Historical Films

  • Includes semi-historical re-creations' of expeditions
  • More details on the films can be found on IMDB
  • Fiction films are listed here
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of LK and do not reflect the views of Barnard College
Pole Year Title Comments
N 1912 The Truth About the Pole Frederick Cook produced and starred in this self promotional short docudrama, in which he claims to have discovered the North Pole, online here
S 1913 Roald Amundsen paa Sydpolen Norway, 1 minute, Roald Amundsen at the South Pole,
S 1913 Dr. Mawson in the Antarctic AUS; director Frank Hurley
S 1919 South AUS/UK; Frank Hurley’s film of Shackleton’s 1914-1916 expedition
N 1922 Nanook of the North
S 1922 The Great White Silence UK; Ponting’s silent? documentary of the Scott expedition to the South Pole, new releases were restored by BFI National Archive
S 1929 With Byrd at the South Pole
N 1930 Mot ukjent land Norway; documentary about Norwegian expedition 1929-1930
S 1933 90 Degrees South: With Scott to the Antarctic UK: re-release of Ponting’s documentary with narration
S 1935 Into Little America Documentary of Admiral Byrd’s second expedition to Antarctica in 1934.
S 1948 The Secret Land documentary of the US Navy 'Operation High Jump' expedition led by Admiral Byrd, narrated by 3 well known actors, first non-war-related film to win a Documentary Oscar here
S 1949 Scott of the Antarctic UK; melodramatic dramatization of Scott's expedition to the South Pole
S 1949 Antarctica 1948 AUS; BW documentary about the Australian National Research Exploration to Antarctica 1947-48.
N 1949 Terre des glaces France; short documentary that retraces the first French polar expedition in Greenland in 1936
S 1949 The Official Film of the Mawson Antarctic Expedition AUS; director Frank Hurley, edited from 1913 Dr Mawson in the Antarctic
S 1954 Roald Amundsen Norway; documentary
S 1954 Blue Ice AUS; short documentary about the 1954 expedition which set up a new Antarctic station 'Mawson'
S 1955-1958 The Trans-Antarctic Expedition UK; documentary, 6 episode TV series
S 1963 12 Flags South AUS; BW TV documentary about Byrd and Mawson
N 1968 Bare et liv - historien om Fridtjof Nansen Norway/USSR; biographical drama about Nansen
N 1971 The Conquered Dream Canada/BBC; documentary history about exploration of Arctic Canada
S 1982 Shackleton UK; TV movie
N 1983 Cook & Peary: The Race to the Pole Canada/US; TV drama, race to the North Pole
S 1985 Last Place on Earth UK; Masterpiece Theater, 7.5 hrs, based on Huntford's version of the Amundsen vs Scott expeditions to the South Pole
S 1988 Struggle for the Pole: In the Footsteps of Scott WGBH PBS series ‘Adventure’, episode S2E5. Also episode S3E5 ‘Polar Passage’
S 1989 Conquest of the South Pole UK; TV movie, incl Alan Cumming, unemployed Edinburgh youths embark on a recreation of Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole.
S 1990 Trans Antarctica! TV; Will Steger expedition
N 1990 Nanook Revisted Canadian, revisits site of Flaherty's filming
S 1993 The Forbidden Quest Netherlands; in 1905, a Norse ship sails to Antarctica
N 1994 Matthew Henson video from 'Black Americans of Achievement' collection II
S 1995 Height of Courage: The Norman Vaughan Story National Geographic TV: At age 89, Vaughan became the first to climb a 10,300 ft mtn, named after him by Admiral Byrd 60 years earlier. (He'd hoped to climb it again at 100, but died a few days after the birthday).
N 1997 En frusen dröm Sweden/Norway/Denmark; documentary about S. A. Andrees’ 1897 polar expedition
S 1997 Richard Byrd- Alone in Antarctica TV; episode S1E5 of The Adventurers
N 1998 Glory and Honor TNT TV Movie about Henson and Peary
S 1999 Alone on the Ice Episode S11E4 of 'American Experience', documentary about Admiral Byrd in Antarctica
S 1999 Scott of the Antarctic UK; S1E1 of ‘The Great Adventurers’
S 1999 Frosset Hjerte (Frozen Heart: A Film About Roald Amundsen) Norwegian and Czech, Canadian/English version 2000. Post-South Pole race, Amundsen pines after married women, loses money, & tries to retain fame
S 1999 Sir Ernest Shackleton UK; S1E5 of ‘The Great Adventurers’
S 1999 Escape from Antarctica: On the Trail of Shackleton Ireland; Irish adventurers trace Shackleton’s crossing of Antarctica
N/S 2000 Race for the Poles South Pole race includes interviews with Huntford, Preston, and Spufford
S 2000 Poles Apart: American Women's Expedition documentary
S 2000 The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition narrated by Liam Neeson
S 2001 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure IMAX, with Kevin Spacey
S 2001 Shackleton and Scott: Rivals for the Pole Ireland; documentary
S 2001 Der Pinguin Mann Swiss; world famous Swiss photographer died on 22nd Antarctic expedition near Emperor penguins
N 2001 IMAX Great North with Nanook's grandson
S 2002 Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time UK/US A&E Emmy winning TV mini-series, starring Kenneth Branagh
