Titanic

Question: During the scene when the Titanic's engines are reversed as soon as the iceberg is in sight, the stokers close all the dampers to the boilers just before the engines are reversed, why is this?

Answer: Not closing the dampers would make the boilers still burn and keep the Titanic going forward. The shock of cold water hitting the burning coals could also cause explosions.

Question: One of the mistakes lists that when Rose and Jack are running away from the water below decks, you can see the real faces of the stunt doubles they used. I have tried to find any differences in their faces but I cannot find it. How can you tell they are stunt doubles?

Answer: It is not the faces of the stunt doubles, but the faces of the actors superimposed. It is very obvious when Rose is running in slow motion toward the camera with Jack behind her. The water is rising, and the lights are flickering. Her face is very pale, almost transparent, and seems "big" for her head. Also, the bobbing movements of her head don't exactly match that of the filming of the stunt double, which indicates the effects team did the best they could with Kate Winslet's face superimposed onto a different female with a different head shape.

Macalou

Question: Since Rose in the "present" scenes is depicted as an old woman, what year did these scenes take place?

Onesimos

Chosen answer: 1996. Old Rose says "It's been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint." 1912+84=1996.

K.C. Sierra

Question: When Jack is drawing the portrait of Rose, she mentions Monet wouldn't blush after catching Jack blushing. He replies with "he only does landscapes." What does this mean? Is it a joke because I can recall them chuckling. If it is a joke, what was he inferring?

Answer: They laugh due to Jack pointing out that Monet, if he did not paint landscapes, most likely would blush if he was the one seeing Rose nude.

Question: When Jack goes to the first class to have dinner, and Ruth and Cal are asking him questions about being in third class and being poor in general, what are they hoping to achieve from embarrassing him in front of all the people at their table? Even Molly doesn't seem too pleased with their line of questioning.

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Molly is only recently wealthy, that's why she's not amused. Ruth and Cal are bad people, basically. They take pleasure from from humiliating Jack.

Phixius

As you say, Molly was "new money" - a person who had recently become wealthy. Those who were born into wealthy families - "old money" - sometimes acted superior to "new money" people. Molly seems to have more sympathy for Jack because of her background. Her life was not always comfortable.

Question: Does anyone know the name of the hymn played by the 4 string players at the end of the film, just before they say, "It's been a pleasure playing with you all tonight"?

Answer: It's "Nearer my God to thee."

David Mercier

Question: I have watched this movie many times but still do not know the logical thinking behind it. If all this time Rose kept "Heart of the Ocean", then why did she ask Brock Lovett in the beginning of the movie by saying "I was just wondering if you had found The Heart of the Ocean yet, Mr. Lovett?"

Hilman Sadakir

Chosen answer: The primary reason for the question is to prove to Brock that she is, in fact, Rose DeWitt Bukater. The insurance claim for the Heart of the Ocean diamond was paid under strict secrecy. As such, few people, including Rose, would even know of its existence. Another underlying reason might be as a private taunt. Rose sees Brock Lovett for who he is - an opportunist plundering the Titanic for riches. I imagine she finds him somewhat distasteful, so she amuses herself by asking a question to which (we all later discover) she knows the answer.

Michael Albert

Question: Rose has the necklace all along, as we know, so if she had told Brock and his crew that she does indeed still have it, would they have any rights to it? Obviously it was a gift to her from Cal, but when the Titanic sunk it was paid out through insurance, believed to be lost. So would Rose still be the lawful owner of the necklace? Could it have been taken from her by the crew?

Answer: Mr. Lovett and his crew on the salvage ship "Keldysh" would have no rights to the necklace. The rightful owner of the jewelry would be whichever insurance company paid out on the financial claim filed by Cal Hockley, unless their money was returned. A case could be made that Rose DeWitt Bukater Dawson Calvert is, in a sense, guilty of a crime since she knowingly allowed a false claim to be made. However, prosecution would be moot as she ultimately profited nothing from the claim, nor ownership of the diamond. And Hockley filed the insurance claim in good faith, unaware the necklace was on dry land, as he presumed Rose and the diamond went down with the ship. I do thank you for your question, though. It finally presents me with a logical reason why Rose would keep the diamond's existence a secret all of these years.

