Raise The
Titanic!
Screenplay by
Eric Hughes
A Martin Starger Production
Of
A Stanley Kramer Film
SECOND REVISED
DRAFT
December 15, 1977
“RAISE THE
TITANIC”
UNDER TITLE AND CREDITS
We FADE IN ON:
The Titanic, a British ocean liner of the
White Star Line, is at sea at night, crossing under a sky without
clouds.
SUPERIMPOSED OVER
THIS:
April 14,
1912
2 INT.
TITANIC – BALLROOM – NIGHT
2
There is great moving
color as passengers, dressed for the evening of formal pleasure, dance in the
Titanic’s
ballroom.
A white mass of ice
floating under the same clear night as the Titanic, which now APPEARS IN
THE
DISTANCE.
ARTHUR BREWSTER, aged
but brawny, and there’s something a little off his head about
his appearance. He’s coming down the staircase of the
ballroom and pushes his way through
the people
dancing.
The Titanic sideswipes
the iceberg.
Water is running into the boiler
room.
Panicked passengers who
had been dancing are running up the staircase, desperate to get out
of the
ballroom.
The Titanic is sinking,
tilted into the water.
Passengers are fleeing
up this stairway and, coming down it, forcing his body between theirs,
is Brewster. He grabs hold of a young Ensign. There is a gun in Brewster’s hand. He puts it
to the Ensign’s head and
forces him to lead the way down another stairway.
Brewster and the Ensign
are going down another stair way and here deeper in the ship they are
alone. They go down a corridor, which is
filling with water. Brewster and
the young Ensign
reach the entrance to
the cargo hold. Brewster releases
the Ensign.
Thank God for Southby.
The Ensign begins his
escape from the ship as Brewster goes into the cargo hold.
The Titanic is going under and soon all we
SEE is the dark ocean under the stars of a windless,
cloudless night.
The dark, still ocean is
under a clear sky of stars.
Emerging from beneath the stillness, a nuclear
submarine surfaces. And APPEARING ON THE SCREEN is the
following –
April 13, 1978
Novaya Zemlya
WE MOVE across the island whose land is
infertile and scarred with rock that is gray and white
from the cold of the air here. There are patches of snow and, in the
distance, mountains covered
with it. WE STOP at an opening at the base of a
mountain. An opening made by men
and the
way into a mineshaft. Two men emerge from the mine. They wear sweater shields across their
noses and mouths to ease the burning of the
cold. They carry rifles and the
older of the men
has a camera as well. The stillness is disturbed by the
BARKING of DOGS SOUNDING
ABOVE them. The men begin to run down the rutted
sloping from the mine. We PULL
BACK and SEE two Russian sentries on a cliff
above the mine opening. With them,
there
are two large black dogs, wild with anger at
the fleeing men but unable to leap from the cliff
because of the rocks that sit like spikes
below them. The silence of the
night is now torn
completely apart by the SOUND of the
SENTRIES’ GUNS when they FIRE them at the men.
The two men are running
toward a beach beyond which, in the ocean, we SEE the nuclear submarine.
One of the men is having
difficulty keeping with the other.
The faster of the two turns around and sees
how far back the other
is. The SHOTS are causing the
slower one to panic – the aim of the sentries
is getting too close to
him. The faster of the two takes
his rifle from his shoulder and FIRES at the
sentries. He hits one who falls from the
cliff. But the other sentry is
BLASTING CLOSER AND
CLOSER to the slower man
and then hits him. FIRING at the
lone sentry, the faster man gets to
where the other
fell. He sees that this man is
done. He opens the backpack this
fallen man wears
and takes out a sealed
container. All the while, SHOTS are
striking close to him. Now he fires
again
at the remaining sentry
but his rifle is empty. He begins
running again, the sentry’s SHOTS pelting
he ground around
him.
Here at the edge of the land, he is getting
into a small, jet-propelled landing craft.
As the craft begins
speeding toward the submarine, a truck with
several Russian soldiers comes INTO THE FRAME. Its
massive wheels kill the sand beneath them
and carry the soldiers along the coastline. They are
FIRING at the man in the landing craft, but
he is out of their range now. One
of these soldiers isn’t
firing. He is, instead, taking pictures with a
long lens – photographing the man, the landing craft, and
the submarine.
He pulls his sweater shield from his
face. He is CAPTAIN DIRK PITT, an
officer in the United
States Navy. Somewhere in his forties, he is
persuasive, in control, a survivor who does things by
instinct.
The soldiers have
stopped firing. They are silent and
watching. Only the SOUND of the
PHOTOGRAPHS BEING TAKEN
is HEARD. We WATCH, with them, the
submergence of
the submarine. And soon, the ocean is alone
again.
