The Great White Silence. (U.)
Directed by Herbert G. Ponting. 1924. Black and white. Silent. 106 mins.
That one of the biggest hits of last year’s London Film Festival contained footage over 100 years old may say as much about the Festival as it does about the quality of Ponting’s record of Captain Scott’s failed polar expedition. But the BFI’s restoration is very impressive and this is a unique document.
Ponting set sail in 1910 and was with the British Antarctic Expedition for the duration till 1913. His footage was used in many forms but The Great White Silence came out in 1924 and was the basis of an extensive lecture tour Ponting undertook.
The big irony is that although he recorded every other aspect of the expedition, the part everybody is interested in, is the part that wasn’t filmed. The final section is a rather stilted, but informative, recreation of Scott’s failed (beaten by Norwegian Amundsen) and tragic attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole. The only footage we get of the actual expedition are scenes shot before they depart, practising bedding down for the night. Scott lights up a pipe in the tent which gives him a resemblance to Harold Wilson.
There is plenty of magical footage here though it doesn’t do full justice to the terrible extremes. You don’t quite get the White or the Silence. There are some longeurs – Ponting overdoes it with the penguins.
The BFI have commissioned a new score by Simon Fisher Turner, a haunting, ambient style piece that really does the trick. It is incongruously modern but the effect is not jarring: rather it works as a kind of distancing device constantly and rather poignantly reiterating and reminding the viewer of how far back in time we are travelling.
Directed by Herbert G. Ponting. 1924. Black and white. Silent. 106 mins.
That one of the biggest hits of last year’s London Film Festival contained footage over 100 years old may say as much about the Festival as it does about the quality of Ponting’s record of Captain Scott’s failed polar expedition. But the BFI’s restoration is very impressive and this is a unique document.
Ponting set sail in 1910 and was with the British Antarctic Expedition for the duration till 1913. His footage was used in many forms but The Great White Silence came out in 1924 and was the basis of an extensive lecture tour Ponting undertook.
The big irony is that although he recorded every other aspect of the expedition, the part everybody is interested in, is the part that wasn’t filmed. The final section is a rather stilted, but informative, recreation of Scott’s failed (beaten by Norwegian Amundsen) and tragic attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole. The only footage we get of the actual expedition are scenes shot before they depart, practising bedding down for the night. Scott lights up a pipe in the tent which gives him a resemblance to Harold Wilson.
There is plenty of magical footage here though it doesn’t do full justice to the terrible extremes. You don’t quite get the White or the Silence. There are some longeurs – Ponting overdoes it with the penguins.
The BFI have commissioned a new score by Simon Fisher Turner, a haunting, ambient style piece that really does the trick. It is incongruously modern but the effect is not jarring: rather it works as a kind of distancing device constantly and rather poignantly reiterating and reminding the viewer of how far back in time we are travelling.
