DB7

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.

dpgmel

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.

christoph404

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.

ggm

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..

Steve Crook

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 filters

But he did a reasonable job

Steve

billy bentley

Mr Crook, could you please tell us a little more about Jack Cardiff's book ?

Steve Crook

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

Edward G

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...

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Marky B

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

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

NappieB

I thought James Robertson Justice was superb in the movie! The whole cast gave great performances, but he was a standout!

"The future is yet to come" - George W. Bush

J. J.

. . . Me, too.

. . . Scott.. . The things I've seen there!. Terrible and wonderful!. Flames exploding in air.
. . . Kathleen.. . Mountains of crystal...
. . . Scott.. . Colors falling from the sky.
. . . Kathleen.. . Yes.
. . . Scott.. . Silence, like a scream into wind.
. . . Kathleen.. . Silence like sleep.
.
. . . (Terra Nova. by Ted Tally)
.

Marky B

Is that the same Ted Tally who wrote the screenplay for Silence Of The Lambs?
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

batman

Yep ..... he is quite well known as a playwright in the US. All his screenplays are adaptations of other people's novels.

Don't miss out on a chance to win a rare film in Bat-Quiz 13 closing date - 31/8/8.

CaptainWaggett

The National Theatre's current blockbuster is a verse-drama about Nansen who seems to have been a remarkable guy even if he did eat the dogs

mrs_emma_peel

I can thoroughly recommend:
Journals: Captain Scott's Last Expedition (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback) by R.F. Scott Amazon.co.uk £6-99

A very moving and riveting account – the detailed diary descriptions of the deaths of Evans and Oates and his final letters are particularly poignant and unforgettable.

I’m a great fan of Scott of the Antarctic and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s superb Sinfonia Antarctica developed from his film score.

I remember seeing an interview with John Mills who said he was very pleased with the film, but wished the screenplay had developed Scott’s complex character flaws more – for example: his arguably fateful decision to take 5 men to the pole instead of 4.
(I was shocked to discover that Harold Warrender who played Dr Bill Wilson, died in 1953, only 5 years after the film was released, aged just 49)

There is an excellent yet considerably more controversial 1985, 380 min TV film/mini-series on Scott: The Last Place on Earth - based on Roland Huntford’s contentious book on Scott. This is a much more detailed and critical examination of Scott’s last expedition - with Martin Shaw as Captain Robert Falcon (Con) Scott, Sverre Anker Ousdal as Roald Amundsen, Pat (Bomber) Roach as PO Edgar (Taff) Evans, Richard Morant as Captain Titus Oates, Stephen Moore as Dr Bill Wilson, Sylvester McCoy as Lt. ‘Birdie’ Bowers, Hugh Grant as Apsley Cherry-Garrard and the brilliant Max von Sydow as Fridtof Nansen.

This is a splendid and fascinating yet highly controversial TV mini-series version which examines Scott’s character flaws, his virtues and his fateful decisions.

The Last Place on Earth has an 8.6 rating on IMDb (Amazon.co.uk R2 DVD £10) and is based on Roland Huntford’s controversial book on Scott, which has in turn been criticised by Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Susan Solomon - her book looks at the very rare, almost unprecedented and virtually uniquely vicious ‘summer’ weather conditions experienced by Scott’s expedition on the desperate return journey.

Mrs Emma Peel