The Marchioness Disaster (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

Well made,just not quite good enough

[jupiter_jup16 · 7/10 · 24 November 2008]

As far as i know, this film has not been released on DVD in English?. I recently saw the french version on DVD last week and although i could not understand the language, i have however read into the disaster itself, the statements made by passengers & crew and felt the film was not quite accurate enough.

There are a number of small parts within the film that were not accurate. One of the main things that i noticed was the use of the passenger vessel "ROYALTY" being poorly shown as the "HURLINGHAM". Using the "ROYALTY" could have worked if more care and accuracy was made. There was no attempt to hide the fact the "ROYALTY" looked nothing like the "HURLINGHAM". The most obvious sign was totally different paintwork,all that even suggested it was supposed to be the "HURLINGHAM" was a sticker on the boats side.

As the "MARCHIONESS" is hit by the dredger, you can see Stephen Faldo making turns on the wheel. Andrew McGowen (The Mate onboard Marchioness) declines this and mentions in a police statement from 1995 - "Stephen put the engine revolutions full ahead. I do not remember him making any turns on the wheel".

I could list quite a few things that were not quite accurate enough such as life rings being the wrong colour, Festival Pier being used as Charing Cross pier along with many others.

However ignoring the small details above, the film is very well made and tells the story of that fateful night very well.

Overall i felt it is worth watching but due to the the small details i mentioned, i have to agree with Michael Rosen that the victims of this disaster and their surviving loved ones deserve a lot better.

the victims of this disaster and their surviving loved ones deserve a lot better.

Could have been so much better

[michaelrosenwriter · 5/10 · 13 August 2008]

Something rather sad clearly happened to the script between the 2006 write-up on this site and the making or editing of the film. I'd have liked to see that 2006 script filmed. The actual film, available on DVD in Japan and, I believe some other countries, which I've just seen, is three parts trashy, cliché-ridden, confusing and badly-written remake of the Poseidon Adventure (which was bad enough to start with) crossed with a lame episode of Casualty; and one part somewhat interesting documentary about the subsequent official screw-ups, the insults to the families, and the appalling treatment of the bodies of the dead. That one part had potential, and a talented documentary team should make a good film about it one day. Unfortunately even this part of this film committed the sin of being less compelling than the real story.

Characterisation of those characters on the boat, both those who died and survivors, is nil. There is one stand-out performance from the actress playing the Trinidadian mother of one of the dead. Her character is given one or two lines that actually sound like a real person talking. The last six minutes or so of the film are two characters speaking straight to camera, a six minutes which seemed to come from another film entirely. All in all, the victims of this disaster and their surviving loved ones deserve a lot better.

Tight, fast-paced docudrama

[[e-mail] · 7/10 · 16 July 2011]

I can see how this docudrama would be upsetting for any relatives or friends of the victims. The docudrama told the tale at a fairly even pace and let small incidents during the event highlight the absurdity of over 50 people dying in the middle of a modern European city on a calm summer's evening. The small incidents included the dis-belief of locals that there had been a tragedy, the seeming ineptitude of the emergency services to recognise there was an unfolding disaster and the apparent callousness of the press seizing on a 'good' front page story. As David Yallop was the writer I assume most of the detail used was taken from the eventual enquiry and the details are more poignant because of their truth.

Never seen the light of day...

[mattn-9 · 24 October 2007]

This docudrama was never shown in the UK due to complaints about its content from some of the victims families to the films producers in the UK, ITV. As such its still not been seen one year later, and may never reach the screens in the UK, even though it was a well made £2 million budget film...which is a big budget for a TV docudrama!! The film includes some very well made if perhaps not very tasteful, CGI scenes of the boat sinking which bear a remarkable resemblance to the famous Titanic movie scenes.

As far as I'm aware it was released in some foreign markets in DVD format, (Japan for example) so if anyone is interested you may be able to import it.

Review of the film

[azanti0029 · 2/10 · 22 August 2010]

I can perhaps shed some light on the problems that this production faced, for one thing, I was in the movie, and secondly I am also a Member of the Marchioness Contact Group who at the time supported it being made. My link to the original disaster was very tenuous indeed, as my god mother's son was due to attend but was unable to go.

