ipicked this up at a car boot sail for .AU. 50 cents. uk.20p. i could not walk past it
with . john mills and kenneth moore
have anny of you good people seen this one ? haven't watched it as yet myself
cheers mark
Excellent film, Mark, with John Mills doing his darnedest. Wonderful music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, using all sorts of unusual instruments like a wind machine - this music afterwards became RVW's "Sinfonia Antarctica".
You did well not to pass it by!
rgds
Rob
The soundtrack is also available on CD from Chandos records.
Nick
I just watched it last night for the first time: a perfect embodiment of the heroic age of exploration. By the way, if you've not read it, I would enthusuastically recommend Apsley Cherry-Garrard's personal account 'The Worst Journey in the World'.
In his autobiography Jack Cardiff tells how he was brought in to finish off the work started by Osmond Borradaile & Geoffrey Unsworth. Some was shot in the studio, some was shot on different location shoots (Antarctica, Norway, Switzerland etc.). It all had very different lighting and was a bight of a nightmare to put it all together and film the rest of it to fit what they'd started. But the end result is pretty good
Steve
Did they film much in Antarctica itself, do you know? I suppose the ice shelf shots from the sea would have to have been there. The Beardmore Glacier may have been on the Jungfrau.
Kenneth More says in his biography that he took his proud mum (or Dad I forget) to see him in his big role and she couldn't tell which one of the icy wind blasted, wrinkled, bearded faces belonged to her son!
good film, good story, but some dodgy scenery
I thought the scenery was all white!Originally Posted by stevie boy
I thought Oates' performance became a little stilted towards the end. But everybody displayed a lot of sang froid. :)
I think they all had very cold blood
Isn't that one of those classic mistranslations?
Le sang-froid de l'anglais = The Englishman and his bloody cold
Steve
Films of my life:Kate Mosse
Scott of the Antarctic (Charles Frend 1948)
One of the first films I remember making an impression on me was Scott of the Antarctic, starring John Mills. I very clearly remember seeing it on television when I must have been eight or nine. We watched it round the family television and it was also the time when I was starting to become seriously interested in music. The score is by Vaughan Williams; I remember the music so clearly and the moment of them arriving at the pole and seeing the Norwegian flag, and afterwards I went up to my bedroom and wept. I've had a lifelong interest in that journey and an obsession with that landscape.
Have to agree, Scott of the Antartic is probably my bavourite British film. IMHO very underated and the final scene where the three companions perish is so poignant.
Its a superb film and brilliantly filmed by Jack Cardiff on a tiny sound stage at Ealing Studios. His visual flare certainly adds volumes to the drama.
the recital of the 'skinside inside' poem is one of my favourite vignettes. My mum recalled Apsley Cherry Garrard coming to visit her school, and commenting that he had no teeth, because they all shattered in the cold. It really brought home how extreme conditions were for the scott party, and to think they did it on plasmon biscuits and seal blubber..
They did do some filming in Antarctica, and in Norway. But all of that was done before Jack was brought in and he says in his book that one of the many difficult jobs he had on that film was to match up all the different location shots that were taken with very different light conditions and filtersIts a superb film and brilliantly filmed by Jack Cardiff on a tiny sound stage at Ealing Studios. His visual flare certainly adds volumes to the drama.
But he did a reasonable job
Steve
Mr Crook, could you please tell us a little more about Jack Cardiff's book ?
Magic Hour: The Life of a Cameraman
By: Jack Cardiff
Faber & Faber, 1996. ISBN 0-571-17640-2
It's a great read, full of his best anecdotes from a lifetime in the industry
Steve
Howdy Steve,
Had a peep on Amazon and this seems very highly rated as a non-stuffy and witty account of his professional life.
Many thanks for the tip,
Wil definitely be reading this...
A film I have yet to see,but I will lookout for it. I have got RVW's Sinfonia Antarctica on CD.
Ta Ta
Marky B
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