Michael Albert

Answer: Even though one might say she should have sold it to support herself, if you think it through, she knew if she tried to do so she would have been hunted down and Can then would know she had lived and thereafter never let her go. Also, the diamond was so rare and valuable even on the black market it would have been next to impossible to find a buyer who would touch it, knowing they would be implicated, and Rose knew it would have led straight back to her.

Question: Someone else submitted a question about a falling cow being put in one scene, and they were told that someone was probably just joking with them. I've also heard that rumor, before ever finding this site, so I'm wondering if anyone else knows whether a cow was really put in the background of any scene.

Answer: No. It is not true. There is an urban myth surrounding a falling cow sinking a Japanese trawler, but is complete non-sense. I think you have been misinformed by someone getting the stories mixed up. Check out http://www.snopes.com/critters/farce/cowtao.asp. for more info about the falling cow.

bacupboy

Answer: In one of the sinking scenes you see a person falling from the ship into the water in the foreground. It happens very quickly and right in front of the camera but it's definitely a person.

Question: In the last 9-10 minutes of the sinking a woman is shown in a white dress floating inside the ship. There is a light behind her, and the area appears to be completely submerged in water. Who was this woman and what area of the ship was she in? Also, did her character/this scene have any significance to the story?

cordesn

Chosen answer: The corpse of the woman in a white flowing dress appears to be floating under the great dome (the light behind her) that was above the grand staircase of the first class foyer. This is the same area Rose and Jack meet at the clock after dinner and before the party below decks. It is also the same area where we see the spirits of Jack and Rose meet at the end of the film, near the clock. There's a chance it might be the 1st class lounge. The room where Rose was watching the little girl have tea and her mother talked about the invitations for the wedding. You can see the room once more when the passengers retreat back to it instead of getting into the boats because it was too loud and cold outside. I don't believe we are meant to know, specifically, who the woman was, nor did she seem to have any significance but to create an artistic shot of the calm of death juxtaposed with the panic of those still alive above deck just before the ship splits into two pieces.

Michael Albert

This room is the first class lounge. The woman is unknown.

Question: Is there a way to tell what Jack had in his hand to make a full house during the poker game to win the Titanic tickets?

Answer: According to pokerlistings.com Jack is shown to be holding tens and aces, though the exact number of each cannot be seen.

raywest

Question: When Jack and Rose go to dinner, Rose is pointing out many first class people. Then she explains that the richest man on the ship's wife is Rose's age. Isn't she a little young to be married to him?

277872670

Answer: Some people may have the opinion that she is too young, and you may have that opinion yourself. However, the technical answer to your question is yes, she is much younger than her husband. If two people are consenting adults, they are legally allowed to be together if they wish. Madeleine Astor was eighteen years old and her husband was forty-seven. A large age gap is not what many people prefer, but this couple wanted to be together anyway.

Chosen answer: Well of course she is too young. Men, regardless of their age, typically prefer young attractive women. Wealthy and powerful men like John Jacob Astor (who Rose is pointing out) are able to attract beautiful young girls who want a rich husband, regardless of how old, unattractive, or physically infimed they might be.

raywest

Question: One person asked about Rose and Cal's "love life" which was answered with something about it being "active". Surely, Rose should have been pregnant by then if they had slept together quite a few times?

Answer: Condoms have been in use since the 1850's. Assuming Cal and Rose practiced safe sex there's no reason to believe she should have become pregnant.

Answer: The dialogue implies that they had not had sex yet. Cal tells her "There is nothing I would deny you, if you would not deny me." So it sounds like Cal is trying to convince Rose to have sex prior to their marriage. But Rose does not lose her virginity until she and Jack get busy in the car. However, IF they had been engaging in pre-marital sex, condoms were widely available in 1912, as were diaphragms; and there were other methods that, while maybe not as effective as modern methods, were better than nothing: Withdrawal before ejaculation, and intercourse at infertile times in a woman's cycle (see http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/birthcontrol/020709_bchistory.html). Also, she could have just been lucky.

