Scott of the Antarctic (1949)

Prepare for the ultimate battle of man versus the elements in this gripping true tale of Commander Scott leader of the infamous and ill-fated expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole. In 1911 Scott and his team battled not only the violent cold weather but also a rival team of Norwegians who were racing to beat them in their quest.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG UPC: 692865346333 Manufacturer No: T-3463 Product Description

Good History

I have seen this DVD and the script and characters are absolutely first rate. However the DVD quality of the picture is very poor.
We are going to Antarctica this November and it does give you a great background for the history of Antarctic exploration.

July 30, 2008

Printing the legend

The Brits love nothing so much as their heroic failures, and Scott of the Antarctic is pretty much the poster boy for Imperial underachievers, thanks in part to the publishing success his very heavily edited diary (none of those crabby bits blaming everyone else for his own mistakes made the cut) and a neat bit of mythmaking from J.M. Barrie, who invented a fictional heroic death for him.

Surprisingly, although it doesn't dare to criticize and does play down Scott's awkwardness and snobbery, Ealing's beautifully lensed color epic holds back from deifying him, offering a more sober portrait than you might expect. Amundsen is purely an offscreen presence here, despite proffering the sneaking suspicion that he's a bit of a bounder and a cad for getting there first by being competent (not the British way of exploring at all!), and legendary Norwegian Arctic pioneer Nansen only gets a brief look in (and no mention of his affair with Scott's wife: goodness, no!), but then this is more a film about stoic endurance in the face of `bad luck' (rather than bad leadership and bad planning) than the race for the South Pole. John Mills is surprisingly good casting for Scott, his slight awkwardness with others suggesting he'd done his homework (his gutted reaction to reaching the Pole second is convincingly bitter), and the supporting cast is full of welcome mainstays of the British film industry - Kenneth More, James Robertson Justice (without a beard for once!), Reginald Beckwith et al. Although the integration with the studio work isn't always entirely convincing, the location photography is genuinely staggering and Vaughn Williams score is impressively forlorn.

As others have noted, the Region 1 NTSC transfer is atrocious. Seek out the UK PAL DVD instead, which is devoid of extras but does have a good transfer. January 17, 2008

Movie puts you right there

I agree with the other reviewers about the poor quality of the dvd. However, the movie places you there with Scott and the others as their mission of research, and, of course, personal glory degenerates into a battle for survival in the frigid air of the Antarctic. Can you possibly imagine day after day of below zero weather, pulling a sleigh, not with dogs, but human power, camping each night during the howling sub-zero wind, and slowly realizing you are going to die? The movie places one right there with Scott and the others. Very, very eerie and frightening. A must see for historical adventure fans. August 29, 2007

A gripping Tale

Well done (in a '40's perspective) film of Scott's last attempt to reach the South Pole. I would've expected more(some,at least)restoration of such an historical film. It really rated 5 starss but 2 were deducted because of the poor print quality.
Edward Kerr
iegolden@shaw.ca February 18, 2007

5 star story - 1 star transfer to DVD

I'll have to agree with the previous reviewers both in appraisal of the story-- it's great, and denigration of the technical quality of this particular DVD version. Just be forwarned to prepare yourself for only fair to poor video quality (grainy & high contrast) and continous distortion in the audio.

Having said that I kind of doubt we'll see a better transfer anytime soon of this 1948-49 film. I'm willing to give the DVD's technical weaknesses a pass in order to have this important film in my library. December 24, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...