Context:
The Titanic was conceived like much anti-British German propaganda
of the Nazi period. It was designed to reinforce existing German prejudice
that the British were ruled by a wicked and greedy upper class.
The Nazi Titanic followed a similar theme found in was Soldaten von Morgen or Soldiers of Tomorrow (1941), which reinforced the German stereotypes of the English upper class as decadent. That film was a comedy showing bad school English school boys at upper class schools growing into Britain’s wartime leaders.
Director of the Titanic
Herbert Selpin was the director of the film. He had made several good
quality German films in the 1930s.
Selpin got into trouble with Goebbels because his unfavourable remarks on the set about the extras from the German armed forces.
He was asked to apologise for his remarks about the German armed forces
before Goebbels, Selpin refused and was later straggled by the SS in a
prison cell. The film was completed by another director, Werner Klinger.
American and British businessmen financing the Titanic, Bruce Ismay and Jacob Astor are shown as unscruplous selfish individuals placing the passengers of the ship at risk in order to make money on the ship crossing the Atlantic in record speed.
Among the crew, the only officer objecting to the order of the Ismay, President of the liner, to go full speed despite the risks of running into an iceberg flow is the German officer. The captain is offered a cash bonus for going as fast as he can.
The opening scenes on ship show the opulence of the British upper class.
The “wickedness” and “deceitfulness” of the social life of British upper class is implicit in the film as the journey progresses.
Titanic Sinks
When the ship hits the iceberg and starts to sink many crew and passenger
on board behave badly. Those who behave bravely are one German couple,
a German officer in the crew and his Russian ex-lover. Many of the English
passengers are shown as panicking and stampeding and trampling people to
death, and swamping lifeboats.
When the ship’s officers come down to the third class passengers or steerage passengers to get the women and children to leave the ship by lifeboats they shoot several of the men who try want to immediately flee the ship. The steerage passengers panic and stampede up the steps to the deck.
Interestingly, there is no depiction of the British ship's officers stopping steerage passengers leaving the ship, as in the James Cameron 1998 version. However, that the poor are trapped below while the rich escape has become part of the film has became a myth about the film. It is not clear why the Nazi propagandists did not include such material, which would have made good propaganda.
The Inquiry
In the original version there is an inquiry into the sinking. Both
the captain and the financers of shipping firm are not blamed. The film
describes this as a ‘travesty of justice”. It ends with the words: “The
death of 1500 remained untoned. An everlasting condemnation of England’s
Greed”. Interestingly, the propaganda message is overtly stated. This was
removed from the versions shown after the war because the Allies occupied
Germany for a while and they censored many of the films shown, and the
Titanic
was
shown in postwar Germany as entertainment.
Was the Titanic Propaganda?
Robert Peck, film historian, has described the end titles as being
crucial to evaluating the film as propaganda.
Peck’s analysis suggests that the film is not as unequivocally anti-British as the myth of the film suggests, except in that last titles at the end.
The ships crew are shown at times behaving professionally, distributing life-jackets and making sure that the women and children are safely away in the lifeboats. The women from the steerage are treated as equally as the British upper class by the crew when placing them in the lifeboats while male passengers are excluded.
However, there is an argument that most of the Nazi films had subtle propaganda in them because Goebbels preferred this way of presenting propaganda. The portrayal of the greedy financiers of the Titanic who are members of the British upper class forcing the ship to speed across the Atlantic into an iceberg flow because they wanted the Titanic to beat the record and make lots of money for them can be interpreted as subtle propaganda.
You can find the 1943 Nazi Titanic listed in the website of history of Titanic Movies and information about the Titanic by using the Media Awareness Network. Just type in Titanic in the search of its own site and a series of interesting articles will come up.
See material in the course notes from The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Titanic (1998).
There is an excellent summary of the Nazi 1943 movie The Titanic in the
chapter called "Goebbel's Folly" in Simon Mills, The Titanic in Pictures
(1995). This book gives a very good summary of all the Titanic films up
to 1995 (thus the James Cameron 1997 film is not included). It is available in
the redspot collection of the NIE library.
At the stock market, White Star Lines shares finish lower than expected because of the costs building the Titanic are seen as a drain upon the company. Ismay, who is the constant focus of the film as the major villain, says that the shares will rebound and they will make a big profits because he plans to have the Titanic run full speed across the Atlantic so that it will get the Blue Ribbon and they will reap enormous profits because it will have the reputation as the fastest ocean liner on the commercially lucrative Atlantic route.
