South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

[bigshot]

South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/South...lu-ray/304769/

New BFI release. It's jam packed with extras. Looks amazing.

The British Film Institute plans to release on Blu-ray Frank Hurley's South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (1919). The three-disc set will be available for purchase on February 21.

Description: Photographed by Frank Hurley, South is the film record of Sir Ernest Shackleton's heroic but ill-starred attempt to cross Antarctica in 1914-16. It is both a unique historical document, and a tribute to the indomitable courage of a small party of men who set out on a voyage of discovery that turned into an epic struggle for survival.

Restored by the BFI National Archive from a wide range of materials, tinting and toning was applied to match the original prints and has produced this handsome and richly colored testament to a remarkable episode in the history of exploration. It is presented with an extensive collection of films (many previously unseen) from around the world, highlighting various expeditions from the Heroic Age of Exploration.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
RESTORED BY THE BFI NATIONAL ARCHIVE
Newly recorded score for South by Neil Brand
Audio commentary on South by Luke McKernan
Shackleton's Funeral (1922, 4 mins)
Southward on the 'Quest' (1922): a record of the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic expedition of 1921. Sir Ernest Shackleton's fourth and final voyage to Antarctica which marked the end of the 'Heroic Age'
On the High Seas (footage from Southward on the 'Quest'
Ross Sea Party (9 mins, silent with commentary by Kelly Tyler)
Additional footage from South (17 mins)
Shackleton Speaks (1909, 1 min)
Roald Amundsens Sydpolsferd 1910-12 (1912, 17 mins)
Departure of the British Antarctic expedition from Lyttelton NZ (1908, 2 mins)
Home of the Blizzard (1913, 67 mins): the official film by Frank Hurley of the Mawson Australasian Antarctic expedition
El Homenaje del Uruguay a los Restos de Sir Ernest Shackleton (1922, 10 mins): the lying in state of the body of Sir Ernest Shackleton in Montevideo, Uruguay, and its transfer to ship for burial on the island of South Georgia
Shackleton's Home Movies (1913)
Shackleton South Georgia Birds (1922, 13 mins): wildlife in the remote South Atlantic, captured during the ill-fated Shackleton-Rowett expedition
First pressing only: Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing on South, and extensive notes on the supporting films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMw...ature=youtu.be

[FransT]

I received the South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration 3-Disc Edition yesterday. It’s absolutely beautiful!
Nice booklet too, I love it!

[bigshot]

I got mine. Excited to look at it. It's like man on the moon.

[Ky-Fi]

Thanks for posting this--was not aware of this release and just ordered it today.

I've seen a few documentaries on the Shackleton expedition and also read several accounts. One of the greatest stories of modern history---how every man survived this ordeal is almost unbelievable.

[CrockettandTubbs]

Shackleton's ship found!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60662541

[Ste7en]

Looks to be in pretty good condition as well.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Shackleton's ship found!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60662541

BFI should recall and destroy this now-incomplete release.

[Show spoiler]

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Ky-Fi

One of the greatest stories of modern history---how every man survived this ordeal is almost unbelievable.

Unfortunately they didn't - three died. While those in the main body of the expedition did survive (though Shackleton churlishly prevented four of them being awarded the Polar Medal), three of the Ross Sea Party, who went in advance to lay down the supply dumps that would never be needed after the Endurance was trapped in the ice, died. They remained stranded until 1917, five months after the rescue of Shackleton's crew.

[Ky-Fi]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Unfortunately they didn't - three died. While those in the main body of the expedition did survive (though Shackleton churlishly prevented four of them being awarded the Polar Medal), three of the Ross Sea Party, who went in advance to lay down the supply dumps that would never be needed after the Endurance was trapped in the ice, died. They remained stranded until 1917, five months after the rescue of Shackleton's crew.

Ah, thanks--did not know that part of the story.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Ky-Fi

Ah, thanks--did not know that part of the story.

It's often forgotten, sadly. At the time Shackleton had difficulty getting those under his direct command rescued, and it took longer to raise the funds for the repair of the Aurora and the rescue of the Ross Sea Party and then only on the understanding that he was no more than a passenger. Because the return of the survivors of Shackleton's direct command got little publicity at the time (some of it quite negative) and the financial and logistical mismanagement of the expedition that didn't reflect well on him, the Ross Sea Party rather got cut out of the legend that grew up around the Endurance in subsequent years. And they didn't have a Frank Hurly photographing their ordeal for posterity.

There's a decent article by Dan Snow on the sorry saga here:

https://www.historyhit.com/tragic-story-ross-sea-party/

It has to be said that some of the major Polar explorers of the Heroic Age have difficult legacies when you look closer: Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and Peary especially all made disastrous decisions at one time or another and were prone to fits of pique that tarnished their legacies and had to be subsequently written out of the legends that grew around them

[CelestialAgent]

Impressive how much the new documentary Endurance ruins the footage from South it uses by adding in poorly done colourisation with awkward flesh tones (presumably using machine learning as no colourisation team is credited), combining it with scenes from other docudramas and newly shot ones and AI voices from the journals of the crew. It destroys the gravitas and historical verisimilitude, although the interview clips with Hurley are valuable.