Critics’ reviews

A Night to Remember (1958)

11 reviews from 11 publications. Critics’ score 77: 9 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative.

Back to our review of A Night to Remember

77
Positive
9
Mixed
1
Negative
1

Most critics admire the film, and for the same reason: it keeps its head. Nine of eleven reviews are positive, and the praise gathers around its restraint, its documentary manner and its choice of hundreds of ordinary people over an invented hero. Roy Ward Baker’s direction is singled out for holding intimate scenes and the sinking itself in the same steady frame, and the British ensemble, with Kenneth More at its centre, is thought well used. Several reviews call it the best screen account of the Titanic.

The reservations are small and scattered: dated effects, a cast so large that few characters develop, a couple of historical myths repeated as fact. The spread is wide all the same, from full marks to plain dislike, and the dissent comes from the film’s own era. The New Yorker, on release, finds the story too familiar to build suspense. The warmest notices arrive around the 2012 centenary.

Time Out
10 April 2012 · ★★★★★ · Tom Huddleston
100

Huddleston calls the film a terrific melodrama and the best screen treatment of the Titanic story. He singles out its lasting superiority amid the centenary-year flood of Titanic memorabilia.

Read the full review →
Empire
1 January 2000 · Andrew Collins
90*

The critic calls it the best Titanic film and a landmark of British cinema. He praises Kenneth More as an effective focal character and the film’s technical inventiveness.

Read the full review →
Evening Standard
13 April 2012 · The Standard
90*

The critic calls the film the most accurate and best version of the Titanic disaster. They praise its enduring drama, while noting that the special effects have dated.

Read the full review →
Slant Magazine
28 March 2012 · ★★★★½ · Budd Wilkins
90

Wilkins praises the film’s understated, human-scale approach to the Titanic disaster. He singles out Roy Ward Baker’s skill at framing intimate moments and large-scale spectacle, while noting one emotionally powerful shot is weakened by a premature fade.

Read the full review →
The Guardian
12 April 2012 · Catherine Shoard
85*

Shoard recommends the film as a worthy, moving and dignified account of the Titanic disaster. She praises its restrained ensemble storytelling and reliance on survivor testimony.

Read the full review →
Radio Times
★★★★ · David Parkinson
80

The critic finds the film a deeply moving and compelling account of the disaster. They praise its documentary style and human focus, along with the performances of its British cast.

Read the full review →
Variety
31 December 1957 · Variety Staff
75*

The critic praises the film as an honest, impressively documentary account of the disaster. Roy Ward Baker’s direction of the lifeboat panic scenes stands out, while the large cast leaves little room for individual character development.

Read the full review →
Los Angeles Times
23 March 2012 · Andy Klein
70*

Klein treats the film as a strong, historically faithful account, while reserving judgment on whether it remains the definitive Titanic film. He praises Criterion’s extensive collection of historical and archival extras.

Read the full review →
The New York Times
25 November 1998
53*

The headline suggests a dismissive verdict. The inaccessible article provides no readable detail about what the critic praised or criticized.

Read the full review →
The New Yorker
19 December 1958 · John McCarten
40*

McCarten finds the film’s sprawling account too familiar to create much suspense or emotional connection. He praises the photography and the performances of its large cast.

Read the full review →
Eye for Film
15 April 2012 · Jennie Kermode
75*

Kermode finds the film gripping and enduring, praising its authenticity and powerful sense of scale. She notes that it perpetuates some historical myths, but says its ensemble and restrained approach make the tragedy compelling.

Read the full review →

Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate