The Great White Silence (1924) review

Photographer Ponting accompanies Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his crew as they sail (on the Terra Nova) from New Zealand to Antarctica, where he records the lads skiing, killer whales hunting, penguins mating and then Scott and several men (with Ponting left behind) make the extremely dangerous trip to the South Pole only to find Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had already been there (he took a shorter route) and then they all tragically perish on the journey back.  It's remarkable than human beings went on these (borderline suicidal) expeditions well before modern technology, and the images produced by Ponting are impressive (for the early 1920's) and do a fantastic job capturing the ominous terrain: ice floes hinder the Terra Nova's progress, active volcano Mount Erebus looms in the background, etc.  Although this documentary exists to praise Scott and celebrate his bravery, a historian personally informed me that he made a lot of dumb mistakes and was not prepared to deal with the horrifying conditions (unlike Amundsen).  Since I couldn't stand listening to the stock score, I substituted it with the 1994 edition of Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic (from Point Music) followed by Bryars' 1981 album Hommages.