Film aims to inspire generations

By Rob Pooley

A movie about to be shown publicly for the first time detailing the ill-fated expedition to the South Pole by legendary explorer Robert Falcon Scott has a local connection.

Jean Nicholls (nee Ponting) came to Mangawhai following the Christchurch earthquake. Jean’s great uncle, Herbert G. Ponting, was chosen by British naval officer and explorer Robert Falcon Scott to make a photographic record of that momentous and ultimately fatal expedition 100 years ago in 1912. Scott and his four-man team reached the South Pole on January 17 1912 only to discover that a Norwegian group led by Roald Amundsen had beaten them by 34 days.

Ponting’s black and white still shots are well known and documented, but not so well known is the motion picture he also produced. Originally called The Great White Silence it was later released in 1933 entitled Ninety Degrees South: With Scott to the Antarctic. A later version was produced with an interesting narration by Ponting himself and is to be shown at the Mangawhai Museum on November 3.

The film is a detailed portrayal of the lives of the men who accompanied Scott on his voyage and gives viewers an intimate experience of life in the Antarctic in 1911 beginning with the Terra Nova’s departure from Lyttleton. At one point Ponting is spread-eagled on planks to get a clear view as the ship bumped it’s way through ice flows, one arm slung tightly around his precious camera while the other turned the handle, having to frequently stop filming to renew his grip to avoid an unpremeditated header into the icy water below. Cameras at the time were heavy and cumbersome as were clothes necessary to cope with the conditions.

Ponting carried loads of at least 200 pounds (80kgs) of equipment wherever he went. Even to thread film was a difficult task as it couldn’t be done with gloves on and often resulted in frostbite from skin against metal. On one occasion he thoughtlessly held a camera screw in his mouth which instantly became frozen to his lips.

He had a Newman-Sinclair film developer for the motion film which measured a total of four miles (6,400m) long! When one considers that 50 feet is screened per minute but an hour and a half to fix, wash and process, it’s little wonder it took him most of the winter months to complete.

Storage was also a challenge as warm air condensing on his lab wall turned immediately to ice and needed to be chipped off with an ice axe when it became thicker than six inches (15cm). When all problems are considered it is remarkable that Ponting managed to produce pictures of such mastery and imagination.

For those who attended the showing of Don Goldschmidts film, this is another event not to be missed not only by those with an affinity to the Arctic, but in the interests of New Zealand History.

Ponting himself said: “It was a privilege to be the producer of the kinematographic record of that great adventure which is now of priceless historical value. It is my intention during my lifetime to assist in perpetuating the story of my late chief and comrades. Twenty, fifty, a hundred, five hundred years hence, the story of the immortal five who perished after conquering the Pole will inspire our youth for generations to come.”

When and where: Saturday November 3, Mangawhai Museum, 8pm, 90 minutes duration. Tickets $10 door sales, proceeds to the museum.