No Greater Love (1995) Kelly Rutherford, Chris Sarandon, Nicholas Campbell, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Michael Landes, Gina Philips Movie Review

No Greater Love (1995)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Kelly Rutherford in No Greater Love (1995)

Aftermath of the Titanic

As Edwina Winfield (Kelly Rutherford - Breaking the Silence) heads back to America, aboard the Titanic with her family and fiance, disaster strikes when it hits an iceberg. With the call for women and children first Edwina and her younger siblings board a lifeboat whilst her fiance and brother George jump overboard when the ship starts to go down. But her parents aren't so lucky and go down with the Titanic whilst her fiance dies in the icy water. Back in Boston Edwina tries to get her life back to normal not only by bringing up her three siblings but also keeping her father's newspaper running. But it is no easy task as each of her siblings wants their own thing and Edwina finds despite plenty of interest from gentleman admirers that she is unable to move on from the loss of her fiance.

So once again I should mention that "No Greater Love" tends to come prefixed with the name Danielle Steel's and so whilst we have mention of the Titanic we are, once again, in romantic melodrama territory. Now before that puts you off let me just say that "No Greater Love" had the potential to be a half decent movie with this drama about a sister trying to keep the family together and business going in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster. The trouble is that "No Greater Love" tries to do too much or at least too much for a movie which is 105 minutes long and as such ends up convoluted rather than entertaining.

Michael Landes in No Greater Love (1995)

Now the opening of "No Greater Love" takes us on board the Titanic on the night of the disaster and let me give you a heads up as this came out two years before James Cameron's "Titanic". As such whilst it is obviously shot on a budget with a lack of realism when the Titanic starts to sink it is surprisingly impressive with nice looking sets and some okay special effects. It also gives us a bit of romantic drama as Edwina is holding on to her fiance's hand as he slowly dies in the icy water which has an air of Jack & Rose about it, although remember this was done first.

Anyway after the opening the story quickly settles down to focussing on Edwina trying to be mother to her siblings whilst also running her late father's business. She has obstacles to overcome from those suggesting she is taking on too much to dealing with a young traumatised younger sister as well as her own emotions over the loss of her fiance making it impossible for her to romantically move on. This is all good and for a movie which comes in under two hours that would have been plenty but then it evolves and the storyline jumps a decade and we have more issues. It almost feels like "No Greater Love" needed to be a two part mini-series in order to give it the time to breathe and elaborate on the stories properly rather than cramming them in and not doing each part a service.

Despite this "No Greater Love" is a remarkably watchable movie with decent costumes, solid camera work and some entertaining performances. Kelly Rutherford does a remarkable job with some stiff dialogue and you begin to believe that the weight of doing everything is weighing heavy on her character's young shoulders.

What this all boils down to is that "No Greater Love" in the bigger picture is not a great movie but for a Danielle Steel movie it is quite good. It's just a shame that it ends up feeling convoluted thanks to is cramming so much into its 105 minutes.

Tags: Danielle Steel Movies


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