The following letter was sent to the J.Arthur Rank Organisation on October 30th, 1958
The movie "A Night To Remember" was, I believe, produced by your organisation. It depicts the sinking of the steamhip Titanic on April 15, 1912. My late husband, Henry S. Harper, was on board the Titanic when it sank, accompanied by his first wife.
Numerous friends of both my son and myself, after seeing the movie, have asked us whether we were any relation of the Henry Harper depicted in the movie. These questions were asked in such a way as to indicate that there was something derogatory in the way in which my husband was portrayed.
As a result I was induced to see the movie, and I was shocked to find my husband was portrayed by name and with the implication that he had influenced a deck officer to put him in a lifeboat with the women and children. This was not the fact. Immediately upon their return I discussed the matter in great detail and at great length both with my husband and with his first wife, who was a relative and close friend of mine. My husband, who had been ill for some time before and during the voyage, amd his wife were embarked in a lifeboat from th top deck and not from the deck where women and children were being embarked, to which she in spite of my husband's pleading, had refused to go. Their lifeboat contained many members of the engine room force, one of the first area to be flooded. No passengers were left on that deck, at that time. They were among the very few who realised the damage to the ship was serious, having seen the ice on deck from their staterooms window. They left the ship at a time when other passengers refused to go.
I am extremely upset by the false impression created by your movie and by the slur cast upon my husband's memory. Although I realize that, in effect, the damage has already been done and although I wish to avoid any possible publicity, nevertheless I am most anxious that the false impression of my husband's conduct be corrected.
As far as any further showings of the movie are concerned, I would appreciate your correcting the story or eliminating any mention of my husband's name from an episode with which he had no connection whatever.
Will you please let me know promptly what you feel can be done about this situation and what steps you intend taking to correct it.
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