Sir Bruce Ismay (E.F. Furbringer) is the president of the White Star Line. The White Star Line’s pride and joy is the newly christened Titanic. A luxury liner tagged as unsinkable. The building of the ship went into cost overruns and the stockholders are upset that the value of their stock is going down. Ismay comes up with a way to increase the value of the White Star stock. He tells the major stockholders that he will reveal his plan on the Titanic as it is taking its maiden voyage from England to America, and he invites the major stockholders to sail with him.
On board the ship are the wealthiest people in Britain and America. Included in the passenger list along with the White Star Line’s major shareholders are John Jacob Astor (Karl Schonbock) and his wife Lady Astor (Charlotte Thiele). Astor is interested in taking over the White Star Line and is happy that the stock is going down. Also on board are Ismay’s girlfriend Gloria (Kristen Heiberg), and a wealthy socialite, Sigrid Olinsky (Sybille Schmitz).
During the voyage Ismay proclaims that the Titanic is the fastest ship ever made and that she is going to break the current speed record and win the coveted Blue Ribbon. He assures the stockholders that it will raise the value of White Star stock. To that end Ismay bribes Captain Smith (Otto Wernicke) to run the ship at full speed all the way to New York. Quietly Ismay plans on manipulating the stock by selling short and then buying it back at a lower price. The name of the game is "get richer".
While the rich and powerful play their money games, First Officer Petersen (Hans Nielsen) goes about his duties. Petersen is the only German crew member on the ship. Petersen knows that the game is rigged, and that Captain Smith is bowing down to the whim of Ismay and not the safety of the passengers and crew. The ship continues on course in waters that hide icebergs. The only one not surprised when the Titanic hits one of the icebergs is Officer Petersen. While everyone begins to panic, it is up to him to do what he can to save as many people as possible.
“Titanic” was released in 1943 and was directed by Herbert Selpin and Werner Klingler. It is a WWII German propaganda film. The film was commissioned by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The movie was filmed in black and white. A rather badly colorized version has been done since then. The first half of the film is mostly a display of opulence. The second half gets into the disaster and the heroic exploits of the German officer. There are also a few romances tucked in here and there.
The intention of the film was twofold. The first was to show German superiority in filmmaking. Hitler was a fan of Hollywood movies and Goebbels wanted to show that Germany could do better. The second was to show British and American Capitalism at its worst. The Titanic’s builders, The White Star Line, were depicted as greedy, and in their greed, were responsible for the disaster. In addition, the filmmakers added a brilliant and selfless German officer to offset the cowardly British and American sailors.
The story of the making of the film is far more interesting than the movie. The original director, Herbert Selpin spent exorbitant amounts of money to make the film. He and the crew had parties that included luxuries that most people couldn’t get during wartime. What they were trying to portray as Capitalist greed, they were guilty of themselves. During one raucous party Selpin made derogatory comments about the Nazi party and Germany in general. He was arrested. He was later found dead in his cell. It was ruled a suicide. The completion of the film was then assigned to Werner Klingler. The film was eventually completed but only shown in some German occupied territories. It was never shown in Germany, at least during wartime. Goebbels felt that the German people, who were going through nightly bombings, weren’t up for a movie that portrayed horror and mass death.
The movie actually ended up being interesting despite it being German propaganda.