[In other Titanic movies Ismay does figure, but no where near as much as this 1943 version, in which the story is mainly about his greed in running the Titanic too fast through the iceberg flows of the Atlantic. James Cameron's 1998 version shows him telling the captain to speed up the ship and later showing him sneak into a life boat meant for women and children, but that film does not focus on him as much as this 1943 version.]
The film fades to the Titanic itself. Ismay is shown on board in the great ballroom with his wife. He speaks to Captain Smith and offers him big cash bonuses of several thousands of dollars if the ship gets into New York in record time.
The rich upper class and their wives proceed down the stairs into the great ballroom. The ship's officers discuss how many millions the rich possess.
Ismay spots an attractive Russian women and asks the Captain to bring her over to his table. He later tries to unsuccessfully pursue this woman. He announces to the crowded ballroom that the Titanic will be going at 26 mph which means that will get into New York harbour in record time. The ship is set a the speed that he wants. Ship's officers even announce the speed to the steerage passengers who are eating in a Spartan dinning hall down below.
When the order is given to the ship's officers, the German officer asks who is in charge of the ship the President of the Shipping Company or the Captain. He is the only person to object to the new speed being set by the captain. There is a collection of headlines telegramed back to the newspapers from their reporters on the ship. Ismay financial backers debate Ismay's decision to race the Titanic across the Atlantic at top speed and its financial implications if his strategy works.
27-30 Minutes
The first iceberg warning is sent to the radio room and the German
officer informs that Captain in front of Ismay. The President says not
to slow down. The German officer objects, but the Captain follows Ismay's
instructions. Another warning comes and the Captain screws up the paper
and throws it down before his officers. The German officer picks it up
and voices his disgust. Ismay argues with his wife as he is deceitfully
pursing the young Russian woman.
41 Minutes
The Titanic crew see the iceberg, but the ship is going too
fast, and it collide with the iceberg.
1hr
The German officer tells Ismay that the ship has hit an iceberg and
is sinking. Ismay scoffs at him, initially thinking that the Titanic is
unsinkable, and laughs, but when he realises that it is true Ismay is alarmed
that he is financially ruined and pleads to get off the ship safely. He
displays cowardice compared to the stoic German officer.
1hr 2 Minutes - 1hr 7 Minutes
The ship's officers come down to the steerage passengers to collect
the women and children. They separate them from the men who will have to
wait. However some men rush the guards and the ships officers shot at the
men. The crowd stampedes except a restrained German couple Anna and Jan.
[It is strange that the film does not take advantage of the rumours that the steerage passengers were locked down below by the ship's officers. Cameron's version exploits this.]
1hr 13 Minutes
The ships' crew professionally starts to put the women and children
into the lifeboats even though there is panic. Ismay's butler Hopkins tells
Ismay that there is not enough lifeboats. Some of the rich are seen trying
to bribe the ship's officers to get them a spot on the life boats. Some
of the other managers of the shipping company accept their fate and regret
the loss of life that their actions are about to cause.
1 hr 20 Minutes
Most lifeboats are launched. The Russian lady bids farewell to her
ex-lover, the German officer. He refuses to come even though ships' officers
are needed for directing the lifeboats. Ismay demands that the Captain
give him room on a lifeboat. Captain says that the sea is his grave and
that it should be Ismay's. The German officer says that his Ismay could
find some room allocated to ships officers to look after the passengers.
The Captain tells the crowd that the ship will sink soon and that their
are no more lifeboats, so it is up to the passengers to find a way to abandon
ship by swimming. This creates panic. One of the more villainous members
of the upper class who has been caught stealing on the ship in his haste
to get into a lifeboat sinks it in a fight for a place.
1hr 27 Minutes -1hr 30 Minutes
The bravery of the radio operators is shown in their staying at their
posts sending out distress messages. One lets his pet canary out of the
cage knowing that he will die but it may fly to freedom. The German officer
rescues a young girl trapped in a water logged cabin and he takes her up
the steps into water swirling in the great ballroom. Next we see the German
officer in the water with the young girl. He takes her to the Russian lady's
lifeboat. The German officer is obviously the hero of the film.