Thanks to James Cameron, even many young people are familiar with the story of the Titanic and how the "unsinkable" ship met its end (along with many of its passengers) about three hours after hitting an iceberg. But fewer know the story of her sister ship, the Britannic, which despite being re-engineered to be a safer vessel, also suffered a tragic fate and sunk in less than an hour in 1916. The Britannic was a hospital ship working during World War I, ferrying injured British soldiers from the battlefront to medical facilities in England. When the ship went down, it was on its way to pick up the infirm in Mediterranean waters, which are much shallower and warmer than the icy mid-Atlantic where the Titanic sank. Even so, 30 people perished along with the Britannic itself. Combining interviews with relatives of survivors, diary and letter entries, and dramatic re-enactments, the film also follows a diving exploration (using a submersible, as the wreck is too dangerous for free-diving). What sunk this mighty ship? Why did it go down so fast? And why did the extra safety features fail? The answers are found in this interesting documentary by filmmaker Renny Bartlett, which explores a fascinating tangent to the Titanic story. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (C. Block)
Titanic’s Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster
(2016) 59 min. DVD: $24.99 ($199.99 w/PPR). Dreamscape Media. Closed captioned. Volume 33, Issue 4
Titanic’s Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: