Cook & Peary: The Race to the Pole (1983) (TV)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Robert Day

Writer:

I.C. Rapoport (writer)

Release Date:

13 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Plot Keywords:

Greenland | Arctic | Commander | Navy | Explorer

Cast

Richard Chamberlain	...	Frederick Cook
Rod Steiger	...	Robert E. Peary
Diane Venora	...	Marie Fidele Hunt
Michael Gross	...	James Troth
Samm-Art Williams	...	Matt Henson
Louis Negin	...	Maitre D'
Mark Walker	...	1st Gentleman
Barry Blake	...	2nd Gentleman
Bronwen Mantel	...	Mrs. Dudley
Tara O'Donnell	...	Ruth Hunt
Daniel Nalbach	...	Bridgeman
Philip Spensley	...	Morris Jessup
Antony Parr	...	General Hubbard
Don Robinson	...	Alexander Graham Bell
Walter Massey	...	Theodore Roosevelt

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Greenland

Company:

Robert Halmi

"The Big Nail" and "The Bigger Lie"

It is somewhat sad that for all the interest shown regarding the South Pole (the movie SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC, and the series THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH), the only film dealing with the great North Pole controversy of the same period is this mediocre retelling of the story from the point of view of die-hard Cook supporters. As such it puts the best spin on the case for Dr. Cook, but it leaves many issues unresolved. But first let me try to fill in the basic problem.

Between 1890 and 1909 there were four explorations done by Lt. Robert Peary to the North Pole. Peary, a United States Naval Officer, had originally been involved in exploration in Nicaragua's jungles, looking over the possible routes for a transoceanic canal. He was assisted by a servant, Matthew Henson (a African-American). When Peary turned his attention to the Pole, he took Henson with him. They worked well together, but Peary saw that Henson could be good as a go-between with the native Inuits. However they went on the four journeys together, and Peary slowly got promoted to Commander, Commodore, and finally Rear Admiral (Henson rose in naval rank too, though never as high as Peary - however, among explorers Henson was widely respected and was a member of the Explorer's Club with Peary).

Peary suffered on these journeys - he lost eight of his ten toes to frostbite. But he learned the lesson of the Arctic through Henson and the Inuits. You had to live off the land, and to travel like an Inuit to get through the Arctic. His determination to reach the North Pole won him many wealthy supporters in the U.S. But after each of the first three voyages (especially the third) there was increasing skepticism about whether the burning determination would help him nail the "big nail" (as the Pole was called).

He certainly had many rivals - one was Fridjof Nansen, the great Norwegian explorer whose drift in the "Fram" in 1893 was one of the greatest scientific journeys in the golden age of Arctic exploration (1821 - 1928). Another was Nansen's younger Norwegian rival Raoul Amundsen, the first to sail through the Northwest Passage completely (1903 - 1905). Both of them intended to try to reach the Pole. So did some lesser explorers like Anthony Fiala. A Swedish aeronaut, Saloman Andree, disappeared in 1897 with two companions in an attempt to fly to the Pole (their remains were found in 1930).

One unexpected rival was Dr. Frederick Cook. Dr. Cook had experience on an Antarctic Exploration in the 1890s, and had served as the medical officer on one of Peary's journeys. But he soon branched out on his own. In 1906 he announced at the Explorer's Club that he had reached the summit of Mount McKinley, and soon published TO THE TOP OF THE CONTINENT with photographs of his assent. Based on this he announced his intention to reach the Pole. This was upsetting to Peary, who felt he had first rights to it.

The television film follows the journey of the two rivals in 1908 - 1909. It gets part of the story correct - although Peary is officially credited with reaching the North Pole on April 6, 1909 accompanied by Henson, the evidence is ... err..."spotty". It has not stood up too well, particularly sledding speeds and distances that have rarely been duplicated in the Polar areas by others. However, Cook by this time had returned to civilization and announced he reached the Pole in April 1908 accompanied by two Inuits.

Here the film jumps totally into the pro-Cook camp, and never recovers it's balance. Cook did not document his trip too well either. The two Inuits said that he spent the period living with them among some islands in the North of Greenland (ironically, if Cook had told the truth about this, and published the results, his fame as a daring explorer might be greater now than if he had reached the Pole). Documents he claimed supported his travel speeds were left behind in Greenland. He claimed Peary should have brought them back, as he (Cook) requested. Quite rightly Peary had refused because (as he pointed out) if the documents did not support Cook's claim he would have been accused of tampering with Cook's records.

Cook soon found that others were attacking him. Several mountain climbers tackled Mount Mckinley, and found massive holes in the story of Cook's climbing it in 1906 (one photo of him at the "summit" turned out to be a fake). By 1910 Cook's reputation was tattered. Subsequent actions by him, such as stealing credit for a Polynesian dictionary that a missionary wrote, and the sale of valueless oil stock in the 1920s (leading to a prison sentence) finished his credibility with most of the public. However a sizable number still insist that he did climb Mt. McKinley to the top and that he did reach the Pole, but because he was a poor individualist (and not - like Peary - supported by bloated rich men) he was traduced by his enemies.

Richard Chamberlain and Rod Steiger give excellent performances as Cook and Peary. I recommend the film to see the pro-Cook argument. If they ever do a more even-handed account showing the defects of both explorers' claims it would be all to the better.