Officer Jackson - A Case of
Limited Research Titanic (1953) |
The 1953 film Titanic
starring Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, Brian
Aherne and Robert Wagner was the first film made
in an English-speaking country since the 1912 Saved
from the Titanic about the Titanic
tragedy which included the name of the ship in
its title. (The German/British co-production Atlantik
(1929) avoids the name.) It is also the first
film that expressly claims that the events
depicted in the film are historical facts. The
claim is only made for the navigational details
which are said to be taken verbatim from the
published reports and inquiries by the Congress
of the United States and the British Board of
Trade. |
To claim historical accuracy is
always dangerous. It is almost inevitable that
some mistakes are made, whether due to the
limited scope of the research or for dramatic
purposes. Equally inevitable these mistakes will
be found out by people who have researched the
facts in greater detail and are of a nitpicky
disposition (i.e. people like me). In the era of
the internet even the most minute details will
be picked over. Up to the fact that the jacket
somebody is wearing has a button of a kind that
was first produced in 1922. (The 'goofs' section
on the IMDb for Titanic (1997) is an
amusing list of errors big and small.) |
While the film's main storyline
concentrates on the marriage troubles of the
Sturges and its effect on the two children as
well as the daughter's blossoming affair with
the all-American Gifford Rogers, some time is
also taken to depict the running of the ship.
The close observer of these scenes will have no
difficulties spotting some errors, e.g. the
watch-keeping Officers drawing lots as to who is
to have which watch. |
The research made by or for the
screenwriters also seemed to have stopped short
of finding out the full crew complement. The
band leader is called Mr McDermond instead of
Wallace Hartley and the credits include a
lookout named Devlin. [Richards, A Night to
Remember, says they were 'inexplicably
renamed', p. 24.] An Officer Jackson appears as
well. |
Officer Jackson is a rather
nondescript person of unaccounted rank but
seems to be a junior officer. He is first
mentioned by name when Lightoller, who has
himself just taken over the watch from the
Chief Officer, tells Jackson to take over so
he can go to inform the Captain about an ice
warning the ship has received. While I am by
no means an expert on the rules of running a
ship in 1912, I am quite certain that the
officer on watch was not supposed to leave the
bridge. The timing is also off: Lightoller
catches up with the Captain towards the end of
the church service held in the First Class
Dining Room which would make it approximately
11 am. Lightoller's watch, however, ended at
10 am. And while he did take over the watch
from Wilde this happened at 6 am.
|
Officer Jackson is later seen
making the last entry in the log, after this we
lose sight again of his character. |
The presence of a fictional officer in a film that, despite the opening claim of accuracy, does depart from historic facts significantly, is not surprising and may seem hardly worth mentioning. Officer Jackson's role in the film is so minute, it is easy to miss. No 'Officer Jackson' is mentioned in the credits of the film, and while the Internet Movie Database lists the actor who plays Lightoller in the 'uncredited' section as well as a number of 'junior officers' or just 'officers', all uncredited, none of them is given a name. |
However, I am somewhat at a loss to explain why the researcher failed to find out the names of the junior officers of the Titanic particularly since it claims to be based on the official inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic. These naturally did include the names of the all the ship's officers. |
In the end, the presence of an Officer Jackson shows that while the writers were attempting to stay true to the historical facts, and compared to earlier films they certainly achieved this goal, their interest to do so obviously did not extend to the names of the junior officers. |
Back to Fictional Officers of the Titanic |