The Last Place on Earth

Starring:Martin Shaw, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Stephen Moore, Richard Morant, Sylvester McCoy, Michael Maloney, Max von Sydow, Susan Wooldridge, Toralv Maurstad, Jan HÃ¥rstad, Bill Nighy, Hugh Grant, Per Theodor Haugen, Pat Roach, Tom Georgeson, Stale Bjornhaug, Ivar NÃ¸rve, Robin Soans, Erik Hivju, Jon Eikemo
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Studio: Bfs Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

I could not have enjoyed this more!
'Am Turning South'
"Scott killed himself. That's what the British do best."
Unimpressive DVD quality
Must-see TV? A master work about the South Pole expeditions of Scott and Amundsen

The Last Place on Earth
Starring: Martin Shaw , Sverre Anker Ousdal , Stephen Moore , Richard Morant , and Sylvester McCoy
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Manufacturer: Bfs Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time (3-Disc Collector's Edition)
The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)
The South Pole
NOVA: Arctic Passage

ASIN: B00005J74R
Release Date: 2001-06-01

Customer Reviews:

I could not have enjoyed this more!.......2007-01-08

This is simply the PERFECT movie/series for anyone who is interested in polar exploration. It's beautifully filmed, interesting throughout, and really makes you feel you are there. True, Scott is, on the whole, shown in a less than favorable light, but given many of the decisions he made, it would be hard for that not to be the case. To the film's credit it goes to great lengths to give the context/history behind the mindset that led to those poor decisions. Likewise with Amundsen, you see his greatness mixed with his flaws. I wouldn't change a thing about the movie itself. As to the quality of the film transfer and the sound, it seemed perfectly fine to me - though I'm hardly an expert on such things. As for the packaging, I admit I was a little disappointed there was absolutely no booklet of any kind, nor are there any "extras" on the discs themselves. You strictly get the 7 episodes on 3 discs in a double-wide hard case. But given that exploration is rarely the subject of any movie, let alone one of this length, I consider this set a real find, worth every penny, and I will treasure it. One side note: The DVD case says "Featuring Hugh Grant & Max VonSydow", but a very young Hugh Grant has just a tiny little part in this 1985 film, so don't buy this hoping to see him or you'll be disappointed!

'Am Turning South'.......2006-12-22

Amundsen uttered these words (or similar) once his first goal, conquest of the North Pole, was achieved before he could get there. One final goal remained: the South Pole. The harshest, most inhospitable place on earth. Nothing lives there, few return from the vast white highlands at the pole.

The last continent on Earth. The final unexplored vast white space. A trip with a doubtful return. A race to the pole that wasn't really meant to be.

This was a miniseries on PBS some years ago. When the DVD came out, I bought it instantly.

The acting is superb, the scenery is devastatingly beautiful, and boringly deadly.

The race to the pole is chronicled in this fascinating dramatization of the race between Amundsen and Scott in 1911. I was glued to my chair during the entire miniseries. The story may be well-known, but to have the tragedy of the English expedition played out lets us all in on the heartbreak. Scott and remaining crew were only a few miles from their stocked food drop at 'One Ton Depot'.

Amundsen comes across as better prepared (and certainly more successful), but cold and dispassionate.

Highly recommended.

"Scott killed himself. That's what the British do best.".......2006-09-02

The Last Place On Earth is a now forgotten British mini-series that's worth remembering. Based on Roland Huntford's still controversial myth-shattering biography of Scott and Amundsen's race to the South Pole, it's the kind of thing which would be done in a rushed 2-3 hours at most today, but in 1985 got more than twice that running time over seven episodes. The benefits are amazing. It may take three episodes for the rivals to hit Antarctic waters, but Trevor Griffiths' excellent script, despite a few liberties with history, chronology and supporting characters (particularly Brian Dennehy's Frederick Cook, both men prone to dramatic license), has enough room for its characters' flaws and virtues to be fully explored and quietly builds up real involvement.

Martin Shaw's Scott gets most of the flaws, though the show doesn't go quite so overboard with them as Huntford's book (to be fair, Scott's pomposity and ability to repeat disastrous mistakes gave him lots of ammo). But despite being played rather superbly with a charismatic twinkle in his eye by Sverre Anker Ousdal, Amundsen isn't perfect either, as his disastrously mismanaged false start and his jealousy and antagonism toward a more famous member of his expedition demonstrate. Although the story doesn't allow it to be explored, the final episode contains plenty of hints of the bitter man he would eventually become as his victory was increasingly overshadowed by the `glory' of Scott's failure.

