The following
is a list of feature film and television productions, in English, dubbed into
English or with English subtitles, that depict a fictional storyline
with significant Antarctic content, or dramatise an actual event in Antarctica, i.e.
any production that is not strictly a non-fiction documentary. The
list does not include standard, non-dramatised documentaries about
Antarctica or Antarctic-related subjects, such as history or wildlife. It also does not include
cartoons or animated short films.
Antarctic Journal [Namgeuk Ilgi].
Dir. Im Pil-seong. Perf. Song Gang-ho, Yu Ji-tae,
Kim Kyung-ik, Choe Doek-moon and Kang Jye-jung. Sidus Pictures, 2005. [Mystery/thriller about a six-man team attempting to reach Antarctica's Point of Inaccessibility. When they discover a tattered journal left by a British expedition some 80 years earlier, things start to get a little creepy.]
Antarctica [Nankyoku Monogatari].
Dir. Koreyoshi Kurahara. Perf. Ken Takakura, Tsunehiko Watase, Eiji
Okada and Masako Natsume. Twentieth Century Fox, 1983.
[Distributed
in Japan by Nippon Herald. Scientists at Japanese research base are forced to abandon their dog team at the onset of the polar winter. Back home in Japan, ashamed and disillusioned, they worry about the fate of the dogs. This film was remade by Walt Disney Pictures as Eight Below, and released in 2006.]
Brass Monkeys. Dir. Kevin Burston.
Perf. Graeme Blundell, Paul Chubb, Kevin Golsby and Margie McRae. 13
episodes. Network 7 Australia, 1983–1984. [The lives of expeditioners at an Australian Antarctic station become more interesting when a female doctor and Russian expeditioner join their community.]
Conquest of the South Pole.
Dir. Gillies MacKinnon. Perf. Stevan Rimkus, Leonard O'Malley, Ewen
Bremner and Alastair Galbraith. British Film Institute, 1989. [Adaptation
of Manfred Karge's play of the same name. Four Scottish men recreate
Amundsen's South Polar expedition.]
Deep Freeze. Dir. John Carl Buechler.
Perf. Götz Otto, David Millbern, Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld and
Karen Nieci. A.C.H. GmbH/Frozen Films Inc./Regent Entertainment/Regent
Productions, 2003. [In
the US the DVD is titled Ice Crawlers. An Antarctic drilling station is under attack by a killer monster which, according to one reviewer, "resembles a big rubber beetle." Will anyone survive?]
Douglas Mawson: The Survivor. Prod.
David Parer. Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1983. [Dramatic
reconstruction of Mawson's ill-fated sledging journey of 1912. See also
David Parer and Elizabeth Parer-Cook's Douglas Mawson: The Survivor
(Morwell: Alella Books/Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1983).]
Eight Below. Dir. Frank Marshall. Perf. Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood, Jason Biggs. Walt Disney Pictures in association with Spyglass Entertainment and Mandeville Films, 2006. [This is a remake of the 1983 film Antarctica [Nankyoku Monogatari], directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara. That film's producer, Masaru Kakutani, is also a producer of Eight Below.]
Forbidden Quest. Dir. Peter
Delpeut. Perf. Joseph O'Conor and Roy Ward. Ariel Film, 1993. [This
Dutch documentary-style film, distributed in the USA by Zeitgeist
Films, combines archival 'Heroic Era' footage with new scenes. The
sole survivor of a (fictional) Heroic-Era Dutch Antarctic expedition
tells a disturbing and enigmatic tale.]
Happy Feet. Dir. George Miller. Perf. Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Robin Williams. Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Pictures/Kennedy Miller Productions/Animal Logic Film, 2006. [Animated feature film about Mumble, an emperor penguin who dances better than he can sing. His elders reject him, blaming his unorthodox ways for the food shortage threatening the colony. Mumble and his friends set out to discover the true cause of the famine. After many adventures and 'alien encounters', Mumble discovers that his talents could actually save his fellow penguins.]
Hell Below Zero. Dir. Mark Robson.
Perf. Alan Ladd, Joan Tetzel, Basil Sydney and Stanley Baker. Warwick Film Productions, 1954. [Based
on Hammond Innes' 1949 novel The White South, this British-made
film was released in the US by Columbia. Released on VHS by Goodtimes
Home Video in 1990.]
Ice Bound. Dir. Roger Spottiswoode.
