South

This is a slice of history. The documentation of the expedition that didn't work out and turned into a adventurous flight for survival. Unfortunately, and of course naturally, the real story, the trek to Elephant Isle and then to South Georgia, the pinnacle of the whole event, was not on film. But again, this is were film becomes a 'time-machine'.

This film has recently been shown with the title "SOUTH Sir Ernest Shackleton's glorious epic of the Antarctic". Considering what cinematographer Frank Hurley had to work with as equipment and the hardships under which he was working, it really is an amazing film. Think, too, that probably most of his footage and still photographs had to be abandoned as the 28 men fought just to stay alive after their ship "Endurance" was crushed by the ice and sank. Shackleton hoped to land on the coast of Antarctica and cross the continent using dog sleds, then be picked up on the other coast by his ship. Alas, the winter of 1914-1915 turned out to be one of worst in the known history of the frozen continent to that time, and their ship was ice bound and destroyed before they ever reached the shore south of Elephant Island and the farther north island of South Georgia. What we are shown here is mostly the earlier part of the saga before the conditions grew really bad. The latter part is covered mostly by still pics and some artists drawings, pieced out by movies of bird and seal life around South Georgia. This last may prove tedious for some, but the rest is very interesting. For a really detailed account of Shackleton's adventure consult ENDURANCE: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (McGraw-Hill, 1959) which I imagine many libraries will have.

A truly amazing film, and at least one good thing to come as a result of British self-importance. Film was still in its early years; leave it to the Brits to capitalize on it to record their abortive undertaking at the south pole. Still it is an admirable effort, and the photography is often startling, especially since the Milestone release. Thanks to the previous commentor for the bibliography, as I too had to wonder what became of the sled dogs, who seemed at least as dedicated as their human counterparts.

Anyone familiar with the incredible true story of Shackelton and his entire crews survival against seemingly impossible odds when their ship Endurance became trapped in Antartic ice will appreciate this documentary.

The quality of the pictures is outstanding for the time. Frank Hurley the expedition's offical photographer did an amazing job.

The first 2/3rds of the film is most interesting. As conditions worsened its clear that Hurley could not take so many photographs (he was confined to a pocket camera in the later stages).

The later part decends into a nature documentary of South Georgia. I would have preferred to see more pictures of the whaling station where Shackelton and two companions made contact with civilization after more than 2 years of struggle.

A fitting memorial to this century's most inspiring survival epic.

Until this showed up on TCM's recent documentary series I had no idea that this film existed. It is a truly remarkable document of Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole in 1914 that turned into a two year adventure on ice.

Save for some cute animal footage at the end that seems designed to pad the running time, this is a perfect film.