S 2002 Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance S29E6 of PBS Nova
S 2002 Antarctica: A Frozen History History Channel documentary
S 2003 Secrets of the Dead: Tragedy at the Pole Susan Solomon's version of race to South Pole
S 2003 Ice Bound TV movie about Jerri Nielson, who treated herself for breast cancer while wintering at the South Pole
N 2005 Modern Marvels: Subzero History Channel
N 2005 Minik - New York ist kalter als der Nordpol German documentary
N 2006 Arctic Passage PBS NOVA; Ice Survivors (S33E7) and Prisoners of the Ice (S33E8)
N 2006 The Ice King UK; BBC Voyages of Discovery series, on Fridtjof Nansen
N/S 2006 Blizzard: Race to the Pole UK; 6 part BBC2 TV series, race to South Pole duplicated in Greenland using 1911 gear, supplies and strategies. The 'Scott' team loses 'Survivor Greenland'
N 2006 The Prize of the Pole Denmark; documentary, about Minik and Inuit Robert Peary II (great-grandchild of Robert Peary)
S 2006 The Journals of Knud Rasmussen Canada/Denmark/Greenland; Drama about an Inuit shaman and his daughter, based on the 1920s journal of Rasmussen
S 2006 Surviving Extremes AUS/UK; Mawson’s and future Mars expeditions
N 2007 Nunatak, for Live Earth 7/7/07 YouTube
N/S 2007 Quest For Adventure 2 DVD set includes With Byrd at the South Pole, First Flight over the North Pole, & The Amundsen Polar Flight
S 2007 Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica AUS/UK; Original title: When Hell Freezes
N 2007 Top Gear: Polar Special UK; BBC TV. Monster truck with 2 'middle aged drunk Brits' and dogsled team race to the magnetic North Pole. Very funny. Supposedly first to 'drive' to North Pole but they cheat! (another truck pulls them out when stuck)
N 2008 Minik, the Lost Eskimo US, PBS: episode S20E10 of 'American Experience'. A shorter adaption of the 2005 German film above
S 2008 Antarctica, 1939 - 1941 National Archives footage of Byrd's Antarctic expedition
S 2009 On Thin Ice UK; BBC TV, 5 hrs. A double Olympic gold medalist, a TV presenter, and a doctor form teams and race to the South Pole. There's also a book.
S 2009 Discoverer UK documentary about the British Army Antarctic Expedition in a cramped British military yacht
N 2009 Arctic Shadows Canada; Documentary, The Arctic Journeys of Dr. R. M. Anderson, who had many expeditions to the Arctic starting in 1908.
N 2009 C.B.Q.M. Canada; Documentary about radio station in Canadian NWT north of the Arctic Circle
N 2009 The Experimental Eskimos Canada; Documentary, in early 1960s Inuit children were separated from their families and sent to white schools, here 3 grew up to be political activists and leaders
S 2011 William Speirs Bruce UK; S1E2 of The Last Explorers. Among other polar trips, Bruce led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1902-4 & established the first Antarctic permanent weather station
S 2011 The Mawson Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-1913 AUS; short documentary, reconstruction of Mawson’s lectures
N/S 2011 Great Expeditions: Search for the Greatest Polar Explorer National Geographic TV, on Amundsen
S 2011 Secrets of Scott's Hut BBC Two; Ben Fogle joins an expedition across Antarctica to find Captain Scott's Hut. With Ranulph Fiennes; Scott's diaries are read by (who else) Kenneth Branagh.
S 2012 Mawson: Science and Survival AUS; documentary
S 2012 Shackleton's Captain NZ; documentary
S 2012 Expeditionen ins ewige Eis Germany; documentary about Prussian scientist Alfred Wegener
N 2013 North Pole Promise short documentary about Harvard Prof. S Allen Counter's trip to Greenland to meet the 80 year old Inuit sons of Robert Peary and Matthew Henson
S 2014 Mawson in the Mirror AUS; documentary
S 2015 Sir Hubert Wilkins: Polar Explorer and Aviator AUS; short
N 2015 Igloolik, a real tale Spain; documentary history of the Canadian government’s control over Inuit society and the Nunavut region
N 2015 Arctic Ghost Ship TV; episode S42E14 of PBS NOVA. Canadian team discovers one of Franklin’s lost ships
S 2019 Amundsen Norway & Sweden; biographical drama about his quest of the North Pole. US version subtitled 'the greatest expedition' (2021)
S 2019 Expedition Picture Albums UK; S4E30 of 'The Repair Shop'. Some of Scott’s South Pole albums are restored.
S 2020 1911: la conquête du Pôle Sud Episode S3E8 of ‘Dates That Made History’
S 2021 Thin Ice VR AUS: 20 min historical re-creation of Shackleton by Tim Jarvis
N/S 2021 The Eye of Wilkins AUS; documentary about polar explorer and photographer Sir George Hubert Wilkins
N 2022 Untold Arctic Wars Finland; 6 episode Documentary about far northern events in WWII
N 2022 Against the Ice Iceland/Denmark. Netflix film about 2 Danish explorers trying to survive in Greenland in 1909
S 2023 Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival AUS: Tim Jarvis follows in footsteps of Shackleton’s Endurance expedition