Divers drag icebergs away from Titanic

By Arthur Steele

"COULD SOMEONE please swim out and move that iceberg" booms a disembodied voice through a loud-hailer.

     The speaker, behind arc-lights, is part of the darkness.  Another invisible body, in black wet suit, slips into the water and swim's out to move the offending "iceberg."

     We are at a giant tank for the first shots of Raise the Titanic, as second unit work begins on Lord Grade's 12 million pound epic.

     That frozen nigh in deep-waters off Newfoundland when the Titanic went down is being restaged in a still-hot Malta on a vast tank near the sea.

     There the 55ft. model, itself reputed to have coast a quarter of a million pounds, floats amid icebergs that don't melt.

     At night the deserted set leaps to life as cameramen, divers, riggers, painters, electricians swarm around.  The director calls "action," the Titanic's lights come on, her four funnels belch steam, jets of water spray and tiny figures appear to scurry along her decks as the sky is lit with her distress signals.

     She begins to list . . .

     This is one of the most staggering film projects yet attempted though the tragic drama of the Titanic has been attempted before -- most notably with "A Night to Remember," a British production of 1958, starring Kenneth Moore as Captain Smith.

     It's very technical problems have made it a tempting challenge for film makers

     Now, after two year's preparation, "Raise the Titanic" seeks to show, in fictional form the solving of many of the problems being tackled in reality by Operation Titanic, the fantastic search and find project described yesterday.

     By strange coincidence the shooting of one and the preparation of the other will be going on at the same time.

     The film, a treatment of the best-selling novel by Clive Cussler, hinges on the necessity of rescuing from the sunken hulk, a rare mineral, byzanium that will save America.

     Operation Titanic, the real-life venture, accepts that raising the ship would be beyond even modern technology, but it is hoped to at least fragment the hulk and find such valuables as the jewel-encrusted book of Omar Kyaham's verse.

     Early next year, long before Raise the Titanic reaches our cinemas, we shall be seeing yet another film drama, S.O.S. Titanic, already shown on television in the United States.

     This EMI release is another multimillion pound venture boasting a starry cast with 114 speaking parts and the use of more than 2,000 extras.

     Although it concentrates on the personal stories of key figures both in its glittering passenger list, and among the crew, there is of course, the tragic ending of the magnificent vessel.

     The sinking of this Titanic was shot at Shepperton where they also created man-made icebergs.  For the opulent period interiors of the ship they have made use of existing near-replicas like the Waldorf Hotel in London.