Scott of the Antarctic

John Mills stars as the famous explorer, whose ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic had lead to the demise of several members of his party in 1912.

Adapted from Robert Falcon Scott’s diaries and made almost entirely in a studio (and in Technicolor, which ‘tinted’ hues aren’t always convincing), the film proved to be a huge challenge for cinematographer Jack Cardiff OBE: some external landscape and glacier shots (filmed in parts of Norway and the Swiss Alps) as well as stock footage from the Pole had to be colour-matched with the studio shots. The ice storm scenes etc. make for dramatic viewing though several others scenes – particularly concerning the London sequences and Cardiff, where the whaling ship Terra Nova left Wales in 1910 – look only too obviously like studio work.

The film focuses largely on Scott’s ambition to be the first in the race to make it to the South Pole, and the hazardous trek which prevented him and his men from reaching that goal. That said, a pre-journey visit and encounter with Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen could perhaps have changed the fate of Scott’s expedition… if only he would have been prepared to listen to Nansen, who advised him that using horses as well as dogs on a polar expedition would be the wrong thing to do. But Scott did NOT listen and after a stop in New Zealand, the ship continued its journey direction Antarctica. As predicted by Nansen, the ponies – unable to cope with the harsh icy climate – turned out to be more hindrance then help and had to be shot. Also, Scott’s party seemed generally ill equipped with old-fashioned ski equipment and insufficient clothing. The movie follows these documented events pretty faithfully.

Realising that the group is in peril, Scott sends some of his men, together with the dogs, back to base. Scott and the remaining group now push further and are faced with a new hazard: the ascent of the Beardmore Glacier and the polar plateau! Continuing the exhausting trek only five men, including Captain Scott, remained. They were L. E: G. Oates (Derek Bond), Lt. Bowers (Reginald Beckwith), Dr. E. A. Wilson (Harold Warrender), and Petty Officer ‘Taff’ Evans (James Robertson Justice). After eventually having reached the Pole in mid-January the group realises that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them and the Norwegian flag is proud evidence. Having no other choice then admitting defeat, Scott’s party faces the 1,500 km journey back, where one after another eventually perished. The final sequence depicts a search party which – eight months later – finds the tent, the remaining dead bodies including Scott’s, and his diary. A cairn of ice is erected above the spot, together with a large wooden cross and the following inscription (a line from the poem ‘Ulysses’): “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

The spirited and ill-fated expedition is further emphasised by composer Vaughan William’s 7th symphony ‘Sinfonia Antarctica’. John Mills and the rest of the cast are as convincing as can be given the circumstances, which is bringing increasing disillusionment, physical weakness, emotional breakdown and ultimate defeat to the screen. When we see frostbite, starvation and utter exhaustion brought on by the hostile arctic climate then we believe it.
This restored 1948 classic furthermore offers a host of related SPECIAL FEATURES.