SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC (1948, UK, 111m, U) ***½
Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
dist. General Film Distributors (GFD) (UK), Eagle-Lion Classics (USA); pr co. Ealing Studios; d. Charles Frend; w. Walter Meade, Ivor Montagu; pr. Michael Balcon; ph. Jack Cardiff, Osmond Borradaile, Geoffrey Unsworth (Technicolor | 1.37:1); m. Ralph Vaughan Williams; ed. Peter Tanner; ad. Arne Åkermark.
cast: John Mills (Captain R.F. Scott R.N.), Diana Churchill (Kathleen Scott), Harold Warrender (Dr. E.A. Wilson), Anne Firth (Oriana Wilson), Derek Bond (Captain L.E.G. Oates), Reginald Beckwith (Lt. H.R. Bowers R.I.M.), James Robertson Justice (P.O. (Taff) Evans, R.N.), Kenneth More (Lt. E.G.R.(Teddy) Evans R.N.), Norman Williams (Chief Stoker W. Lashly R.N.), John Gregson (P.O. T. Crean R.N.), James McKechnie (Surgeon Lt. E.L.Atkinson R.N.), Barry Letts (Apsley Cherry-Gerrard), Dennis Vance (Charles S. Wright), Larry Burns (P.O. P. Keohane R.N.), Edward Lisak (Dimitri), Melville Crawford (Cecil Meares), Christopher Lee (Bernard Day), John Owers (F.J. Hooper), Bruce Seton (Lt. H. Pennell R.N.), Clive Morton (Herbert Ponting F.R.P.S.).
The true story of explorer Robert Falcon Scott (Mills), who is determined to be the first man to reach the South Pole. He and his party start off well, utilising three modes of transportation — dogs, ponies and snow tractors — but the extremely cold weather, as well as the better-equipped competition from a rival team of Norwegian explorers, led by Roald Amundsen (unseen on screen), proves to be too much for Scott and his expedition. For the most part, Frend remains pretty removed from exploring his characters in depth, presenting the initial domestic and fund-raising scenes in a matter-of-fact documentarian way. Once the team arrives at Antarctica things pick up but the stiff-upper-lip approach, very much in vogue for the period in which the film was shot, feels overplayed when viewed today. That said the final act as the explorers make their return journey having learned they were beaten to the pole, increases the intensity of the drama as the team’s vulnerability becomes all too apparent. Impressively photographed by three distinguished cinematographers with a dramatic score by Vaughan Williams, who used his composition as the basis for his seventh symphony.
