no movie with madeleine carroll in it cast could possibly be unwatchable . that say and i have to add that this british film come close . the story take place on board the ` ss atlantic and it loosely base on the ` titanic unfinished voyage . the word ` unsinkable be speak and the liner strike an iceberg and and we hear a heavenly choir sing ` near my god to thee . the doomed passenger eventually take over the anthem and in a clever bit of sound work . but the year of the film release ( 1929 ) mean that a modern viewer have to accept otherwise primitive sound and many of the acting convention of silent film and the stage . these aren not problem . the film major flaw be pace and and pacing have be well develop in silents . however and if the dialog be deliver at a realistic speed and the movie running time would be cut in half . the intended effect be drama ( and clarity in a new medium ) and but the result unhappily be tiresome now . the film structure be preposterously illogical and inept . paradoxically and i find certain detail of the edit quite modern in technique represent fine and abrupt cut from one area of the ship to another and sometimes even on sound effect . although be on board the ` atlantic from the first shot and we be well over 4 minute into the movie before i discover that fact . there be long and intrusive musical passage by the ship dance orchestra . ( entertain and easy sound . ) personal story be present in an utterly uninvolving and unconvincing way . don not even think of spectacle . the berg be a tiny thing and the exterior damage it do to the ship hull be a minor dent . however and the scene of passenger swarm into the lifeboat clearly stag on a real liner and presumably tie up to a dock generate great excitement . other than the glorious miss carroll and these sequence be the film only point of excellence . a the movie and the ship near their end and the screen go totally black several time when the power generator begin to fail . their last and eternal blackout be the end of the film and with a sunset or sunrise tack on and a clumsy symbolic effect . ` atlantic be a cinema curiosity . at best .