First of all the finished film is indeed a very poor product, I would have to agree. Large amounts of the original script, which I read in its entirety while on set, were never filmed, and a great many more scenes which would have added flesh to the bones of the characters were cut from the finished edit. There is no attempt, it seems to give the audience palatable characters for them to invest their emotions in, something that is sorely needed when you are in fact watching the lives of real people and not a fictional story. Once the disaster itself occurs, because no time whatsoever has been taken to establish the Characters, there is no sense of drama or loss from the audience. It is extremely difficult to know who is who once the sinking occurs or really care about them. This obvious error was further then compounded by flashback scenes which try and rectify this problem but only worsen it further by suddenly taking us away from the story to an unfamiliar location with unfamiliar characters, this only makes the narrative even harder to follow. The long tracts of dialogue at the end of the film really added nothing extra beyond the content already there and one can't help but thinking this valuable screen time could be better spent establishing character or covering some of the controversial issues not covered in the film. Criticisms directed at the portrayal of gay characters on the boat are unfair, the majority of the passengers were gay friends of the two individuals whose birthdays it was and their portrayals are not far off from the mark. Some of the scenes that were removed were done so for political reasons including one showing the Government taking the decision not to have a public Inquiry. While one of the Marchioness Groups supported the film and the other did not, I know the families wanted the film to be shown none the less even though many were unhappy with the finished production. The reason given by ITV drama head, and I think it was a valid one, was that the programme simply wasn't up to the standard of other ITV1 Dramas of a similar vernacular. The whole thing needs completely Re-editing in sequence with the scenes that were dropped re-added to establish some emotional depth and realism to those portrayed in the film. On the subject of The Royalty, which is the sister ship of 'The Hurlingham' the plan to use the original Hurlingham had to be scrapped as it was under repair during the filming dates. The families do deserve a film about this tragedy, but this unfortunately isn't it.

Tasteless

[SydneySi_43 · 1/10 · 26 November 2009]

I can understand why this film never saw the light of day in the UK. I lost a friend on the Marchioness and this TV film was terribly made and therefore I think in very poor taste. If anybody wants to see a film that is sensationalist in its approach and also inaccurate in its account of the nights events that does not pay any particular attention to the people who lost their lives on board the boat or who survived the accident, then this IS the film for them. However if you wish to see a film that is tasteful, touching and informative then I suggest you try and see the UK Documentary "The Marchioness: A Survivor's Story". Here you will see just how tragic and painful this event was for all involved.

That explains it

[dellaloraine-600-841669 · 3/10 · 5 December 2009]

I understand now why we're seeing it in New Zealand. (Any non-American programming is shown in New Zealand only when it's years old, and this qualifies) or in the end-of-year 'holiday' wasteland, when all the usual American/Australian cop dramas are on hiatus. An exception will be made though, for certain 'acceptable'themes/character types, in this case, it seems, gay ones. The sheer amount of reasonably new (in this case only 3 years old) British shows featuring sad, dead, tragic and awesome gay characters, amazes me. I am watching this show now while doing other things, and it seems pretty dreadful. How on earth is there even a remote chance of figuring out who is who and what's going on?

An objective telling of a tragedy.

[jacklucky970 · 8 October 2006]

I have read the final (subject to changes on set)script for this program and from what i saw it is a thorough telling of the tragedy. The official story was - "On 20th August 1989 the gravel dredger BOWBELLE collided with the pleasure vessel MARCHIONESS. As a result of the collision, 51 people lost their lives." This is basically what happened, the program itself tells the story from before the accident to years after with interviews with the survivors, the families of those who lost their lives and various officials. It also tells the viewer of the atmosphere at the time which was still predominantly homophobic, and how the public's first reactions clashed and ranged from subtle sympathy to outrage to suspicions that it was in fact a premeditated hate crime towards the large number of gay passengers.

Excellently told and painfully remembered.