Compelling, excellent version of the tragedy. While there was much to like in the more recent version I've always found this one to be the superior of the two. Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck are perfectly cast as a wealthy couple whose marriage is disintegrating. They seem completely natural in their surroundings and their performances could not be bettered. The love story is sweet and unlike the newer version makes sense since both characters are from the same class, the only way in that era that they would mingle, class division was too ingrained at the time for people to move freely about the ship. A dolled up Thelma Ritter is a hoot as the unsinkable Molly Brown even though she is called Maude Young here. Not as technically sophisticated as the James Cameron version but much more emotionally resonant.