It is mid-day on a
working day at the White House.
SANDECKER is a retired Admiral. He is past sixty and thriving on the
authority that comes with
being an aide to the President. He is at his desk here in one of the
executive offices of the White House.
One of three doors in here opens and a
secretary ushers in DOCTOR GENE SEAGRAM, a young
scientist whose entire life is intent upon
his work and with an enthusiasm that never subsides. He carries
the container Captain Pitt took from the
fallen man’s backpack on the Russian island.
(Putting the
container on
Sandecker’s
desk)
It’s byzanium, Admiral . . .
the lab tests verify it.
Congratulations.
When do we proceed?
Proceed? Look, the computers
said the Army located a Russian
mine in 1911 with what sounded
like byzanium. The President
gave the go-ahead but just to check
it out.
Without it, there’s no Sicilian
Project. It’s a hundred times more
radioactive than uranium. We need it.
But what we need happens to be
on a Russian island.
And no place else.
Look, Seagram, I’ll go back
to the President after I hear
from Captain Pitt. He’s
investigating some other things
that were in that mine.
What? I wasn’t told about any
other things?
No reason to tell you.
Sometimes I feel I’m being
pushed out of my own project.
That’s nonsense. I’ll tell
Captain Pitt to see you and let
you in on what’s been happening.
Okay?
Okay.
Sandecker’s TELEPHONE RINGS. He answers it.
Yes?. . . I’ll talk to him
(To Seagram)
This is a call from Moscow,
Seagram. An intelligence
matter. Talk with you later.
Seagram goes to the door
and leaves Sandecker’s office.
(Continuing;
into
the
telephone)
Okay.
Sandecker takes a deep
breath. This is a call he’d rather
not take but he has no choice.
PREVLOV is a young man – the seriousness
with which he takes life and with which he approaches
others is evident in his face. He is at his desk and on the
telephone. MARGANIN is with
him.
Sitting in front of Prevlov’s desk, Marganin
is somewhat older then he and has a manner far less intense.
Prevlov nods toward the telephone extension
near him and Marganin picks up the receiver and puts it
to his ear. We INTERCUT between Prevlov’s office and
Sandecker’s.
Let’s not waste time, Admiral.
The two men you sent to our island –
I would have like to have both
men alive. But I have only one
dead one. That disappoints me.
But one of our soldiers is dead
also. And that angers me.
What island are you talking about?
The island of Novaya Zemlya. As
I talk with you now, I am looking
at photographs of your men and of
the submarine that brought them to
the island.
Look, Prevlov, it was an intelligence
exercise. Routine as hell. You
know that. It just got fouled up.
It cannot be as simple for us.
What do you want from me?
Admiral, I want you to give me
reason to forget this.
I’ll get back to you on it.
Soon. We have a young American
man, dead, and not a soldier, I
think. His body isn’t going to
disappear, Sandecker. I think
that could be some problem for you.
I’ll be calling you soon.
Yes. Satisfy me, Admiral.
He hangs up his
telephone and We STAY IN Prevlov’s office.
(Grinning as he puts
down his receiver)
He’s got two bodies haunting
him. A dead American and a
dead Russian.
It doesn’t amuse me, Marganin.
One of our people killed by them
does not amuse me.
He is talking into a telephone but a
different one now, a red one.
Mr. President? . . . Sandecker here . . .
CUT
TO:
Seagram is arriving at a door, which is
guarded by two Marines.
(Showing them his
identification)
Doctor Seagram. I’ve an appointment
with Captain Pitt.
One of the Marines takes
Seagram’s identification from him, studies it and then scans an appointment
list. He goes to an office door, KNOCKS on it,
and then opens it. He turns to
Seagram and hands
him back his
identification as indication that he can go inside Pitt’s
office.
The shades on the windows are pulled down and no lights are on so that slides projected by a slide
projector on Pitt’s desk can be clearly visible on an opposite wall. LT. GIORDINO, a tall, muscular
man not prone to smiling, is, along with two Naval Intelligence officers who are seated in chars,
looking across the room at a blowup of the photograph Pitt took of the mine machinery on the Russian
island. Pitt is behind his desk. The Marine closes the door after Seagram
is in here. Seagram is slightly
in the range of the projector’s throw, and
some of the blowup runs along the side of his body. No one
seems to notice him as other blowups of
Pitt’s photographs are thrown at the wall and Seagram.
Then Giordino speaks.
Yeah?
I’d like to speak with the Captain
alone, please.
