Posted by Stephen Daniels on January 05, 1999 at 17:07:20 in 195.92.194.19 :
In Reply to: Latest from Fine Art Models - attn: British friends posted by Mark Darrah on December 29, 1998 at 16:38:03:
Hi all,
Well, I spent the New Year with friends in Bristol (South of England), and on Jan 1st we took a day trip to London. My main reason for visiting was the Titanic Movie Tour exhibition. I also wanted to see the exhibition Mark Darrah had told us about.
The first disappointment was that the Model (Fine Arts) exhibit was closed (and nobody was answering the phone at Christies), so apologies to all who were hoping to see pictures. I tried to post earlier (thereby giving someone else a chance to visit before it left on the 5th) but the board was down.
The next disappointment was the Titanic Movie Tour. It was rubbish. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Having passed all the signs forbidding cameras and tape recorders (I was half expecting a body search and rectal examination!) we queued for about twenty minutes before being allowed in. The first thing to meet you is mock-up of the bow area of the sunken ship - this was quite good, and you entered the main 'exhibit' through a hole on the bow. You walk through a short first class corridor to the main exhibit.
The main exhibit was just a big open area (plenty room to swing a cat) with little mock-ups of rooms on the ship dotted around. These were rather small (~6m x 3m) with flooring, and two walls and the furniture. No ceiling. They were:
Thomas Andrews' Living Room Area
Rose's Bedroom
Steerage Bedroom
Wireless Room
All sets were sectioned off, so you couldn't go in and look at the detail.
The biggest letdown was the 'Grand Staircase'. The clock was perfect, the cherub was good (but I thought the colour was wrong). They seemed to get the width and the height of the staircase right. but the depth was all wrong. I reckon at least 50% less depth that it should have had! If Rose tried to go down this staircase, she would have gone arse over tit to the bottom! There just wasn't enough room for feet on the stairs. I cannot understand why they did this. Also, there was no dome, just a two dimensional 'mock-dome'.
There were several costumes, which were worn in the film, dotted about in glass cases.
There were also interesting behind-the-scenes video clips that I have not seen elsewhere.
The "Immersive disaster experience" was a joke - you stand in a silly cut-off lifeboat that bobs up and down as they play you clips of the film where the ship goes down. I was not impressed. As with all these things, the gift shop was a rip off, with overpriced inaccurate gifts like a crewman's hat with 'Titanic' written across the front.
Oh, there was one good thing. A great big model of the wrecked bow - perhaps the one James Cameron used to set up the film shoots of the real ship. I would have considered it value for money if I got to take it home with me!
Has anyone else been? What did you think?
Regards,
Stephen.