The Secret Land

Missing from the documentary is a convincing explanation of why the Navy undertook Operation Highjump: the task force was hastily assembled from ships that were being demobilized after WW2 and it was hastily dispatched --- if memory serves, one ship was never even able to join the convoy due to operational issues. The official line was that Highjump was designed to test Navy preparedness for high latitude operations against the Soviet Union (as well as surveying parts of Antarctica); if that were actually true, wouldn't the Navy have spent more than a couple of weeks assembling and fitting out craft for the experiment? And why send the submarines and Marine combat soldiers at all? There is a "conspiracy theory" regarding Highjump: that Byrd was investigating a possible Nazi submarine base in "Neuschwabenland" --- the huge Antarctic area claimed by Germany in the late '30s, which includes ice caverns (recently discovered, or rediscovered) that are accessible only by submarine. At any rate, Byrd landed opposite Neuschwabenland and deployed his forces in classic fashion -- the naval contingent was divided and advanced on his flanks while his aircraft probed the center. After two planes were lost (shot down?), Byrd cut the mission short. Strangely, his reports and his personal diary covering the period remain secret to this day.

This documentary quite rightly won an Oscar for its efforts at showing the large scale exploration of Antartica undertaken by the United States military. The weather conditions were rather extreme, to put it mildly. I'd be curious to learn just how many cameras froze up during the expedition! The narration is capably handled by three prominent actors who also seved in the military during World War II and everything is very well-executed. Turner Classic Movies has been airing this fairly often in the last two or three years. Highly recommended.

This is the story of a massive trip to Antarctica. If you thought your spouse brings too much on vacation, it ain't nothing compared to what the military brought to the bottom of the world after the second world war ended. This was a huge operation and this is its story. Never mind that this is educational and award winning, its simply a great story told expertly.

I had run across this film by accident years ago on one of the Turner stations and was captivated. I fell into its tale of men over coming nature and its become a favorite of mine ever since.

Granted its "America can do" attitude can make you a bit crazy, but it was that sort of attitude that allowed us to think we could do it in the first place.

See it, not because you'll learn something, see it because you will be entertained better than most dramatic films entertain you.

10 out of 10.

The oddly named O. O. Dull's last production is, according to Turner Classic Movies, an "authentic reproduction" of Byrd's 1946-47 expedition to the Antarctic, filled with sharp black-and-white photography and blotchy Technicolor footage, narrated by Robert Montgomery, Robert Taylor, and Van Heflin. This nicely edited documentary has some interesting shots of life aboard the ships and ice packs of Antarctica, and some staged shots of three or four admirals droning their lines. Always fun to look at penguins!

Secret Land, The (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning documentary from MGM takes a look at the dangerous expedition of Admiral Richard E. Byrd and thousands of American soldiers who tried to make it to Antarctica. The documentary, shot in beautiful Technicolor, shows the men leaving America and shows us the constant dangers of exploring one of the most dangerous places in the world (and especially at this point in history). If you're a fan of adventure then you're going to really eat this thing up. The film really plays out like an action film and it contains some pretty good drama as well as some great visuals. I'm really not sure how many cameras MGM sent to capture this footage but we get a lot of great stuff. Everything from the wildlife to a Christmas dinner to even a helicopter crashes into the sea are here for us to see and we get just about everything else that you can think of. One of the more dramatic moments happen towards the end when a plane crashes in the fog and two weeks later they're found alive but they're going to have to walk ten miles to reach a point where someone can get them. Knowing that all of this stuff is real just adds to the entertainment and the Technicolor also adds a lot. Robert Montgomery, Robert Taylor and Van Heflin narrate.