Meanwhile, the have-nots scramble from flooded quarters. From here on, the human drama is especially gritty and compelling. True gentlemen stand apart from cowardly opportunists. The best and worst of human nature surfaces as an inadequate number of lifeboats carry off the fortunate few. The terror facing those left behind on the doomed liner is disturbingly realistic.
Violent moments find panic-stricken passengers falling from great heights.
Other victims are electrocuted, drowned or crushed by toppling smokestacks. A nervous armed guard attempting to control the crowd shoots a man, then kills himself. When the ship's stern is thrust high into the air, its weight causes the boat to break in two, and the rear half crashes down on people flailing in the icy water. Once Titanic disappears below the surface, a lone lifeboat navigates the silent sea of dead, frozen bodies bobbing in the night tide. A grim climax.