Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition
Milestone Film & Video

South is the extraordinary chronicle of one of history's greatest epics of courage and leadership.  In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton embarked on an expedition to cross Antarctica via the South Pole.  Before it could reach shore, the explorer's ship, Endurance, was trapped in pack ice, held frozen in a sea of icebergs for eight months and finally crushed.  After five months adrift on ice floes, the crew embarked on a perilous sea voyage to rocky, windswept Elephant Island.  From there, Shackleton led five of his men on a miraculous 850-mile journey across unimaginably dangerous seas in a small open boat to get help for the rest of the crew before finally succeeding -- nearly two years after first setting sail.  "Not a life lost and we have been through Hell," Shackleton wrote his wife.  Frank Hurley, a veteran cinematographer and member of the Endurance crew, shot this beautiful and moving film as their incredible adventure unfolded. 

South was restored by the National Film and Television Archive of the British Film Institute using original nitrate materials, surviving prints and original slides.  Their four-year effort has returned this beautiful film to its original glory and South is now ready to be seen for the first time in 80 years.

Tinted and toned.  88 minutes   This film is silent with audio commentary!
Directed by Frank Hurley