Titanic: Legend Goes On review

 We all come to a point where we ask ourselves this question. Should we bother talking about the animated Titanic movies? I mean I take it upon myself to provide reviews on things few would expect to ever be covered, but recently I realized something, nobody ever attempted to dig deeper into how the movies were made.

They're shit through and through, but at this point I'm desperate for any form of context in their reason for being. At least I can't suck any harder than Marlyonama.

Part 1: The Second

You may be thinking, why start here? This technically came second. Simple, I wanna keep the momentum on the discussion of the details behind Mondo's animated Titanic movies.

Titanic: Legend Goes On was directed by Camilo Teti who's professional career spans as far back as 1962. Teti remained to his native Italy which is why we hardly hear much from him. I wish people went further into Teti because before this... he produced a number of b-movies throughout the 70s and 80s.

As a director he is only tied to eight movies, this included. He got his start with the horror thriller film The Killer is Still Among Us and kept to that field until 1993 with Navigators of the Space (and bear in mind these are rough translations of Italian titles.)

This was Teti's very first animated film, and his last production for several years before he returned with an obscure Italian animated film in 2006 as a co-director. His last thing ever was a take on Noah's Ark in 2007 as a producer.

This was the only film tied to the aptly titled Titanic Cartoons S.r.l., so it's likely this belonged to him. It was distributed in theaters by prominent film distributors Medusa Film.

Titanic: Legend Goes On seemed to have been in wider circulation than Mondo's two takes, as it received releases in Canada through Equinox Entertainment and Prism Lesiure in the United Kingdom. Because of its wider release, this got to reviewers first.

One thing to point out is that the available physical copies used a heavily edited cut of the film, moving scenes around and revising dialog, otherwise cutting down scenes wholesale. There's no telling for sure where the original cut was found, but it's likely this got screened in China too.

Of our English actors, it seems they went with English speaking actors who happened to be living in Italy at the time. We have Edmond Purdom who was notable for taking on roles previously meant for Mario Lanza and Marlon Brando who passed on them, later moving to Europe after losing face in Hollywood (from the United Kingdom to Italy.)

Mickey Knox was also in this, and he was among many celebrities who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era and moved to France... then Italy.

And now for the big one, why was Gregory Snegoff involved in this and the other two animated turds? Well, Snegoff was a prominent actor in English dubs, appearing in RoboTech, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. His second marriage was to Fiorella Capuano and it's very likely he moved to Italy to be with her, hence him being available to participate in these movies, and for the sake of keeping up with a career he was passionate about is why he agreed to be in them.

This would account for why we know so little about the English cast in this, they're only known in Italy and were likely hired for the sake of filling out the English dub cast.

Reason for Being

It's undeniable that James Cameron's take on Titanic bred an interesting idea, a tale of love on a ship destined to be sunk. As it was a romanticized rendition of the events occurring before the ship met its untimely death, surely someone had to try and make it popular.

This was a year after The Legend of the Titanic, and I'm questioning if that made it to theaters. I'd like to think Teti saw it and thought "Mama mia this is merde, I can do it better.", and with that, he made the best version of the three movies, and at least he had the foresight to quit after it got released.

He may not have good foresight, but he can take a hint.

So What Went Wrong?

It's clear the film was going for a Disney fairy tale edge, cramming in whatever Disney references would fit. I won't cry rip-off because I'm not depraved. The biggest issue I have is that it has too many characters and plots to be concerned with, and whether or not they mesh well is inconsequential.

At best, this can be viewed as a parody of Disney movies from the time, or any movie with a focus on cute little animals, but even that's a stretch. Basically, shit happens, then the ship crashes. It's up to you if you give a shit about any of the subplots.

The one I'd focus on is the Jack and Rose stand-ins (let's face it, the Titanic allusions are undeniable.), where the Rose stand-in is also a Cinderella stand-in. It's bog standard fairy-tale romance, but in terms of all else in the movie, this isn't the most painful.

But you're not here to hear me talk about that, what about the big one? The rapping dog. This was just a conceited ploy to try and make the movie cool. The uncut and recut versions of this are more of the same, especially down to the garb the dog wears.

The only benefits the movie has through the uncut dub is a better flow. It's stupid, but we're eased into it better. Also the scenes are in the right order.

Soon enough, the ship sinks and one objective plus is that the ship actually sinks and Captain Edward Smith goes down with his ship, and there wasn't room for everyone. Hint hint.

A decent enough end is ruined by a childish epilogue.

Conclusion (already!?)

Did you really expect me to have this much to say about the movie? This is like a right of passage for many a new reviewer, I'm not gonna act as though this is some new thing I can call my own.

With this and the next two, I just wanted to try and find a reason for all of them, and based on what I can find, this was the work of a man who wanted to further expand on the romanticized aspect of the Titanic, but took influence from Disney and it wound up taking near core focus in the movie.

The big issue is a lack of a clear focus and its derivative nature.

Nicest things I could say about it is that the uncut version helped put things into a reasonable perspective, and beyond the rap scene, this doesn't have as many anachronisms as Mondo's efforts. Not to mention, we still get the implication people died on the ship, especially the captain, and the ship sank and remained so.

Overall, this looked to be the work of a man who had no idea how the rest of us would perceive a fantasy rendition of the Titanic, but he knew when to quit, that's the most I can say. You can have your other movie and bible adaptation, because your take on the Titanic is the best of the three.