Ferdinand Fairfax's direction is impressively cinematic, one episode boasting a complex uninterrupted travelling take that's almost up there with Touch of Evil if only on a technical level. There's a lot of familiar British actors when they were still little-knowns among the supporting cast - Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Michael Maloney, Pat Roach, Richard Wilson and one of the lesser Dr Whos, Sylvester McCoy (excellent here) among them - as well as the one-time star of guilty pleasure Song of Norway, Toralv Maurstead, looking considerably older than his years as an ill-starred member of Amundsen's expedition (for once, with the exception of Max Von's Sydow's Nansen, the Norwegians are played by real Norwegians). Per Theodor Haugen also makes his mark as Amundsen's brother, constantly left to deal with the details and itinerary of the everyday life the explorer cannot deal with and Stephen Moore quietly shines as Scott's only real friend. There are a couple of moments that don't really work - Scott glimpsing what he thinks is a cross at Cape Evans where his own memorial would later stand is shot far too literally and the very 80s rock scoring of Amundsen crossing the mountains to the plateau is horribly sub-Chariots of Fire - and none of Amundsen's team on the Polar trek itself ever become characters in their own right the way Scott's men do, but they're minor flaws. This has a 9.4 rating on the IMDB. It earned it.

Thankfully, unlike some recent mini-series releases, this hasn't been crudely cropped in fake widescreen but is in its original fullframe ratio, with all seven episodes presented with opening and closing titles over three discs. The quality isn't demo standard, but that's partially down to the original filmstock that was used (its look is typical of 70s-80s British TV), although the picture quality is noticeably sharper in the last two episodes. No extras.

Unimpressive DVD quality.......2006-06-20

The other reviews are on the mark with content: this is a superb film. My low rating is due solely to the poor production standards of the DVD set. No digital remastering here. The grainy transfer to DVD looks every bit of twenty years old. No sound enhancements either, only a single AC3 stereo channel. Worst of all, Alastair Cooke's episode introductions, which accompanied the series when it was originally shown on Masterpiece Theatre, have been eliminated, replaced with cheap graphic images of the production company's logo. Unfortunately, this is the only Region 1, NTSC-format of this important series that we are likely to get.

Must-see TV? A master work about the South Pole expeditions of Scott and Amundsen.......2006-06-12

I'm a fan of history, the History Channel and all things exploration on earth or the moon. The story of the expeditions to both poles of the earth have fascinated me since I owned my first globe as an elementary school pupil. I used to trace the routes of Byrd, Amundsen and Scott with my finger across the paper-covered sphere and later, I read all I could on Shackleton, Scott, Cook, Perry and Amundsen.

Years ago, Masterpiece Theater aired this seven part (six part back then) mini-series on the race to the Pole. It was based on Roland Huntford's worthy but controversial book. At the time, I was totally smitten with the series which was haunting in its tragedy and in its moral lessons about management and leadership.

I obtained this copy of the series on DVD and we found, 20 years later, that it was as fresh and stunning as when originally aired.

The music is excellent except for one overly 80's bit to cover a wordless section of skiing across the polar plateau. The South Pole has its own leitmotif, something rather like a ripoff of the Holy Grail leitmotif from Wagner's Parsifal, but what a good idea! The cinematography was for television, not film, so no letterboxing or wide shots, but the shots are cleverly framed to take advantage of the scenery and the camera angles are well conceived.

The acting is top-notch: Martin Shaw is perfect as the introspective, political man Scott, driven by his feelings of inadequacy and his Valkerie hero-worshipping wife Kathleen. Amundsen is played by Sverre Ousdal, a great Norwegian actor. Ousdal uses his face and body to express a man who is short on words but long on action and deep feeling. The rest of the cast is so eerily well-chosen that if you read the books by Cherry Garrard and the accounts of the Pole and look at the photos, you will be amazed.

The pace of the series quickens when the race between Scott and Amundsen is at its peak; and the horrors start piling on. There is no way you can come away from this series and not realize what an inhospitable place Antarctica really is. The film winds down after the shocking revelations on the fate of the Scott team, and leaves one thinking about men, their deeds and how it was when the earth still had wild places for men to be the first to set foot on.

If you love history, exploration, National Geographic, and brave deeds of men, you really have to have this series. I'd recommend it for older kids doing home schooling (it's a bit shocking for the very young...use your judgment here. Frostbitten feet and scurvy are dramatically but not overly horribly depicted and the fate of dogs and horses is something you'll have to explain to the kids as well.)

No extras on the DVD--this was filmed before VHS and DVD were available or widely distributed, so the studio did not have footage included for extra features.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Average customer rating:

Chick Flick Will Make You Cry
Great Sappy IR bw/wm Romance Movie

The Last Place on Earth
Starring: Mitchell Anderson , Dana Ashbrook , Edward Beimfohr , Phyllis Diller , and Brock Peters
Director: James Slocum
Manufacturer: Mti Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000EGDNDQ
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Customer Reviews:

Chick Flick Will Make You Cry.......2006-07-19

I saw this movie on cable and cried. It's definitely a chick flick. Liked it enough that I rented it and will still watch it on cable when it comes on.

Great Sappy IR bw/wm Romance Movie.......2006-03-11

I have watched this movie a few times on Cable and fell in love with it the first time. It is an independent film but still shot well. It is a great story and very enjoyable. I have been looking for the DVD/VHS until I recently saw that it was coming out finally. I look forward to watching the DVD.

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