I enjoyed this! After watching the Cameron version I had another look at "A Night to Remember" which I really enjoyed for its lack of glamour and stiff upper lip un-sentimentality. So this "SOS Titanic" is really a happy compromise between the Hollywood extravaganza and the more understated "Night to Remember"I loved this version. Its awareness of human drama and social comment which was more credible than the Kate and Leo story and the story of the whole community on board was moving without being overly dramatic. It is my favourite version now.

A TV movie to start with - but a 'British' TV movie from EMI in 1979, when offices still had typing pools and the Walkman was in development. Being British doesn't necessarily make it better than the Cameron film, but for a TV movie budget you get most of the A and B list of recent Hollywood Brits, familiar faces from TV giving it the full stiff upper, excellent costume and sets and an earnest attention to factual accuracy - the only serious mistake is to show the date as April 12th. How did they manage that? Expect static, horizontal camera angles, obvious matte paintings and rear projection, somewhat uninspired though atmospheric music, and note how Ian Holm's and David Warner's, ETC acting didn't change over the rest of their careers.What may surprise you is the tension, and the effective depiction of people in a dreadful situation that will keep you watching, even if there is little more emotional involvement than in a drama-documentary or an episode of 'Kojak'.That's what this is - a big-budget TV docudrama. And a really good one. Just not a cinema-filler. Punching above its weight on a Seven.

People complain about the lack of a decent plot and the cardboard characters ,but it was the rule of the disaster movies of the seventies ,a genre which was already on the wane when this MTV flick was made ;it was not the first and was not to be the last.Anyway, a wreckage is a plot in itself isn't it? People who enjoyed the unfairly despised Cameron 's movie should watch this: there are many elements ,apart from David Warner -who does not play a villain who handcuffs Leonardo but an educated professor who finds love :a very bland story anyway- which will reappear in Cameron's work: the black and white shots at the beginning ,the upper classes and the masses on the boat,the latter's rebellion's during the wreckage ;on the lifeboat the countess plays a role similar to that of Kathy Bates ;the Irish folk music and the ball;Cameron found more inspiration here than in Negulesco's "Titanic" or the German effort.The second MTV work (starring G. C.Scott and Eva-Marie Saint was not that much an improvement on the 1979 "SOS titanic" .

Cameron's was nothing more than a teen aged frolic and a technical masterpiece, but as far as catching the effectiveness of the era and expectations and afterwards, he is far below this one. No doubt, this movie is where my fascination with David Warner began, as his portrayal of Lawrence Beesley is a marvel to listen to. Cameron felt the romance with Leigh Goodwin (portrayed by Susan St. James, Goodwin was a real woman on the Titanic, but I don't know if she knew Beesley, but the romance was fictitious regardless) was cold and icy. I found it to be utterly delightful compared to Jack and Rose's juvenile romp in the motor car. And unknown to Cameron, Bernard Fox (best known as Doctor Bombay in Bewitched) who played Col. Archibald Gracie in the '97 Titanic movie, was Lookout Frederick Fleet in A Night To Remember. So Fox and Warner are two actors who have been in two Titanic movies. What intriguing names.Leachman's Molly Brown is a twist compared to Kathy Bates forgettable '97 interpretation or even Marilu Henner's out-of-date '96 telemovie portrayal.It is fun to compare the movies and persons shown. This one did focus on a few more, such as the Harrises and the Marvins, the Countess of Rothes, Emma Bucknell, a bit more steerage.The '96 telemovie with George C. Scott as the captain is the only one to show the Allisons, altho it doesn't clearly say what that was all about with the nanny, Alice Cleaver.Lawrence Beesley would jump to the lifeboat while still holding his night clothes, he wasn't wearing them. Fred Barrett would ask him why he had them, and he replied he had no idea.This movie was rich, however, with the shoeshine lads, the sensational music, from the sauna (as someone else mentioned) to the mundane (but it was all they had) steerage music. There is a much stronger feeling of Irish third class here than in any other Titanic movies, and we get a more overal feel of those in peril here, as compared to Cameron's version with only Rose in danger. Wireless operator Harold Bride as well as chief wireless operator Wilde have never been decently shown in a movie. Night to Remember had David McCallum and the '96 movie showed them also, but the overturned lifeboat has only been observed in Night To Remember, and only if you have really read about it, do you realize that is what is happening here in S.O.S. Titanic. Great fun in having to pinpoint the Strauses because Mrs. Straus would call her maid by her first name, Ellen, and I recalled from reading that Mrs. Straus' maid's name was Ellen Bird. The only way the Strauses were shown in this movie.Interesting also to note that in 1912, wives were listed under their husbands names, but maids were listed individually.The biggest complaint about this movie is the wrong date shown, which I suppose is inexcusable for the subject matter.Pearl Harbor wasn't attacked on December 9th, 1941.Still this one is nowhere near the worst. That would have to be the 1931 version. The '53 Babs Stanwyck one is a bit wincing also.And I'm not familiar with the Queen Mary, so its usage here is hardly a hindrance to me.Helen Mirren's moment as the maid who converses with Thomas Andrews is inspired. In watching this one as I type this, the silence throughout much of it is as effective, if not more, than Cameron's symphony orchestra. Sadly, I am aware that what I have just ordered is indeed an edited copy. The opening with the Carpathia is missing, with Ian Holm's chilling "my ship" as he describes the Titanic.Also missing is the elderly woman leading the steerage in song.And I fear the wonderful exchange between the shoe shine lads is cut also. The sauna may also be missing.And one post lists Charles Herbert Lightoller as the First Officer, another post says he was the second Officer. Lightoller was the Second Officer, highest ranking surviving officer from the Titanic.