Film info

Creator / Collector

Description
We are in Piraeus, a city and the most important port in Greece.

The film opens with the date, Sunday, January 6, 1980 and the cover of the book "Raise the Titanic!" by Clive Cussler. We see shots from the port, the tugboats of the company "Vernikos" and then, the movie-set which have been created for the shooting of the movie "Raise the Titanic” (1980), based on the book.

The shots in Piraeus were used at the end of the film, where the main characters have managed to raise the sunken "Titanic" and return the ship to New York.

The lens shows the ship that was converted into a replica of the Titanic for the film and three people in front it who talk. This is actually the old Greek ocean liner "SS Athinai" which belonged to the company Typaldos and had been decommissioned after the shipwreck of "SS Herakleion" rendered the company bankrupt.

The film company spent $250,000 to turn it into a copy of the Titanic. The lens focuses on the name “TITANIC” and then on the director Jerry Jameson and another man who are on board and greet.

We see a man smiling as he heads for the ship, a man who is dressed as a naval officer and people on their posts. The filmmaker stands on the name of the tugboat that says "VERNICOS MANOS" and afterwards we see the cast and production crew, a flag with the initials NB and a life buoy with two women passing in front of the camera. We see shots from the port and a man greeting the filmmaker from the tugboat.

The view changes and we see the film’s director as well as shots from the set of the ship’s interior that have been constructed so that the erosion of time, from its stay at the bottom of the sea, can be seen. We watch the production equipment with the lighting equipment standing out.

Cast and production continue their work and the camera shows us a part of a set that has been created with American flags to look like the port of New York. People explore and photograph the scenery while the camera focuses on a man and the tugboat hat sails. A young girl greets the lens amidst a moving crowd and we are moved to a large hall with a crowd of people having lunch. Among them are the actors in leading roles Jason Robards and Richard Jordan.

The camera stands in a van which has the inscription “MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION ENTERPRISES D. DIMITRIADIS” and gets back to the movie set. We see a car replica of an American Police car as we see the detail on the door that says "POLICE DEPARTMENT NEW YORK" and the filmmaker focuses on American license plates. We see views of the production’s backstage and a shot on an old man standing next to one more car with American license plates.

Background actors, who most of them were Greek soldiers, stand with the American flags waving and the lens focuses on one of the tugboats named "Vernicos 1”. The filming continues and the director seems to indicate something to the actor in leading role, we watch various members of the production and the lens gets back on the protagonist with the director. We see shots of a helicopter that lands and takes off while behind it stands a funnel with the flag of the Soviet Union.

The film closes footage of the ship leaving the port.

Coordinates

People

Film Information

Holder
Vernicos A. Nicolas

Quality
2K

Sound
No

Color
Yes

Duration (seconds)
386

Format
Super 8mm

Creator's description


The film was based on the book by Clive Cussler.

The screenplay was written by Adam Kennedy (1922-1997) and directed by Jerry Jemeson (1934 -). Most famous of the actors was Sir Alec Guinness (1914-2000).

The story goes that Americans and Russians are competing to be the first to raise the wreck of the Titanic, to obtain supposedly radioactive materials useful in building an atomic bomb.

The Americans did it. The shots were shot in Piraeus, where the decommissioned, rusty passenger ship "ATHINAI" of Typaldos line was disguised as "TITANIC". It was supposed to be towed to New York. The passenger station of Piraeus, known as "Pagoda", was decorated as a terminal of the port of New York, with American flags. Police officers, cars and accomplices created the American atmosphere. The blue police Buick car was the car of my father Alexandros N. Vernikos (1916–1991)

The company "VERNIKOS Lifeboats and Tugs" undertook the movements of the ship with the tugboats that appear in the film.

Apart from the foreign cast of the production, the film features Nikolaos A Vernikos (1945-), Konstantinos D Vernikos (1944-), the film producer Klearchos Konitsiotis (1926–1989), the production director D. Dimitriadis, etc.

The cost of producing the film was $40,000,000, it raised only $7,000,000.
Vernicos A. Nicolas