THE SHACKLETON EXPEDITION

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 129, 3 June 1920, Page 5

THE SHACKLETON EXPEDITION

A UNIQUE FII/M

•■•'ln the Grip of the Polar Ice/* ; the story : of trie Shackletpn expedition to tii(e, South Polar Sea, has be«B I described as. the story of a great ; failure. The party, may have failed lin their original objective, but the i story told last'iii^hti'.by. Sergt. Georgcr f lyean, and illustrated ;by: .■s,, wonderful j.set of pictures, still a^isAnimated, is a' story of British pluck and enduj- ■ ance that makes one proud of one's race. What Sir Ernest and bis comrades went through cannot be> Njealised' by mere wordy description, '. a>d, it is left to Captain: Hurley's. ; wonderful pictures. to bring some-, -thing like a near realisation of what the, expedition .had.^to^endure. , StYx; ' Vmake a digression 'from a notice oif s ' '"'. th& filin'j practically lever^.member <>f•ij^: :the, expedition -was • empjioypd itf'^e^-;-^ p^t(ther r ;bi|anchesv"i.of the active ftghting;/forces during the • war. Of the 53,meh " whb^-etur^ell;three harebeerf\|djled 4jid five wounded. Four deeo'ra'tipiis:-have beenV won, and seyeiral members chave-'^'een mentioned, in despatches. McCarthy was .killed.-at:-his gun in %lil! English Channel, -Cheetham was. drowned -when-his vessel was torpedoed, and j Ernest Wild was killed while mines sweeping in the. ■Mediterranean. Sir .Ernest Sh,ackleitpn himself served as ;Maj^r.in. j^ortli'/jilaissia. • .•;. .[ One.: !thing'thai struck, ithe ■reiy interested.;audience, !last<night at His lilajesty's; Theatre; was .thes Undoubted authenticity; of. .the pictures. Nothing likei: them r eould have-Lbeen'•''faked," ai^d "the wonder pixrt, isl: how ; some of ~tliem could v ;h'aye . ;; been" taken under !;the,;cir,eumstan'ces, /and the story of the salvage- of. the films 'when {taken, is: a,pasting, tribute- to tlie devotio^ ~pf, ..Captjiin Hurley..■".tliflt,"' at on© Htag©j dived; .'mt<>'the" ''i?y, snow-■.rnx-^edv^^^-^^^rlevo fills precious '^-^if-.^i\)'. describe the'picture ia ■ aMjf detail wdltld .'take■ ;.up " ; too mudf KpacOj hut it may fße.said'that such" ripunuftie- bppdi^iinity*-should not be 'flUi ofs Ed&in.g^^ti'clo'se hand the> wonder* I*l1*1 .j^??6 of tho Ef durance ' and he^in/bo^ •^nind&it: grandeur -•Of. i. Aiii&mitbr The comici^r is provided by ; a 'regiment : ; of very Jiflinan-lik;e penguins. These birds weriT.^?l3ll-. iiigly very tame, or as one maa ?«* iti Eo.wild as: to look upon maff &B one of their own .species.. The schools* ; of sea elephants was anotlier intercsst'ing and intstructiye sectioii of .the filmy A pathetic part 'was tiia gradual victory of the ice-pressajre oy.er the pq&Pxp^i ship, and this was : very; yiyidlvi |B^|^i. by the cinemato^ grapher, jfrdm{tff6^timq that the order cariie' to ' abaftdojii^hip to the final plunge beneaih,..^h*e , ice-field. The> picture cl6sesji||mth the terrible journey of Siri ®|iest Shiackleton and four comrades" lio S6uthyGer>iKia an 6pen/boatJ ands their return^ witll , the rescue' ship for the, rest of tne\ -\ Endurances-complement: who -fvrfsxet'. . left on Elephant, Island. The sup- x porting programme includes a splendid pidture of the training of cadets for the Navy and : the mercantile marine. ,

: "In the Grip of the Polar Iw"«----will'-be repeated to-night.