There is silence for a moment. Then –
If you don’t mind, gentlemen, I’ve
got to talk with Doctor Seagram.
Giordino and the other two men get to their
feet and move toward the door. As
Giordino passes Seagram,
he studies him with a condescending
interest.
(Continuing)
Switch off the lights, Giordino.
He does, and he and the
other two men go out and close the door behind them. There is a pause.
(Continuing)
I’m sorry about what happened to
Koplin.
Seagram doesn’t answer
for a moment. Take the time to
think if he should while he seats himself in
front of Pitt’s
desk. Then he decides to
respond.
He was my friend. I’d hoped you’d
take care of him.
Pitt just stares at
Seagram for a long time. This has
angered Pitt and hurt him, but he doesn’t want to
get into it with
Seagram. His staring is his way of
counting to 10.
(Finally)
Let’s just say he was a young
scientist and he was out of his
element.
Tell me how much byzanium we can
get in that mine.
About another ounce.
What?
I haven’t told Sandecker yet.
That’s mine’s empty.
Empty? Then the Russians found
it?
No.
Then who the heck mined the
byzanium?
Americans.
(Annoyed, wanting to
understand now)
What are you telling me, Captain?
Your computer got only part of
the story.
(He wants to push
him a little)
Get the lights, will you.
Seagram doesn’t like
this, but he gets up and walks the distance to the light switch. When the lights
are off, he goes back to
his chair.
We SEE a succession of
enlargements of photographs of the inside of a mine. These are pictures
of old mining
equipment. Ore cars, picks, shovels
and the like. Now, enlarged, we SEE
where
the names of the
manufacturers were etched. THOR
FORGE & IRON WORKS, DENVER,
COLOARADO. WILSON BROS., CENTRAL CITY,
COLORADO. COLORADO SPRINGS
IRON & TOOL WORKS,
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.
Every piece of mining equipment
in that mine came from Colorado.
A long time ago.
So what? The Russians could have
used American tools.
Meet Jake Hobart.
26 SLIDE
26
We SEE a blowup of the
photograph of a miner frozen stiff against the wall of the
mine.
SEAGRAM
(O.S.)
Who is he?
Another blowup replaces
this one on the wall. Now it’s the
writing above Hobart’s head that we SEE.
HERE
LIES
JAKE HOBART, DENVER,
COLORADO.
FROZE IN A
STORM
FEB. 10,
1912
Jake Hobart was a miner from
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. That
Army expedition – It got to the
mine in 1911 and it got what was
there to get.
This Hobart – aren’t there
relatives to talk to?
Nobody
How the heck are we going to
understand this?
(Seagram’s excitability
amuses him)
Keep calm . . . Doctor Seagram.
Okay? I think I can help you.
He picks up a sheet of
paper from his desk.
(Continuing)
All but one of the companies that
manufactured that equipment is
out of business. Thor Forge and
Iron. We checked the records
there.
And?
(Reading from the
sheet of paper)
A Captain Arthur Brewster, U.S.
Army, signed for the drills.
Then Army archives has the story?
Pitt
smiles.
There’s no record of a Captain
Arthur Brewster.
That means what?
That means his files been pulled . . .
Doctor Seagram.
He picks up a telephone
and dials two digits.
(Continuing)
Sandecker? Pitt . . . I need a
code double zero right now . . . No.
Army. Top Secret Archives . . .
For me and . . .
(He pauses and
looks at Seagram)
. . . Doctor Seagram.
CUT
TO:
28 INT. TOP SECRET
ARMY ARCHIVES
28
Two guards are stationed
at the door. We BEGIN MOVING PAST
towering rows and rows of
stacks used for the
compact storage of Top Secret files.
We HEAR Pitt and Seagram’s VOICES
talking and then we COME
UPON them. Seagram is seated at a
reading table and Pitt is seated
on top of the
table. He is reading a Top Secret
folder. The dialogue during all of
this is as follows.
It seems Captain Arthur Brewster
wasn’t a Captain after all. He was
a soldier of fortune who found the
mine and brought a sample of its ore
to the Army.
Back then; they’d just begun
experimenting with uranium. The
Army must’ve gone crazy.
(Looks again at
the folder)
They gave him a temporary commission
and he took an expedition of miners
from Denver, Colorado, to . . . uh. . .
I still can’t pronounce the darn place.
(No difficulty,
perfect pronunciation)
Novaya Zemlya.
(Looks at him)
Yeah.
(Not getting it right)
No-vo-yo Zem—la.
(Turns quickly
back to the folder)
The Czar’s Army found our friends
in the mine and executed them then
and there.
And took the byzanium. They
wouldn’t have known what to do
with it.
