90 Degrees South [DVD] [1933] [US Import] [NTSC]

Highly recommended for anyone interested in explorers, Antarctica or human-interest-led history. Ponting spent a year on Captain Scott's ill-fated 1910 Polar Expedition and this is the moving footage he shot with his intelligent and reserved narration dubbed over it. He mixes then-revolutionary footage of polar surroundings and wild-life with the involving every-day life for the explorers themselves. Although Ponting did not accompany Scott on the final polar journey, haunting still photographs and maps help to bring to life the end of the story. For anyone with so much as a passing interest in Scott or Antarctica, this is a throughly involving piece of film-making. The picture-quality is excellent and even in black and white, the icebergs and Great Barrier are quite awesome. The film brings the oft-told story of Scott's final expedition to life, showing details such as the men setting up tent, cooking, exercising the ponies and enjoying a chaotic game of football. Ponting captures the grandeur of the Polar plateaus and the spirit of the adventures who explored them. I have read much about the expedition but to see the moving film of these men, especially those who made the final trek and did not return, going about their daily chores, laughing and joking, is involving in a way no words ever could be. As a person not entirely sold on Scott's greatness, I was pleased to find Ponting's tone throughout to be respectful, loyal but not blinkered. Apart from a hypocrital and frankly, bored introduction from Scott's number 2, Teddy Evans, who never liked or agreed with Scott or got along well with any of the other four who died, this evocative film hits the right note every time. The end of the tale is tragic, but the strenght of these men's spirits is ultimately uplifting. To see Oates handing out army-style haircuts and Bowers cheerfully showing off the pony he was training is to remember that there was so much more to these men than noble deaths.

Although the VHS takes a long time to get going, it's worth the wait. The introduction to the edited film reminds us of old fashioned presentations, although speaking to the camera with hands in pockets is a bit surprising! However, much of the filming is impressive especially when remembered it was filmed in the 1910's, under extreme weather conditions and developed using far from modern facilities. There's humour despite the tragic outcome and well worth owning for anyone interested in the early Antarctic expeditions.

This is an incredible record of one of the most famous voyages of exploration ever. In the earliest years of cine film, Herbert Ponting's amazing achievement in taking, processing & preserving his historic record is almost as great an achievement as the expedition itself. Unfortunately he saw himself as the first David Attenborough & took far too much footage of penguins where I would have liked more of the humans who played such heroic yet in some cases tragic parts in this remarkable story. Expensive but will be one of the top DVDs in anyone's collection (as it is in mine).