FADE IN:

 

1        BLACK SCREEN                                                                                                          1

 

A high, almost shrill, MUSICAL NOTE stings and holds.  Soft thunder of KETTLE DRUMS under PRESENTATION CREDIT.  As the DRUMS FADE and the PICTURE BEGINS TO BLEED THOUGH

we HEAR  a SOUND like a jungle moan.  It gets LOUDER, more tortured, like an immense non-human

labor pain.  As our PICTURE COMES CLEAR, a huge and brutal iceberg thrusts forward through the mist

and CENTERS ON SCREEN.

 

2        EXT. NORTH ATLANTIC, ICEBERG – DAY                                                            2

 

As we EXAMINE the glacier-like mass of the iceberg, the SOUND gets deeper, louder and more agonizing. 

A great section of the ice mass separates and calves off with a tortured, ugly SOUND.  As this new iceberg

slides down into the black water the birth cries tail off into a hollow gurgling sigh.  There is an eerie ribbon of

silence as the iceberg resurfaces and rights itself in the water.

 

DISSOLVE TO:

 

2A     EXT. NORTH ATLANTIC – NIGHT                                                                         2A

 

SHOOTING ACROSS dark mass of iceberg, INTO THE BLACK we HEAR the hard-edge BLAST of a

SHIP’S HORN, REPEATED urgently, ship’s BELLS cutting through, MEN SHOUTING, WOMEN SCREAMING, the GRINDING and CRUNCHING of METAL and WOOD being torn apart, GLASS BREAKING, colliding forces.

 

3        EXT. BOAT DECK – TITANIC – NIGHT                                                                   3

 

Chaos.  Panic.  The deck tilting, passengers running, stumbling, falling, shouting.  The HORN and the BELLS

continue.  And the SOUND of an ORCHESTRA PLAYING.  And rockets pop and splutter in the dark above

the ship.  People SMASH GLASS and battle toward the lifeboats.

 

4        HIGH ANGLE – BOAT DECK                                                                                     4

 

A lifeboat, over-crowded, collapses and hangs from one davit.  As women and children tumble screaming into

the water, the Titanic lurches sharply, the deck crew loses control of the lifeboat and it dives stern first into the

sea.  We PAN ACROSS AND ISOLATE on a small MAN pushing his way through the crowd.

 

5        SINGLE ON MAN                                                                                                         5

 

He is bearded, gray hair, in his fifties, short and wiry and intense.  As the passengers surge on to the boat deck

he is struggling to get off it.

 

6        INT. GRAND SALON                                                                                                    6

 

The bearded Man fights his way down the staircase clogged with people and we STAY with him as he crosses the

salon, tables and chairs sling-shotting across the floor.  As the ship tilts sharply he exits into an inner passageway.

 

7        FOLLOW SHOT – BEARDED MAN                                                                           7

 

As he hurries along narrow corridor, he meets a young Junior Third Mate checking staterooms for slow-moving passengers.  The Bearded Man takes out a short-barreled revolver and forces the young man to take him down a series of narrow companionways to the cargo hold, eight decks down.  The Junior Third Mate takes out his keys,

and unlocks the door to the hold.

 

8        EXT. BOAT DECK                                                                                                        8

 

The ship’s tilt and taking on of water has brought the starboard edge of the boat deck almost to ocean-level.  The rockets, boat horns, whistles, shouts, and the screaming has now reached pandemonium level.

 

9        CARGO HOLD                                                                                                               9

 

The Bearded Man releases the Junior Third Mate, stumbles across the cargo area till he comes to his vault,

an eight-foot square cube of steel.  As he stands by the vault door, stroking it like a pet dog, we COME IN

CLOSE ON him.  A glint of madness in his eye.  He takes out a ring of keys, fumbles to unlock vault door.

 

BEARDED MAN

(a horse whisper)

Thank God for Southby . . .

 

10      REVERSE – ANGLE ON JUNIOR THIRD MATE                                                   10

 

He stands in the doorway, transfixed, watching.  Then he turns and runs toward the companionway.

 

11      EXTREME CLOSEUP – BEARDED MAN’S MOUTH                                            11

 

BEARDED MAN

(softer now,

but with a hollow

 ECHOING SOUND)

Thank . . . God . . . for . . . Southby . . .

 

12      EXT. FULL SHOT – OCEAN                                                                                     12

 

With the BAND still PLAYING, tiny lifeboats jammed with people pulling away as quickly as possible, the

Titanic slowly up-ends itself and with a ponderous, somehow sensual shudder, it gives up the struggle and slides

slowly down into the black.  As WE PULL UP AND BACK only the icebergs are left.  And the scattered

lifeboats and the faint SOUND of CHILDREN CRYING.

 

13      UNDERWATER – NIGHT                                                                                          13

 

The sinking effect.  The KETTLEDRUMS again.  And that thin, piercing sustained MUSICAL NOTE.  In a

stunning funeral sequence the Titanic plunges slowly downward to its grave at the bottom of the Atlantic.  As

it settles heavily, like an old buffalo, on the ocean floor, we SEE our MAIN TITLE.

 

RAISE THE TITANIC

 

As the TITLE WASHES AWAY we DESOLVE THROUGH from BLACK TO GOLD, from death to life,

from ocean darkness to the summer brilliance of . . .

 

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