They didn’t get the byzanium.
Brewster got away with the goods.
He got all the way to England.
And then he put the screws to the
Army for more money.
Did they pay?
They cabled England and told
Brewster to get himself and the
goods onto the next ship out of
Southampton.
(Impatient)
What happened to the byzanium?
Well – he got on the next ship.
Yeah?
The Titanic.
Seagram is speechless
for a moment.
(Continuing)
That’s right. The byzanium
went under.
(Slamming his fist down on
the top of the table)
I do not believe this!
He looks up at Pitt who
smiles at his reaction.
(Continuing)
It isn’t so funny, Captain. The
Sicilian Project just became the
Titanic’s latest casualty.
(Still smiling)
Hold it down will you, Dr.
Seagram?
(Deliberate)
I don’t like the way you say
that. It’s condescending, for
one thing.
Seagram gets up from his
chair and walks over to a row of files.
He stands there with his back to Pitt.
(Quietly)
Doctor Seagram,
(A slight pause)
I think I can help you.
(Turning)
How are you going to do that now?
I’m going to raise the Titanic.
Seagram has no
response.
CUT
TO:
Very few lights are on
in the White House.
Sandecker is at his desk
and Pitt is standing on the other side of it – they’re fighting out this
conversation while
Seagram watches them from a distance.
It’s the Titanic, Sandecker.
It’s not the H.M.S. Pinocchio
we’ll give back to the world –
it’s the Titanic.
C’mon, Pitt. You’re thinking
about your submersibles.
Right. And I’ve watched the
government throw money up in
the air for space guys for years
and nothing underwater.
But can you raise the Titanic?
When she comes up, it’ll be
submersibles that woke the
lady and put her back where
she belongs. The whole world’s
gonna see it, Sandecker, and
that’s why I’m going to find
her and give her to you.
You don’t know where the
Titanic is. She went down
in the North Atlantic sixty-
five years ago for Pete’s
sake . . . twelve thousand feet
down. And nothing that big
has ever been raised.
Not till now . . .
I can’t ask the President to
give us five hundred million
dollars just because you’re
so sure of yourself.
We found that ‘Nuke 4’ when it
fell out of a plane and sank
off Palomares. If this is as
important as finding an ‘H’
bomb, screw the cost.
Seagram who has been
listening anxiously to them can no longer keep out of it.
Admiral, I think we ought to
go ahead . . .
(Turning to him)
I know what you think. Anything
to get your byzanium. We’re
going to have to pull our people
out of a mid-African country to
appease the Russians over going
to that island in the first place.
The President’ll okay it. You
know that.
(To Pitt)
How soon can we start?
(To Seagram)
We? – get that out of your
head. I don’t need a nuclear
scientist on a salvage operation
at sea.
Look – this is my project.
And when the President okays
it, just know I’m staying with it.
Pitt looks at Sandecker
then back at Seagram.
PITT
No way, Doctor Seagram.
The byzanium’s your project.
When we get the stuff, you
or some other bright young
scientist can tell us if it’s the
real thing. Until then, take a
breath.
Seagram looks to
Sandecker for support.
(To Pitt)
Pitt, you’ve been up all night
with this . . .
I know I’ve been up all night.
So I’m getting’ the heck out
of here.
I’m sorry. Not its his show.
If he doesn’t want you . . .
I can change his mind.
Good luck.
Seagram picks up a
telephone.
(Into the phone)
Call down and have the guard
stop Captain Pitt. And tell
him . . . tell him Doctor Seagram
wants to buy him breakfast.
Pitt and Seagram are
walking on a pier that stretches beside the wide beauty of the Potomac
River.
The dawn is beginning
and giving light to the clear, dark sky color of the waters. Pitt stops walking,
looks beyond the edge of
the pier at the Potomac, unceasing in its passage. Seagram stops and looks
with
him.
The Potomac’s four hundred and
fifty miles long. It begins in the
Alleghenies, flows through the
Blue Ridge Mountains, and
empties into Chesapeake Bay.
It’s a beautiful river, Seagram.
I grew up in the desert.
Yeah? I could make a joke about
that.
(Smiling)
Yes. I know you could.
Pitt smiles
back.
The President’s going to okay
your salvage fleet, you know.
And I am going with you.
You are, huh?
I’ve lived with this project all
my life. Even when I was little.
When you were little, there
wasn’t an A-bomb.
My father was one of the scientists
who worked on the A-bomb. That
desert I grew up in was Los Alamos
where it all happened.
It’s one way to grow up.
The day after the first test of
the bomb, when they sent us out
to play, we all talked like our
parents, about a secret weapon