AllMovie

In August of 1914, dogged Australian photographer Frank Hurley joined Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Trans-Antarctic expedition. Shackleton had hoped to make an historic first crossing of the icy continent while recording valuable scientific data, but when the men reached the bottom of the world, things didn't go exactly according to plan. The ship Endurance, which had been slated to explore the treacherous coastline after ferrying Shackleton and company to the Weddell Sea, became frozen in place between two gigantic ice floes. This silent film, first released in 1919 and then restored in 2000, is the stunning photographic record of the long months these men spent fighting for survival -- learning to ski, hunting seals and penguins, and warding off madness and despair. Hurley filmed everything, right up to the moment when their beloved ship disappeared beneath the ice -- he even photographed wildlife on the island of South Georgia, where the explorers were eventually taken to recover from their ordeal. This is a moving, artistic portrait of true adventure and human courage that brings you as close to the action as the men who lived it.