"That's right sir. We can't get divers down to the Titanic. Which leaves us with only one choice. We don't go to the mountain. The mountain comes to us."

Dirk Pitt (Richard Jordan)

It was claimed to be the "Big One" for the 1980s; a film adventure to rival the James Bond franchise and the movie that would make Great Britain's entertainment mogul Lord Lew Grade a threat to the Hollywood film studios. Titanic historian Jonathan Smith chronicles the ups and downs of the production of Raise the Titanic; the $35m big-screen adaptation of Clive Cussler's 1976 bestselling novel.

Raise the Titanic: The Making of the Movie delves deep into the interesting and often puzzling production woes that went on to haunt Grade and his acclaimed film and television companies of ITC and Marble Arch Productions. With the use of rare and previously unpublished original production material, author Jonathan Smith takes the reader on an adventure that has been 40 years in the making, guiding you behind the scenes of the cult movie to reveal how they achieved the unthinkable and raised the unsinkable.

Raise the Titanic: The Making of the Movie Vol. 1 includes in depth chapters that look into the concept art; the films original and replacement directors; Clive Cussler, the author of the novel that inspired the film; the first ever reveal of the building of the huge Titanic film model; the salvage fleet tasked to raise the Titanic; the casting of the films characters; adapting the novel; the construction of the world's largest water tank in Malta that became the North Atlantic's black abyss; a look behind the scenes of the filming of the deleted 1912 prologue; the search for the full size stand-in ship and how they converted her to look like the salvaged Titanic.

Lavishly illustrated with over 1700 images over both volumes, Raise the Titanic: The Making of the Movie is a must-have book for any Titanic and shipping enthusiasts, film fans of classic and cult cinema and those who have interests in movie miniatures and special effects.

The books foreword is written by award winning actor David Selby (Dr Gene Seagram in the movie) and Oscar-winning special effects stalwart John Richardson.

This is Volume One of Two