Titanic

Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck. It centers on an estranged couple and other fictional passengers on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912. It was the first Titanic film for 20th Century Fox, which also released the 1997 film of the same title internationally, while Paramount Pictures handled the North American distribution. The film met critical praise. Plot At the last minute, Richard Sturges (Clifton Webb), a wealthy expatriate in Europe, offers a Basque emigrant money for his steerage-class ticket (the lowest class) for the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic—and succeeds. Once aboard, he seeks out his runaway wife, Julia (Barbara Stanwyck). He discovers she is trying to take their two unsuspecting children, 18-year-old Annette (Audrey Dalton) and ten-year-old Norman (Harper Carter), to her hometown of Mackinac Island, Michigan, to rear them as down-to-earth Americans rather than rootless elitists like Richard himself. As the ship is prepared for departure, Sanderson Anthony Eustrel, the company representative (based on Bruce Ismay) suggests to captain Edward J. Smith (Brian Aherne) that a record-setting speedy passage would be welcomed. Other passengers include Maude Young (based on real-life Titanic survivor Margaret Brown), a wealthy woman of a working-class origin (Thelma Ritter); social-climbing Earl Meeker (Allyn Joslyn); a 20-year-old Purdue University tennis player, Gifford "Giff" Rogers (Robert Wagner); and George S. Healey (Richard Basehart), a Catholic priest who has been defrocked for alcoholism.