.