South
Footage of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition is now superlatively remastered.
It takes a film like this to reawaken one’s sense of just how wondrous the medium of film is. That South is appearing in certain cinemas now is not a coincidence. January 2022 marks the centenary of the death of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. His claim to lasting fame lay in the expedition that he undertook in 1914 to find glaciers and to trace out land in the Antarctic. The importance of this mission being apparent from the outset, the main ship involved, the Endurance, carried among others Frank Hurley, an Australian who was there as the official photographer and would in due course make this film. The historical importance of South as a record of a remarkable endeavour is beyond question. Furthermore, now that the restoration of the film by the BFI National Archive is available to us digitally remastered, it has never looked better – nor indeed sounded better since it comes with a newly commissioned music score from Neil Brand.
The quality of these pictures taken over one hundred years ago is staggeringly good – they look pristine – and Hurley's eye goes far beyond that of a standard newsreel photographer. As was the case with that even more famous venture superbly dramatised in the film Scott of the Antarctic (1948), Shackleton found that the fates were against him: the ship got caught up in the ice and was eventually destroyed by it in November 1915. Thereafter the saving of the men involved came about only after Shackleton and five others had sought help by taking a small boat over some eight hundred miles to the whaling station in South Georgia island. It was not until the late summer of 1916 that Shackleton and his team would arrive safely in Valparaiso.
In the circumstances, what the film acclaims is not a triumphant mission but the courage of the men and the contribution of the dogs which was a key component of this mission. The events that unfold have their own drama and it is an astonishing experience to behold such vivid authentic footage that comes from so far back in history. The film always offered variety through the use of colour tinting in a number of shades and that aspect too is part of the restoration. Less effective now is Hurley's decision to incorporate late on a long section featuring birds and beasts seen in the region. He went back to Antarctica to film these scenes and used this footage as a kind of substitute since he had not been one of the five in the small boat with Shackleton and consequently no pictures were taken of their desperate journey or of their crossing of the island. To replace that by scenes best suited to a nature documentary inevitably feels like an odd sidestep.
Nevertheless, all of the essentials required to capture a slice of history effectively are present and correct to a degree that is remarkable since the probability is that this was cinema's first documentary feature. The extra benefit for us in this restoration lies in its music. Neil Brand is not only a composer but has long been a noted piano accompanist for silent films. His experience of what a film needs in the way of musical support that aids its flow and enhances its moods feeds into his work here, be it the orchestral requiem that he supplies for the sinking of the Endurance or the variety that he brings to the nature pictures in the film’s last quarter. His colleague in this is Ben Palmer who not only conducts the Covent Garden Sinfonia but is involved in the orchestration.
There is a special screening of South in which the orchestra will perform live at the BFI IMAX in London on 27th January, the day before the film opens at a number of venues. For those not able to see the film in the cinema a Blu-Ray release follows on 28th February as the main item of a 3-disc set which in addition incorporates records of other Antarctic expeditions.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, Frank Wild, Tom Crean, J. Stenhouse, L. Hussey, Dr Macklin, Mr Wordie, Dr McIlroy, Mr James, Mr Clark, Mr Greenstreet.
Dir Frank Hurley, Pro Frank Hurley, Ph Frank Hurley, Music Neil Brand.
Ralph Minden Film-BFI Distribution.
81 mins. UK. 1919. UK Rel: 28 January 2022. Cert. U.