J I Cohen

There are implications that Rose and Cal were intimate, such as when Cal says, "I had hoped you would come to me last night," and "You are my wife my practice if not yet by law."

When Cal says, "if you would not deny me," I think he means her melancholy attitude toward the wedding. He knows that she is not totally enthusiastic.

Question: How long did this film actually take to make? because regular films go for around an hour and a half and they usually take 5 months to make. but this movie is double the length with a lot more stunts and more expensive things in it?

adammaskell

Chosen answer: Principal shooting began in September 1996 and was scheduled for 138 days, though various delays extended this to 160 days. Prior to the filming, crews spent 100 days constructing the sets. Following filming, there were additional months for editing. Although the movie is twice as long as most films, it does not necessarily mean the shooting schedule was doubled. More second unit directors could have been used, filming scenes simultaneously.

raywest

Question: What is KY jelly? Apparently, Kate Winslet used it for a spitting scene, but what is it exactly?

Answer: KY Jelly is a lubricant jelly, a quick google should give you more information.

Kara

Question: Was Rose a real passenger on the ship. I know that there was a crew member called Joseph Dawson but was Rose a real person. If so, how did the real life Rose react to herself on screen?

Answer: Both Rose and Jack are entirely fictitious - the similarity of names with the crew member is purely coincidental. Many of the bodies that were recovered were buried in a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia that is called the Titanic Graveyard. One of the headstones reads 'J Dawson'. When James Cameron learned about this victim having a similar name to one of the main characters, he said it was a purely a coincidence.

Tailkinker

Question: While the ship is sinking, Rose must use the lifts to get to Jack. The lift man tells her the lifts are closed. She then pins him against the wall, yells something, and then screams 'Now take me down to E deck'. Just what does she yell?

Answer: She said, "I'm through being polite, God damn it, now take me down. E deck."

Answer: I just watch the clip on YouTube. Rose says, "I'm through being polite, god damn it. Now take me down."

raywest

Question: Rose's mother says that Rose's father left a lot of debt, but it's hidden by "a good name." Did nobody ever attempt to collect the debts? How would his name stop them?

Answer: The wealthiest members of society, in 1912 and still today, are simply treated differently. It is a certainty that creditors would give a good measure of leeway to the recent widow of a man with a certain position in society, particularly a member of an "old money" family. It is entirely possible that collection on debts had been attempted, and Ruth Dewitt Bukater was able to delay and obfuscate. Her desperation to marry off Rose to Caledon Hockley suggests the wolves may very well have been at the door, or were getting close.

Michael Albert

Question: Why did Rose want to commit suicide by attempting to jump off the ship?

Answer: Because she was so unhappy. She did not love Cal, nor did she want to marry him (her mother had pushed her into it because they were poor). Rose did not want a stultifying life as a "trophy" wife and knew she'd be little more than a "bird in a gilded cage." It is highly unlikely she would have gone through with killing herself. She was just extremely upset at the time and desperately wanted to find a way out.

raywest

Question: What religion were the first class passengers practicing in the church scene? If it were Catholic, it would be in Latin in 1912.

Answer: The services on board a ship are all non-sectarian so that all who wish to worship can come.

Boobra

Factual error: At the end of the movie, the Straus' are seen lying in each other's arms on their bed with water coming into the cabin under the closed door as the ship is sinking. This is not true, their cabin was on C deck, but his body was found in the following days of the sinking. For his body to get into the open water it would have had to float through a closed door, and up several flights of stairs. Historically, they refused to leave the ship, and were last seen sitting in deck chairs. They were there when the ship sank on the boat deck. Her body was never recovered.

More mistakes in Titanic

Cal Hockley: You're going to him? To be a whore to a gutter rat?!
Rose: I'd rather be his whore than your wife.

More quotes from Titanic

Trivia: Bernard Fox, who portrayed Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, also played Frederick Fleet in the 1958 film, A Night to Remember, another film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Frederick Fleet was the first person to notice the iceberg and shouted the warning to the crew.

More trivia for Titanic

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