A shortage of lifeboats causes the crew to only allow women and children in (though the captain allows a few men to take to the last remaining boats as the disaster reaches its zenith) and many couples are separated.

Mrs. Rool refuses to leave her husband, and after the boats are gone all the passengers gather in the lounge and sing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as the Atlantic sinks into the ocean.

An urban legend claimed for many years that the movie was filmed aboard the White Star Line ship RMS Majestic.

However, this is probably untrue, as the White Star Line would never have permitted their current flagship to be used as a cinematic stand-in for the worst disaster in the company's history.

[6] (White Star had in fact also owned a liner called SS Atlantic which was lost in 1873 with a heavy loss of life, but at the distance of half a century it was no longer considered as immediately traumatising as the Titanic.)

As the first sound film about the sinking of the Titanic, it is also the first to feature the song "Nearer, My God to Thee," which is played by the ship's band and sung by passengers and crew.