Cousteau on ice still a showman

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33783, 4 March 1975, Page 4

Cousteau on ice still a showman

The veteran explorer of the ocean deep, Captain Jacques Cousteau, made an expedition into the Antarctic look almost like a Sunday jaunt in the first of ‘four reports on the icy continent.

Modem technology has made us take for granted the delights of armchair exploration. And there is something quite irresistible about watching wet and cold men struggle against an icy storm while we toast our feet by an electric heater in front of the box.

Jacques Cousteau, his son, Philippe, and the chief cameraman, Colin Mounior, make a formidable trio. The programme made the most of the voyage south, the landing on desolate King George Island and a climb on volcanic Deception Island. The film was packed full of variety and interest. The trick here was to switch quickly from one incident to another, including the kind of detail viewers wanted to know.

Reference was made, for example, to the way in which Calypso was in communication with N.A.S.A. in the United States via satellite. The programme showed Cousteau feeding photographs and information into transmitting equipment. The door of a derelict hut

was opened and viewers were told how it had once been a weather station. Divers in specially designed wet suits took a look at an iceberg, and we were told of the dangers involved. We even watched them frolic on an ice floe.

Steaming hot water was filmed on Deception Island, and we watched two expedition members attempt a swim.

This was a highly professional production with the viewer being given the impression that he was being kept constantly informed. There was no chance of being lost in scientific jargon —Cousteau is too old a hand for that.

The Frenchman are extraordinarly. sensitive when it comes to wildlife and the sequence showing the "seduction,” with soothing words, of the nesting seabird was quite delightful. The programme excels in underwater filming, and in view of Cousteau’s expertise and experience, this is to be expected. Viewers were treated to a fascinating introduction to the next programme with close-up shots of penguins. This promises to be highly entertaining viewing quite apart from the fact that there is a remarkable outward resemblance between these creatures and humans.

Just how much of Cousteau’s expedition is involved in research is not quite clear from the programme. What is clear is that the veteran explorer is

quite a showman. Perhaps he has to be in order to find the funds for his researches. At all events, the Antarctic expedition w r as hardly a picnic—the death of the first mate, Laval, was a grim reminder that in spite of all the aids of modern science, the icy continent has plenty of hazards.

Patrick Cargill in “Father, Dear Father” is the kind of twit that makes for compulsive viewing. You just keep on watching to see just how big a clunk he can make of himself.

The two daughters in the programme seem to give the impression that they share the opinion of most viewers that their father is a congenital idiot # « »

"The Regiment” continues to provide plenty of action under the hot searing sun, and appropriately opened with the sahibs playing cricket.

The best part of this programme are the incisive insights into the double standards of the times. Certainly the British had their problems, but one could not help feeling sorry for the. Eurasian girl and her unfortunate father. —K.C.

Band contest

Highlights from the national pipe band championships, held at Invercargill last week, can be seen on Friday at 6.19 p.m.