Wings Over Everest (1934)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Geoffrey Barkas
Ivor Montagu

Release Date:

19 July 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

A documentary about the first flight over Mt Everest. |

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Runtime:

UK:40 min | USA:22 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

Skibo Productions

Outdated documentary.

A group of British fliers were the first to fly over Mt Everest in the early 1930s. They took movie cameras along in the open cockpits of their biplanes and lovingly recorded every stage of their achievement on film. There's no denying the risks – in those days any mechanical failure meant certain death and they put their lives on the line. Unfortunately, flying in even the most remote locations is now so routine that this journey is of little interest to a modern audience. While every era has its technology freaks, outmoded technology does not capture the interest of new generations and even lovers of history will be quickly bored by this dated production. The only surviving point of interest for this viewer was the way the documentary has captured the unselfconscious racism, sexism and jingoistic nationalism of the era.