There is a whole album called Tubular Bells, by Mike Oldfield

::imdbs::

Okay, Mike's credited under Non-Original Music.

Okay -- so I scratch that from my owned score/soundtrack list.

There is a whole album called Tubular Bells, by Mike Oldfield, but I don't know if it was pre or post movie.

Pre-movie, I think, but--Mike Oldfield!!! The Tubular Bells albums kick all sorts of butt. There's an orchestral version of the original album, then a 2nd Tubular Bells album, which has a guest stint for Alan Rickman doing a bit of narration. The credit lists "Wandering Player".

The part that always gets me is a background bit, where a family from steerage is trying to decipher the signs that point to the boat deck, and Dad has the translation book and is trying to be calm and help his family. Then I remember how few people from Steerage made it off, and it makes me want to just curl up.

Seriously, it's all the background bits that kill me. When the old couple clutches each other in bed, as the water rushes in. When the Mom in steerage recites Winken, Blinken, and Nod to her kids, trying to get them to sleep. Those are the parts that really just make me sob.

Then I remember how few people from Steerage made it off, and it makes me want to just curl up.

I also get sad when the mom is telling her kids the story of Tiernan-Ogg while the ship is going down. It must have been very hard for third class parents to keep a brave facade while accepting their fate and not scaring their kids.

Those are the parts that really just make me sob.

That's why I never made it through the movie.

Not because Alibelle's crying, silly, but because the real story of Titanic is sufficiently upsetting that a romance tacked on front irritates me. Now, I wouldn't go see a dramatisation of it either. I can honestly make do with documentaries and imagination.

Seriously, it's all the background bits that kill me.

Yep, same here.

However, I am terribly, terribly shallow, because the few times I have felt like watching Titanic again, it was to look at the pretty pretty costumes, and I turned off the DVD before the boat hits the iceberg.

Alibelle, I believe that that couple are supposed to be the Straus's, who gave up their spots on the lifeboats.

Unfortunately, tacking on a fake romance and putting them in the middle of real-life disasters is standard Hollywood fare. One of the better TV movie disaster flicks I remember seeing was on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire--it had an engaged worker involved in the fire, but at least it didn't put the fiance in the building with her (he had to find her body at the morgue afterwards, identifying her by the engagement ring, like so many men had to do in real life).

Christianity Today's top ten films of 2004.

Interesting that Dogville made the list, but Passion of the Christ didn't even get an honorable mention.

Just as a side-discussion, do you object to soundtracks calling attention to themselves in general, or is it a case specific thing?

Probably case-specific, but I'd have to think about it. Generalizing, I'd probably say that mainstream soundtracks should be invisible (like traditional editing), but that there are always going to be exceptions.

Not because Alibelle's crying, silly, but because the real story of Titanic is sufficiently upsetting that a romance tacked on front irritates me.

I completely agree about the real story, and I've watched tons of documentaries on it, and there's just no way a movie could do sufficient justice to the horror. However, the fiction tacked onto the real tragedy doesn't bother me. Mostly because I see it as a way of personalizing the tragedy for an audience that might not have learned much about it otherwise, and telling the story of fictional characters often feels like less of a violation of someone else's very real personal tragedy to me.

Alibelle, I believe that that couple are supposed to be the Straus's, who gave up their spots on the lifeboats.

I think you're right.

And Jilli, sometimes I'm shallow, too. Those are very very pretty dresses.