Perf. Susan Sarandon, Aidan Devine, Cynthia Mace and Paulino Nunes. Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Miramax Television and Muse Entertainment Enterprises, 2003.
[A US/Canadian film for television,
based on the book Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for
Survival at the South Pole by Dr Jerri Nielson and Maryanne Vollers.]
The Last Place on Earth. Dir.
Ferdinand Fairfax. Perf. Stephen Moore, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Martin
Shaw, Max Von Sydow and Susan Wooldridge. 7 episodes. Central Television
and WBGH, Boston, 1985. [A
dramatisation of the race between Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen
to be first to the South Pole. Based on Roland Huntford's Scott
and Amundsen (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979). See also
Trevor Griffiths's Judgement Over the Dead: The Screenplay of 'The
Last Place on Earth' (London: Verso, 1986).]
Mr Forbush and the Penguins. Dir.
Arne Sucksdorff and Albert T. Viola. Perf. Hayley Mills, John Hurt,
Tony Britton and Dudley Sutton. British Lion, 1971. [Based
on G. Billing's novel Forbush and the Penguins (New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston; London: Hodder Fawcett,
1965). Distributed in the USA by Cinema Shares International as Cry
of the Penguins.]
Monty Python (Chapman, G. et al). "Scott
of the Sahara". Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words.
Vol. 1. London: Methuen, 1989.
[Originally broadcast on BBC TV, 2 December 1970. Script also published
in The Wide White Page: Writers Imagine Antarctica. Ed. Bill
Manhire. Wellington: Victoria UP, 2004. 173–180.]
The Navy vs the Night Monsters. Dir.
Michael A. Hoey. Perf. Mamie Van Doren, Anthony Eisley, Billy Gray,
Bobby Van, Pamela Mason and Walter Sande. Standard Club of California Productions, 1966.
[Based on Murray Leinster's
Monster From Earth's End (New York: Gold Medal, 1959).]
Quick, Before It Melts. Dir. Delbert
Mann. Perf. George Maharis, Robert Morse, Anjanette Comer and James Gregory.
MGM, 1964. [Based on Philip Benjamin's novel
of the same name. See "Adult Fiction 1950-" bibliography.]
Scott of the Antarctic. Dir. Charles
Frend. Perf. John Mills, Derek Bond, Kenneth More, John Gregson and
James Robertson Justice. Ealing Studios and The Rank Organisation
Film Productions, 1948. [Dramatisation
of Scott's last journey. An advisor to the film, David James, recounts
the making of the film in Scott of the Antarctic: The Film and
its Production. London, Convoy, 1948.]
Seeds of Doom. Dir. Douglas Camfield.
Prod. Philip Hinchcliffe. Cast: Dr Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. 6
episodes. BBC, 1976. [From
the BBC television series Dr Who; originally broadcast 31
Jan–6
March 1976.]
Shackleton. Dir. Charles Sturridge.
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Lorcan Cranitch and Kevin McNally. 2 episodes.
Firstsight Films and A&E, 2002. [Dramatisation
of the Endurance Expedition.]
Shackleton. Dir. Martyn Friend.
Perf. David Schofield, Paul Hastings, Neil Stacy and David Rodigan. 4
episodes. BBC, 1982. [Known in the
USA as Icebound in the Antarctic.]
The Thing. Dir. John
Carpenter. Perf. Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David
Clennon and Richard Dysart. MCA/Universal Pictures, 1982. [This film is a remake of The
Thing from Another World (1951) directed by Christian Nyby and starring Margaret
Sheridan and Ken Tobey. The 1951 "Thing" ran amok at a military base
in the Arctic; Carpenter brings the action back to the Antarctic. Both films are based on John W.
Campbell Jnr's story "Who Goes There?", which is set in
the Antarctic.]
Virus [Fukkatsu no hi]. 1980. Dir. Kinji Fukasaku. Perf. Chuck
Connors, Glen Ford, Olivia Hussey, George Kennedy and Robert Vaughn.
Haruki Kadokawa Films and Tokyo Broadcasting Sytem, 1990. [This
film is also known in the USA as Day of Resurrection and
The End (video title). It is not to be mistaken with the 1999 film of the same title, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.]
The X-Files. Dir. Rob Bowman. Perf. Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and Martin Landau. Twentieth Century Fox/Ten Thirteen Productions, 1998. [Mulder and Scully's efforts to track down an alien virus (which, as usual, may devastate the world) eventually leads them to Antarctica. There they discover a a secret installation, which turns out to be an alien space-craft.]
