Rating: 
Summary: Sooooooooooooo good
Review: First of all, if you've read the book, either Lansing's or Alexander's, this is a must purchase. It is so haunting to see The Endurance floating, trapped in ice.I really like the mix of modern and actual footage. I think we all have this image of the south pole being this barren, desolate place. It's educating seeing penguins, seals, even shrubbery abound. There is some footage of icebergs that is simply amazing. Beautiful shades of blue you've never seen before. I love reading non fiction books that have some sort of video companion to it (be it Hollywood movie or something you'd find on History Channel). This is probably the best one two punch I've come across as far as a great book and a great visual aide. What a breed of men to endure such a thing. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: A Keeper for Shackleton fans
Review: I first read (heard) Caroline Alexander's book in 2000. It was so engrossing, I listened to it twice while traveling. This is probably the best introduction to Shackleton and his adventures for novices. I have also purchased a videotape of Hurley's photos/movies, which are interesting, but only for collectors. The Branagh 3-DVD set from A&E is entertaining, but not as engrossing as this DVD (The Endurance). The whole DVD including the extras is a treasure. I believe this DVD is commercially available now (December 2003) since I just rented it. I hope Santa will get me a copy for my library.
Rating:
Summary: A riveting documentary of heroic survival
Review: In August 1914, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, comprised of 27 men under the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton, set sail from England in the wooden ship ENDURANCE. The plan was to land a team on the Antarctic Continent, and the men to dogsled across the frozen landmass to the other side via the South Pole. However, one day's sail from the Antarctic shore, the vessel became entrapped in the ice pack, and was subsequently crushed and sunk. Shackleton and his group were stranded on the drifting floes out of contact with and beyond the ken of the rest of the world. The expedition's grueling, heroic journey back to civilization, culminating in an 800-mile voyage across a stormy, frigid ocean by Shackleton and five companions in a small, open boat, is the subject of this documentary based on the book by Caroline Alexander. The spell-binding nature of this film is due to the masterful mix of material from several sources: archival 35mm footage, still photos and drawings from the expedition itself, narrated excerpts from diaries, radio interviews with survivors and filmed interviews with their descendents, and contemporary film footage shot along the route of the men's ordeal. One is amazed at the quality of the 35mm moving images shot by Frank Hurley, the team's photographer. What you see is not a re-enactment - it's real, and as crisp as if shot only last week instead of almost ninety years ago. Besides being the visual narrative of an extraordinary survival story, ENDURANCE is also a show-and-tell presentation on the essence of leadership. Two years after departing England, Shackleton successfully brought all his 27 men back from the brink of extinction. Not a single member of the venture was lost. (Ironically, they arrived back in a Europe entangled in the throes of World War One, in which some of the Expedition's survivors were subsequently killed.) For a fuller presentation of the subject in text, I would strongly recommend ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON'S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE by Alfred Lansing.
Rating: 
Summary: Help, Please, Shackleton story.
Review: Just returned from my first Antarctic 'expedition'. Magnificent! For decades I have had most of the published and filmed material on Shackleton, Scott and others; several recordings of Ralph Vaughan-Williams' 'Sinfonia Antarctica' as well as John Mill's film portrayal of 'Scott of the Antarctic'- for which Vaughan-Williams composed the musical score and later developed it into that Symphony.
This fall I bought the Kenneth Branagh 3 disc set -( first rate 'extra' materials-) as well as the earlier 'The Last Place on Earth'- really first rate on the 'Race' to the Pole. The liam Nesson I saw several time on the trip and will surely be addng it to my collection.
Where I need help is on a version of 'Shackelton' which I recorded in the 1980s off-air from Arts and Entertainment in Betamax format - with no end of commercial interuptionson. I think it was a BBC production originally- and it really does well on the trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia. The tape is still good, but for some reason,I have lost the end and the credits. What I need to know is whether any of you 'Antarctic ' specialists can tell me details, whether it is or was available on VHS or DVD and where I can get hold of it. Amazon's listings, although fairly comprehensive, have left me in a white-out as to all the available materials. So please give me the best of your research and knowledge. And for those that don't know the Vaughan Williams 'Antarctic' Symphony or aren't musical - try it.
Best wishes and keep warm.
Ian Thomas. Mexico City
Rating:
Summary: Great for evoking wonder of exploration in kids
Review: My five year old son loved watching this documentary about Shackleton's Antarctic expedition, even though it's fairly slow, because we were able to talk about bad fortune, sacrifice, courage, and, yes, endurance. Shackleton may have failed in what he intended to do, but he succeeded incredibly in what he was called to do--save his men. This story has important life lessons.
Rating:
Summary: A Story that deserves to be told and to be heard
Review: Oh! the age of discovery. Where did it go to? What happened to men of long ago who were adventurers. The Endurance is the name of Earnest Shackleton's vessel. As it turned out, the name would be proven true to significant proportions. This story will teach about the determination of the human spirit. In order for this to be so, it starts with a collection of persons who were extremely skilled in all facets of sea travel. Including the initial construction of seaworthy boats, navigating course direction in adverse conditions, and maintaining a hierarchy of organizational structure. By doing so a platform was put in to place to acheive great things. This story is about acheiving great things. I like the way the dvd is done documetary style. For most of us, this will be the first time we have encountered this compelling story. It is fitting that as we do we see the actual faces of the persons behind it. The story deserves to be told and to be heard.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but $55 for the video/$17 for DVD?
Review: Outstanding movie/outrageous price for a VHS version of a movie available for $17 as a DVD. This has rip-off written all over it!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but $55 for the video/$17 for DVD?
Review: Outstanding movie/outrageous price for a VHS version of a movie available for $17 as a DVD. This has rip-off written all over it!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing...
Review: Probably the most incredible story I've ever heard (true story). This is a must buy, watch all the extras including the commentary (which I rarely do).
Rating:
Summary: INTENSE, GRIPPING, INCREDIBLE
Review: THE ENDURANCE (Columbia Tristar) brings to vivid life Ernest Shackleton's nightmarish Antarctic expedition (1914-1916). Expedition photographer Frank Hurley's startling movie and still pictures, shot under the most extreme, unfavorable conditions, show Shackleton's ship, the ironically named Endurance, trapped in a blizzard and then jammed in an expanding ice pack. The vice grip of the ice relentlessly squeezes the Endurance until it cracks like a walnut and the 27 crewmen move onto the ice with salvaged items. And then the real terror begins. It was truly Providential that all the men lived to tell this fantastic survival story. This is a truly mesmerizing documentary and is highly recommended.
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