Titanic (1943 film)

Titanic
DVD cover based on the original film poster
Directed by	Herbert Selpin Werner Klingler (uncredited)
Written by	Walter Zerlett-Olfenius Herbert Selpin Harald Bratt (uncredited) Hansi Köck (uncredited)
Screenplay by	Herbert Selpin Walter Zerlett-Olfenius
Produced by	Willy Reiber
Starring	Sybille Schmitz Hans Nielsen
Cinematography	Friedl Behn-Grund
Edited by	Friedel Buckow
Music by	Werner Eisbrenner
Production company	Tobis Filmkunst
Distributed by	Deutsche Filmvertriebs
Release date	10 November 1943 (1943-11-10)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German
Budget	4 million ℛ︁ℳ︁ (Approximately US$15 million in 2020 terms)

Titanic is a 1943 German propaganda film made during World War II in Berlin by Tobis Productions for UFA, depicting the catastrophic sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. This was the third German language dramatization of the event, following a silent film released in 1912 just four months after the sinking and the British produced German film Atlantik released in 1929.

Titanic was commissioned by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels with the intent of showing not only the superiority of German filmmaking, but also as a propaganda vehicle which would depict British and American capitalism as being responsible for the disaster. The addition of an entirely fictional heroic German officer, Petersen, to the ship's crew was intended to demonstrate the superior bravery and selflessness of German men as compared to the British officers.

The film's original director, Herbert Selpin, was arrested during production after making disparaging comments about the German army and the war in the east. He was found hanged in prison, and the film was completed by Werner Klingler, who was not credited.

Although the film had a brief theatrical run in parts of German-occupied Europe starting in November 1943, it was not shown within Germany by order of Goebbels, who feared that it would weaken the German citizenry's morale instead of improving it, as heavy Allied bombing raids made a film depicting mass panic and death unappealing. Goebbels later banned the playing of the film entirely, and it did not have a second run.

The film was the first on the subject which was simply titled Titanic, and the first to combine various fictional characters and subplots with the true events of the sinking; both conventions went on to become a staple of Titanic films.^[1]