The Sinking of the Andrea Doria

Aging baby-boomers may remember the Andrea Doria, a state-of-the-art luxury liner that sank following a collision with the Stockholm in the Atlantic on a foggy night in July 1956—a disaster comparable to the loss of the Titanic (another massive vessel thought to be unsinkable), which prompted the biggest maritime rescue operation in history. Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of this horrifying event in which 51 people lost their lives, the PBS-aired documentary The Sinking of the Andrea Doria from the Secrets of the Dead series recreates the events of that fateful night, combining archival footage, survivor accounts, and reports from both ships' logs with newly shot footage of the decomposing ship and CGI animation suggesting what went wrong. Long-ignored and suppressed information regarding the action taken aboard both of the ships involved is brought to light most effectively, as is the shameful after-the-fact fingerpointing resulting from insurance-company manipulation of the then-available evidence. Producer-writer Jeff Swimmer and director Fabio Toncelli do a marvelous job of presenting the story, while actor Liev Schreiber's narration lends an appropriate sense of drama to the proceedings. Recommended. [Note: two other titles, Dogfight Over Guadalcanal and Umbrella Assassin, are also newly available in the Secrets of the Dead series.] Aud: H, C, P. (E. Hulse)