The Great White Silence

Synopsis

You may have heard of the polar explorer Captain Scott, but did you know that his last doomed expedition to the South Pole was caught on film? Herbert G Ponting was the official photographer of the 1912 trip and he edited together his footage into a silent film in 1924. Painstakingly restored by the BFI, you can now see it on DVD with the addition of a new soundtrack from Simon Fisher Turner. It’s an unusual film, and knowing the eventual fate of the team makes the images of a spectacular landscape all the more haunting.