Scott of the Antarctic (1948)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Charles Frend

Writers:

Walter Meade (screenplay) &
Ivor Montagu (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 April 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

The true story of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his ill-fated expedition to try to be the first man to discover the South Pole...

Plot Keywords:

Antarctica | Antarctic | Ealing | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

John Mills	...	Captain R. F. Scott R.N.
Diana Churchill	...	Kathleen Scott
Harold Warrender	...	Dr. E.A. Wilson
Anne Firth	...	Oriana Wilson
Derek Bond	...	Captain L.E.G. Oates
Reginald Beckwith	...	Lt. H.R. Bowers R.I.M.
James Robertson Justice	...	P.O.'Taff' Evans R.N.
Kenneth More	...	Lt. E.G.R. 'Teddy' Evans R.N.
Norman Williams	...	Chief Stoker W. Lashly R.N.
John Gregson	...	P.O. T. Crean R.N.
James McKechnie	...	Surgeon Lt. E.L.Atkinson R.N.
Barry Letts	...	Apsley Cherry-Gerrard
Dennis Vance	...	Charles S. Wright
Larry Burns	...	P.O. P. Keohane R.N.
Edward Lisak	...	Dimitri

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:U (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Antarctica

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

The scene where the explorers land at the Bay of Ross was specially extended in the cutting room merely to accommodate the power of Vaughan Williams' score for the sequence.

Quotes:

[At the South Pole]
Captain Scott: Great God! this is an awful place.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Antarctica (1991)

An inspiring and timeless film

The Ealing Studios production `Scott of the Antarctic' is a work of art and an inspiration to human achievement. The film depicts the polar explorers of the Second Scott Antarctic Expedition (1910-1913). They are portrayed first as pygmies against the terrible backdrop of the ice continent, then as dauntless giants within the enclosed spaces of their fragile tents as they await their certain death.

The mood of the film is High Victorian, although strictly speaking the setting is Late Edwardian. Edward Adrian Wilson, the artist, played by Harold Warrender, is the quintessential gentleman naturalist. As the film begins, Wilson is shown in the summery garden of his tranquil country homestead in England, meticulously creating a scientific illustration of a mounted bat. At the end, when Wilson is among the few remaining explorers who face frozen death in their wind-whipped tent, his spirit drifts away to his English home.

The Victorian faith in mechanisms is brought forth by close up shots of distance-measuring wheels that are attached to the backs of clumsy man-drawn sledges, and by the heroic but flawed powered tractors that break down in the awful cold.

The film invites the viewer to arrive at his or her own conclusions about the character of Captain Scott. The film makes no judgments - it merely portrays Scott through the superb acting of John Mills.

`Scott of the Antarctic' is a timeless film about eternal values: human endeavor, achievement and triumph.