Matthew B
Robert Falcon Scott is a figure that divides those who read about his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition. Scott's intention was to be the first person to reach the South Pole. He set off with four members of his team, and endured some of the most terrible weather in one of the worst places in the world.
Ultimately Scott's endeavours proved both futile and tragic. When Scott and his men finally reached the Pole, they discovered that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it, arriving 34 days earlier. "Great God! This is an awful place!" declared Scott. His problems were not over. Hemmed in by an unhappy change in the weather, Scott and his men all died.
Herbert Ponting was an explorer, a photographer and a dabbler in creating cinematographic equipment. He did not run away from home to join the circus, but he did defy his father's wish that he should become a banker. Ponting joined Scott on his expedition to the Antarctic, and we must praise him for the quality of the footage that he took.
While the film was released in 1924, it was filmed much earlier. (Scott's expedition took place between 1910 and 1913.) Ponting's movie is an early example of a film-maker working in the difficult conditions of the Antarctic, where equipment can easily freeze, and where it is difficult to transport and operate cameras. In order to film the ship cutting through sheets of ice, Ponting was tied to a platform clutching his camera.
We can also praise Ponting's post-production work. He tied the film together into a narrative structure. While some viewers struggle with the nature footage, Ponting did at least put this in the middle of the film, rather than bathetically tacking it on the end, in the way that Frank Hurley did in his Shackleton documentary, South.
Ponting also employed methods that are now familiar in documentaries, including photographs, stills, stop motion, and an animated map showing lines along the route. Certain scenes were staged for the camera, a complaint still levelled at documentaries today, but as old as the medium itself. Ponting does at least confess as much. The film is also notable for Ponting's quirky and humorous intertitles that add a little colour to the story.
In the end, Ponting was not chosen to join Scott on the final part of the journey, so Ponting survived the ordeal, and was able to bring back his footage. Like Scott, Ponting suffered a failure of his own, albeit less dramatic. The Great White Silence was unsuccessful on its release, and Ponting died poor.
His film was forgotten until the BFI gloriously restored it. The images are brilliantly clear, though some may object that the colour tinting in many scenes lends an unnatural shade to the frozen landscape. Still it is good to see the film returned to a state where we can admire its beauty and detail.
While our knowledge of the final outcome of Scott's expedition casts a sad shadow over the whole documentary, The Great White Silence is a surprisingly cheerful and uplifting work for most of its running time. Ponting sees Scott's mission as part of the "proud heritage of our race", a great patriotic adventure. Despite the final tragedy, Ponting clearly has many fond memories of his time with Scott.
The film conveys a full sense of the awe and danger of the mission. The Antarctic is a bleak desert covered in white sheets of snow. There are few living plants or animals to be seen, leaving only silence around the men. The area is larger than Europe. Ponting observes that only ten people have trod there "since God made the Earth".
These scenes impress the modern viewer. The middle section of the film is the part that comes under most criticism, as Ponting concentrates on the fauna of the Antarctic. Ponting has a great affection for nature. He shows us the eager Siberian dogs pulling the sleigh. He includes footage of skuas, penguins, killer whales and seals. (The seals proved to be a useful source of fresh meat for both the men and the dogs.)
Do these scenes cause the documentary to sag in the middle? I suppose it depends on how you choose to regard them. We should remember that many audience members in the 1920s had few chances to see filmed footage of polar wildlife, compared to today, so these scenes were probably of more interest then.
Additionally Scott's expedition was intended as a scientific study as well as a fete of exploration. Indeed it was this that eventually killed Scott and his men, as they stayed too long at the Pole collecting samples that proved invaluable to scientists later. Ponting's footage of the animals can be seen as part of this scientific work, a chance to witness the behaviour of creatures that were not often seen at the time.
Some of the methods used to get the footage might outrage viewers and nature lovers today. Ponting gets so close to his subjects that he is chased off by a seal, and attacked by birds. He is not above scaring away a mother for a few minutes so that he can capture images of her young. He strokes mother penguins as they rest on their eggs.
The members of Scott's expedition also engage in behaviour that might make some viewers feel uncomfortable. They intervene to save a mother seal and her baby by harpooning a killer whale. Just for fun they chase the penguins around on the ice.
In contrast to South, The Great White Silence ends sadly on this tribute to the unhappy men whose gamble to reach the South Pole first, and then return safely home had not paid off. Whatever our opinions of Scott and his expedition, it is easier to admire in an unqualified way the work of Herbert Ponting, a man who captured a living record of many of the events on the Terra Nova Expedition, and who has left an enduring legacy for our time.
I wrote a longer appreciation of The Great White Silence on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2022/05/14/the-great-white-silence-1924/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/24/23
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Alexander B
It's rather boring by today's standards but it's still pretty impressive for the first ever documentary.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
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William L
"About this time we met with the first Penguins. I shall have a lot to tell you about these extraordinary creatures later." Well now I have to finish this thing.
The first documentary epic, The Great White Silence is not only visually enthralling, it's a time machine. You can fully embrace the wonder of a period in which there were truly great geographic mysteries of the natural world that one could, with enough moxie and pluck, walk out their front door into legend. The logistics of the film's production are inspiring, and the final product is still exceptional viewing, not to mention a landmark of documentary film. That's not to say it doesn't exactly have issues - the pacing in particular is often rough, as the film spends nearly twenty minutes documenting the activities of the local penguins, before dedicating about half that to the unfortunate failure of the mission (as the Scott Team managed to brave the elements and reach the South Pole, but not before the Amundsen expedition about a month prior) and the torturous, isolated return which saw the slow death of all team members, and a tremendously heroic sacrifice from Lawrence Oates. But those kinks can largely be forgiven, looking at the quality of the final product. (4/5)
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/25/21
Full Review
Audience Member
Not so much a record of Scott's doomed attempt on the South Pole as a rudimentary travelogue and diary of Herbert Ponting's months alongside the polar explorers, when there was little to do but film the landscape, the penguins, and rehearsals for Scott's final push. If one surrenders to the unquestionably moving narrative and can forgive the indulgent running time it's worth watching.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A spectacular documentary of the highest caliber. I found it absolutely impossible to stop watching. It was utterly hypnotic. Even just a very short time into the film, it was easy to forget it was a silent film. It felt like it could have happened yesterday. The composition of several of the shots were jaw dropping. Go find this movie and watch it.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Haunting, amusing and beautiful.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
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