Raise the Titanic: Refloated

Updated
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1980
Original Running Time:
114
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
84
Time Cut:
30
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
The infamous flop shortened by half an hour, distracting side-plots removed from the film to hopefully make it feel a little more buoyant.
Intention:
Producer Lord Lew Grade’s attempt to start a franchise based off the techno-pulp thriller novels by Clive Cussler (featuring his character Dirk Pitt) was a dismal failure, he later noted “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.” For all its flaws though, I think it has some good performances (with the incomparable Alec Guinness appearing for a few minutes), decent effects work and great music by John Barry, so was convinced on first viewing that a somewhat more watchable film lay hidden within.

The aim of this edit is pretty much to simplify the story as much as possible in order to try keep the pace up and the viewers interested, taking away almost everything not directly connected to the salvage operation. Most significantly, these are a Soviet espionage plot that goes nowhere interesting and Pitt’s ex who is now seeing his project partner, I later found that Roger Ebert had the same sentiments, in his words the main issues are “The Girl and The Russians”.
Additional Notes:
• Lord Grade’s brother, producer Bernard Delfont, is featured as a character in the last edit I released (Stan & Ollie: Their Last Dance) and famous today for pulling EMI from funding Life of Brian just before production started, hence the cheeky reference from Eric Idle during that film’s end song. He also had a hand in another Titanic story (1979’s S.O.S. Titanic), made around the same time but originally for television and presumably for much less money! Wonder that film and this one have ever been shown together as a double-feature? • v2 now available
Special Thanks:
Many thanks to Dwight Fry and Cero for previewing this edit, their input is much appreciated, also to Blueyoda for additional help and words of encouragement as well as Blackhawk for creating English subtitles for the v1 edit completely unsolicited.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
• Boosted saturation throughout to compensate for washed out blu-ray image, boosted contrast a little too for much of the runtime
o v2 – remade almost exactly but with more thorough colour grading to try and better address awful-looking blu-ray image
• Exported 1920x818 H265 with 5.1 audio, total runtime of 84 minutes with 2.43 Gb file size
Cuts and Additions:
v1 – as originally released:

• Added personal plate and FanEdit disclaimer
• Removed introductory photo montage of the real-life Titanic, best to withhold any sight of the ship until we see the model Alec Guinness’ character shows and wanted to reduce the number of times (from 4 to 3 by my count) the main theme is used
• Cut all scenes with (and any references to) the Russians (barring the one in Siberia) and their spy in the operation
• Cut scenes with reporters barring the press conference
• Completely removed Pitt’s ex
• Removed Pitt’s “Well, we’ll see” just before Sandecker comes to announce the operation going ahead
• Cut scene of Pitt and Seagram meeting Burke and Walker in the submersible hanger, cut straight from Sandecker’s “We’re in business” to Pitt giving the briefing
• Cut equipment being prepared at ocean surface after the two establishing shots of ships that followed the Cornwall scenes
• Cut scenes of submersibles surfacing before Pitt’s helicopter comes in
• Trimmed TV news announcement, the public no longer has any idea about the Sicilian Project or byzanium
• Compressed dropping of lights and hydrazine tanks into a single montage, the latter overlaid at reduced opacity over the former
• Removed Sandecker’s unnecessary elaboration on why he is relieved about the outcome of the operation
• Cut short Sandecker walking away, went on a bit long for my liking

v2 - addresses a couple of points that I felt could be improved on:

• Removed a short, awkward, exchange during the pub scene that I previously didn’t know how to cut (would have led to another character teleporting between shots), realised that Bigalow’s dialogue from a different section could be pasted over video of him saying what I wanted to get rid of with quite close matching of the mouth movements
• Redid the montage of lights and hydrazine tanks being dropped, footage is no longer overlaid apart from when in original

User reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0(3)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(3)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(3)
Narrative
 
8.0(3)
Enjoyment
 
8.0(3)
(Updated: February 08, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
A technically well done edit, and as absurd as the concept of the movie was the narrative flowed very well. The shots of the raised Titanic were beautiful, and as a life-long enthusiast of Titanic I was moved as I imagined what standing on the ship would have been like. The Titanic finally making it to New York made me smile, and there was a tear in my eye. If the movie ended here, I probably would have given it full marks just for that.

But ultimately, the story wasn't about finding the Titanic, it was about finding the macguffin: the byzanium mineral, which I found rather disappointing. The characters were actually standing in the frigging Titanic, and the characters were instead worried about something that the audience had likely long forgotten about and didn't care about in the first place.

I recommend it as a curious novelty for Titanic enthusiasts, and if you turn off the movie after the ship arrives in New York, then you have the perfect ending.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply February 12, 2023

Thanks for the review, actually tried ending the film at the point you suggested (even made a trial end title card) and shifting emphasis onto the salvage by startin in media res, but it just couldn't get it to feel right. Maybe I'll try again in the future, really want to have a go at redoing some of the matte shots!

B
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This is my first review.

Thanks to ParanoidAndroid for this wonderful Fanedit of Raise the Titanic.
Picture Quality is very good and the colors are better than from Bluray.
if you don't know the film, you won't notice the cuts., he did a very good job.
I never liked that story about the Ex of Dirk Pitt, so I like the movie better now..


User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
M
1 reviews
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
6.0
Enjoyment
 
6.0
There's only so much you can do with this film, honestly.

The A/V quality is top notch, but I think the film could have benefited from an even more aggressive edit as there's still a lot of flabby unnecessary beats that make this already condensed edit feel like a slog.

But, as I said, I'm honestly not sure if anything worthwhile could be salvaged from the existing material. I tip my hat to Paranoid Android for the attempt though.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
B
Top 100 Reviewer 55 reviews
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