South & The Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration on Film

This utterly fascinating and compelling 3-disc collection of archive films truly captures the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, starting in 1898 and ending in 1922 with footage of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s funeral. This period coincides with the development of film technology and the rise of commercial cinema, allowing audiences to see first-hand footage of these icy and up until then unexplored landscapes, complete with its animal life.

Following the disputed achievement of the North Pole in 1909 (was it Robert Peary or was it Frederick Cook?) the race was on to explore the South Pole and one thing was certain: this time there would be no uncertainty or mistakes for cameras don’t lie! The first British expedition to Antarctica was undertaken by Anglo-Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink who was probably the first to set foot on the icy terrain. Cue for the 1-minute clip ‘Antarctic Expedition: Sir George Newnes to Officers and Crew’ (1898) depicts Borchgrevink and his team on their departure in the Southern Cross. Next we have an 8-minute clip depicting the departure of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew from Lyttelton, NZ, in 1908. For Shackleton it was his second expedition to the Antarctic but his first as leader.
If you think it was only the Brits, the Scandinavians or the Americans who were explorer-happy then think again for Japanese Lieutenant Nobu Shirase undertook his own conquest towards the Antarctic, namely from 1910-1912. This 19-minute version of ‘Nihon Nankyoku Tanken/The Japanese Expedition to Antarctica’ was derived from a 16mm print prepared on the expedition’s 40th anniversary to coincide with a memorial service held in 1950 by surviving members of Shirase’s team.

Equally fascinating is the 22-minute film ‘Fram’s South Polar Expedition’ depicting Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition (1910–1912), with Amundsen and his team of four men to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole on 14th December 1911. In between all the various blizzards and various footages we are treated to a 45-second snippet from Pathé’s Animated Gazette No. 140 as well as footage showing all the lovely canine companions who were of vital importance – first in the 1-minute clip ‘Dogs for the Antarctic’ (1911) followed by the 45-second clip ‘Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Dogs in Quarantine at Beddington’ (1914).
Other footage includes a 26-sec clip from around 1917 showing Captain Davis returning to Sydney after having rescued part of Shackleton’s expedition team, plus a 11-minute film from Uruguay honouring the remains of Shackleton as well as his funeral (extract from Southward on the Quest).

The icing (no pun intended) on the cake are two feature-length films. First up it’s the ‘Official Film of the Mawson Australasian Antarctic Expedition aka Home of The Blizzard (1911–1914). In over 68-minutes we follow Douglas Mawson, a 28-year old University of Adelaide geologist and his team who, by early 1912, had established a wireless base on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island with its main base at Cape Denison and – let’s not forget – fearsome icy winds and blizzards galore! How humans and dogs coped is anyone’s guess, in fact, the native inhabitants such as the colonies of penguins and seals (some of the team members even attempted to ride on them!) can cope a darn side better.
The second feature is ‘South – Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic’ (1919), a 81-minute journey into near doom when Shackleton’s ship The Endurance became trapped in heavy pack ice, with ensuing and frantic preparations to survive the ordeal by drifting northward with only 2lbs of belongings for each man and looking after the dogs. It is one of the greatest survival stories ever to be captured on film!

Bonus material consists of related archive footage, 2002 audio commentary by Luke McKernan, a 1-min audio of Shackleton speaking and more.
Remastered in a 3-disc Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray and DVD) this release is an absolute Must for all those interested in Arctic explorations!