National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2017
“James Cameron's epic retold the story of the great maritime disaster and made mega-stars of both its leads, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Their upstairs-downstairs romance transported the audience to another world and time via spectacular sweeping scenes in the bow of the ship and beyond.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
James Cameron
Studio
Paramount Pictures · British Film Institute · 20th Century Studios · 195 min
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Titanic (1997) arrived from Paramount and 20th Century Fox as one of the most ambitious productions in Hollywood history, directed by James Cameron on a budget that alarmed studio executives at the time. Its theatrical run became a cultural event, sweeping the Academy Awards and cementing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as defining stars of their generation. Decades later it remains a touchstone of 1990s studio filmmaking, prized by collectors for its scale, its craftsmanship, and the way it fused disaster epic with intimate romance for a global audience that returned to theaters again and again.
This cell preserves Jack Dawson, the penniless artist whose charm and independence make him one of the most beloved characters in the film. The moment named here, Jack sketching Rose, is among the picture's most iconic and intimate sequences, a scene collectors specifically seek out for its quiet centering of the romance at the heart of the story. As a 35mm frame drawn directly from the release print, it functions like a trailer or title card might, a single preserved instant standing in for the larger emotional arc between these two characters, offered here as a tangible artifact of that celebrated scene.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Titanic (1997)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-violet tint consistent with a colour release print; dye image appears warm and stable with no visible fading
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Titanic (1997)
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack, colour positive base, and perforation layout are all consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the mid-to-late 1990s
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062606
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
