A folly worthy of its namesake, Lord Grade, its liner sized producer famously remarked that it would have "been cheaper to lower the Atlantic", a feat he could have accomplished simply by jumping into it.

Raise the Titanic(!)is an adaptation of the novel by Clive Cussler. In its transition to the big screen however, most of the intricate cold war plotting didn't make it to the lifeboats. In its stead you have the basic story and of course the bank breaking poster promise of the doomed liner rising from her watery grave. It might have worked too had the source material been handled a little better. The screenplay is pretty talky and never really succeeds in building the necessary tension but what really sinks (sorry) the whole enterprise is direction from Jerry Jameson so moribund and lifeless, you'd think he was helming a movie for cable television. Its a mark of this that although it doesn't take very long to find the ship itself on screen you could be forgiven for thinking that you began watching the movie in 1912. Also RTT! has, for the most part a cut price look that undermines the epic scale of the story and its subject matter. When the ship does eventually see the light of day its via some model work and camera over-cranking that fails in producing that all important wow factor. To be fair though there are some very good shots of the ship entering New York harbour that do pack a punch, aided enormously by one of John Barry's best ever scores - a wonderful bombastic orchestral suite that is as good as hes ever produced. Were this a better film, and had anyone gone to see it Barry may have been in line for an Oscar (which he got when he plagiarised parts of the score for Out of Africa). In fact, its fair to say that Barry is the only person behind the camera who does the story any justice.

Richard Jordan gives a good performance as Cussler's hero Dirk Pitt and there's a nice Cornish Cameo for Alec Guinness but everyone else is really just waiting to die here. The twist is a good one but is handled poorly and you're left wondering what a director like John McTernian who did such good work with Clancy's Hunt for Red October may have made of the same material. Sadly the discovery of the real ship in two pieces has scuppered any remake possibilities so this is it. Raise the Bismarck anyone?

This is actually one of those rare occasions where I can proudly claim I've seen the film and read the book on which it is based! And it will probably be considered blasphemy, but I honestly don't think the film is a lot worse than the book. I know the critics bashed it down, that it was a tremendous commercial flop, and that novelist Clive Cussler hated the film-version big time. I certainly won't say "Raise the Titanic" is a masterpiece - far from it - but Cussler's novel isn't flawless, neither.

The plot he developed is brilliant, but Cussler goes way too much into detail, and that makes his book difficult to read. He even explores the identities and backgrounds of the twelve miners that were secretly sent to Russia in the 1910s to dig up the Byzanium, which goes way too far. You're already well passed the 100th page before the Titanic even gets mentioned in the book, and they weren't exactly the most exhilarating hundred pages.

Say what you want about "Raise the Titanic", but the essence of the film - the titular raising of the legendary ship more than 12,000ft up from the Atlantic Ocean's floor - looks magnificent, impressive, and spectacular. It cost a lot of money to accomplish, and it was money that producer Lew Grade didn't earn back, but the ship's model and the massive water tanks undeniably are masterful pieces of work!

In fact, the entire last half hour of "Raise the Titanic" is very enjoyable and competent cinema! True, the first hour is slow and rather dull, with unelaborated espionage and triangular relationship sub plots, but the movie is never horrible. For sure, it didn't deserve all the hatred from the critics or those dumb Razzies' nominations. The special effects are stupendous, as mentioned already, there's John Barry's soundtrack to enjoy, and there are some fine & respectable actors in the cast (Jason Robards, Sir Alec Guiness, M. Emmet Walsh, ...)

Admittedly, and as you can probably tell from the above review, yours truly is a Titanic-fanatic! I love reading and watching everything that involves this phenomenal ship and its doomed maiden voyage. I regularly watch the famous and widely acclaimed 1997-version by James Cameron as well, but usually just from the moment when the R. M. S. Titanic hits the iceberg. I will probably do the same with "Raise the Titanic" from now on, and tune in from the moment they start lifting. That footage is amazing; - can't repeat it enough!