A brilliantly assembled mishmash of movie clihes-wonderful!

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2007)

"Titanic",like "Gone with the wind" is one of the great unrateable movies. Just as GWTW caught the imagination of the public in its time so "Titanic" repeated the feat sixty years later.Neither one of them is a "great" movie in the artistic or intellectual sense,but both of them are great movies in terms of sheer populist entertainment and their grasp of the mood of the moment.Possibly even "opportunist" might be the right word. Both of them had huge lead roles and nothing much else for their actors,both featured highly unlikely romances between people from different social stratas.GWTW had the burning of Atlanta,brilliant state - of - the - art filming,and "Titanic" has the sinking of the ship which is hugely impressive by any standards. Ten years down the line it looks better to me than it did on it's release. Mr L. diCaprio,a little like a mixture of James Cagney and Mickey Rooney, is feisty and funny as Jack,Kate Winslet full of vitality and a slightly knowing innocence,hold the film together during its occasional longeurs,and their coupling is sweet and funny if highly unlikely. Forget all the "buts" and allow yourself to be swept along,lingering in the chandeliered dining rooms, strolling the endless decks and watch the stokers toil in the massive engine rooms like Dore's vision of Hell. The whole thing is a brilliantly assembled mish - mash of movie clichés one following the other seamlessly so that you don't care that you're watching sheer corn because it's so well done. The opening sequence with the 102 year - old Rose on the Diving ship is patiently built up with gradually lengthening flashbacks to 1912. The ending, where Rose,after telling her story goes out on the deck in the middle of the night and lets the priceless diamond she has had all along slip into the ocean then........no,on the remote chance that you haven't seen the movie I won't go any further.But I will pay the ultimate tribute to Mr Cameron and confess that I have watched "Titanic" six times and every damn time,no matter how much I tell myself I am being manipulated by a succession of still photographs being projected at just the right speed to cause persistence of vision..........I cry. Furthermore I would say that anybody not similarly affected would not feature highly on my Christmas Card list. This is film - making of the highest order and I take my hat off to everybody involved.