South
About South
Frank Hurley's film follows Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition as Endurance pushes into the pack, freezes in, and is crushed. The men camp on the ice and reach Elephant Island. Hurley did not film the boat voyage to South Georgia, and the closing stretch turns to sea lions, penguins, and other animals.
Cast & crew
More about South
Hurley, who had already filmed Douglas Mawson's Antarctic expedition, shot this one for Shackleton between 1914 and 1916. The picture was first shown in London in 1919 as In the Grip of the Polar Pack Ice.
Themes
Background
The footage comes from the 1914–1916 expedition and was released in London in 1919, after the First World War.
In film history
BFI programme notes for the 2022 re-release call South the world's first documentary feature.
Making
Shackleton used the film with his lectures. Almost twenty minutes near the end are wildlife shots, put in where the rescue voyage would be.
Reviews
Roger Ebert gave the restoration three stars out of four after a 2000 screening at the Film Center in Chicago. Peter Bradshaw, in The Guardian, gave the 2022 re-release four stars out of five.
Look
Frank Hurley photographed the expedition on 35mm and used the Paget colour process, cutting between close views and wider setups on the ice. Surviving prints carry blue, green, and amber tints.
Music
The 1919 release was silent. Neil Brand wrote the piano score for the BFI restoration and a new score for the 2022 remaster, played by an orchestra at the BFI IMAX premiere.
Preservation
The BFI National Archive restored the film in 1998 from Jury's print and negative, a tinted Nederlands Filmmuseum print, and the lecture slides. A digital remaster was released in UK cinemas on January 28, 2022.
Notes
- BFI Screenonline lists the surviving material at 4,835 feet of 35mm.
- On-screen credits name F. A. Worsley as captain of Endurance, J. Stenhouse as captain of Aurora, and L. Hussey as meteorologist.
- The BFI began restoring the film in 1994 and credits a 1998 restoration by the National Film and Television Archive.
- Restoration materials included a print and negative deposited by distributor Sir William Jury, a tinted print from the Nederlands Filmmuseum, and glass slides from Shackleton's lecture.
- A digital remaster opened at the BFI IMAX in London on January 27, 2022, then in UK cinemas from January 28, with Blu-ray and DVD on February 28.
Scenes
- Endurance is locked in the ice and then crushed.
- The film breaks off the rescue story for a long passage of penguins and sea lions.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-endurance)
- BFI DVD
- BFI Blu-ray and DVD (February 28, 2022)
