90º SOUTH (1933) [Feature]

UK (MIFF1954,90º South)
Director: Herbert Ponting

“90º South” is a documentary film record of Scott Antarctic Expedition of 1911. Herbert Ponting, an Englishman, was the official photographer attached to the exploration party.

He developed this film by melting polar ice in a bucket over a small stove in a snow &ndash: bound tent, darkened to keep out the rays of the midnight sun.

The film includes shots of all the members of the Expedition, including those who died on the return journey (Scott, Evans, Wilson, Oates, and the others).

As a Royal Command film “90º South” was shown to King George V. He ordered copies to be made and entered in the files of the British Film Institute. The original was placed in the vaults of the British Film Museum.

After years of neglect, a copy was discovered recently in the Tasmanian Documentary Film Library.

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