Authentic Scenes In Film Of Scott’s Journey To The Pole

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 January 1949, Page 7

Authentic Scenes In Film Of Scott’s Journey To The Pole

In “Scott of the Antarctic,” audiences will see a film which took two years to make and is a complete record of one of the most stirring chapters in the history of British exploration and endeavour.

Th e cameraman, Osmond Borradaele, set off towards the end of 1946 to film background scenes in the Antarctic. The location trip lasted six months and covered nearly 30,000 miles.

. Every book written on the expedition was examined- The late Lady Kennet, Scott’s widow, threw open her extensive library of books on the Antarctic and lent Ealing Studios her volumes of Press cuttings. First-hand information was obtained from Professor Frank Debenham, geologist on the expedition, Edward Mackenzie, who was leading stoker on the Terra Nova, and other survivors. Th e Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge gave whole-hearted cooperation, and commercial firms which had supplied materials for the expedition came forward with replicas of the original goods, very often copied at great trouble. Complete accuracy, right down to the printing of th e wrappers round the bars of chocolate taken by the expedition, marked every stage' of the production. Permission was obtained from relatives and survivors of the members of to be portrayed on the screen. Several of the survivors visited the studios to talk with actors portraying them as they were nearly 40 years ago. “Scott of the Antarctic” was produced in technicolour for Ealing Studios by Sir Michael Balcon. It stars John Mills (Captain Scott), Derek Bond (Oates), and James Robertson Justice (P.O. Evans). The film was directed by Charles French-