The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

George Butler

Writers (WGA):

Caroline Alexander (book)
Caroline Alexander (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

30 August 2002 (Spain)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot:

A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916, featuring new...

Plot Keywords:

Expedition | Antarctica | Rescue | Glacier | 1910s

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Liam Neeson	...	Himself / Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julian Ayer	...	Himself (Grandson of expedition member)
John Blackborow	...	Himself (Grandson of expedition member)
David Cale	...	Hubert Hudson (voice)
John Henry Cox	...	William Bakewell (voice)
Mary Crean O'Brien	...	Herself (daughter of Tom Crean)
Steven Crossley	...	Alexander Macklin / 'Chippy' McNish / James Wordie (voice)
Brian d'Arcy James	...	Frank Wild (voice) (as Brian Darcy James)
Drew De Carvalho	...	Frank Hurley (voice)
Dominic Hawksley	...	Thomas Orde-Lees (voice)
Roland Huntford	...	Himself (historian)
Ron Keith	...	Walter How (voice)
Tom McNeish	...	Himself (Grandson of McNish)
Simon Prebble	...	Ernest Shackleton (voice)
Paul Ricketts	...	Frank Worsley (voice)
Jonathan Shackleton	...	Himself (Cousin of Shackleton)
Ian Stuart	...	Lionel Greenstreet (voice)
Peter Wordie	...	Himself (Son of J. Wordie)
Ernest Shackleton	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
George Butler

Writing credits (WGA)
Caroline Alexander		(book)
Caroline Alexander		(written by) &
Joseph Dorman		(written by)

Produced by
Caroline Alexander	....	executive producer
Paula Apsell	....	executive producer
Prudence Arndt	....	archival producer
George Butler	....	producer
L. Dennis Kozlowski	....	executive producer
Bowe Ferrer	....	associate producer
Dr. John M. Levinson	....	associate producer
John H. MacBain	....	associate producer
John Mack	....	executive producer
Terrence Malick	....	executive producer
Edward R. Pressman	....	executive producer
Louise Rosen	....	co-producer
Mike Ryan	....	executive producer
Sarah Scully	....	associate producer
Steven Stoke	....	line producer
Werner Zehnder	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Michael Small

Cinematography by
Sandi Sissel

Film Editing by
Melissa Hacker
Joshua Waletzky

Production Management
Robert Warmflash	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Margaret Crimmins	....	sound designer
Peter Miller	....	sound
Peter Waggoner	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andy Wiskes	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Keith Yurevitz	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles Castaldi	....	camera operator
Tom Hurwitz	....	additional cinematographer
Paul Marbury	....	assistant camera
Scott Ransom	....	additional camera operator: Antarctic
John M. Roche	....	second electrician: reunion segment
Jeff Victor	....	additional camera operator

Animation Department
Joshua Waletzky	....	director of photo animation

Editorial Department
Marion Delarche	....	assistant editor
Johanna Giebelhaus	....	assistant editor
Jessica Lucas	....	assistant editor
Michael Yetter	....	negative cutter

Music Department
Lawrence Manchester	....	score recordist
Nathaniel Reichman	....	assistant music

Other crew
Jennifer Latham	....	production coordinator
Christopher Dillon Quinn	....	title designer
Christopher T. Sadler	....	assistant production coordinator
Sarah Scully	....	researcher: photo-film

Production Companies

• Discovery Channel Pictures
• FilmFour
• Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
• NOVA/WGBH Boston
• Outward Bound
• Shackleton Schools
• Sveriges Television (SVT)
• Telepool
• The American Museum of Natural History
• White Mountain Films
• Zegrahm Expeditions

Distributors

• Cowboy Booking International (2001) (USA)
• DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (2003) (Spain) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Endurance (USA)
Verschollen im Packeis - Das Antarktis-Abenteuer des Sir Ernest Shackleton (Germany) (TV title)

Runtime:

97 min | Germany:90 min (25 fps) (TV premiere)

Country:

Sweden | UK | Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Spain:13 | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Antarctica

Company:

Discovery Channel Pictures

Movie Connections:

Edited from South (1919)

Icily Gripping

This is the most unbelievable TRUE story I have ever seen! Thank God I walked into it not knowing anything about Shackleton or the cataclysmic expedition he and his men endured for almost two years of their lives; I was mesmerized by the tale and STUNNED by the conclusion!

Without a doubt, Sir Ernest Shackleton is one of the bravest, loyal, and awe-inspiring men I have ever heard of. This documentary does everything right in trying to tell his (and his crew's) story without sensationalizing or mythifying his character. Use of actual still and motion picture photography from the doomed expedition, letters from the crew, interviews and stories with grandchildren of the ship-men, new footage of the original Antarctic sites, and a beautifully written and delivered narration (by Liam Nieson) are blended together seemlessly to transport the viewer back in time, and into the terror that was the voyage of The Endurance.

Although Kenneth Branagh's SHACKLETON (2002) was a good effort and a fine telling, it truly could not capture the real tension, anticipation, expectation and real-life drama in the way this documentary did throughout (I found Branagh's version often played on obvious audience manipulators, ie., heavy-handed dialogue, hammered musical scoring, camera indulgence, etc.).

9/10. ENDURANCE is the greatest example of TRUTH being stranger than fiction, and so much more compelling!