Antarctic Movies, DVD's or Videos about Antarctica

Alone in Antarctica (PBS Video)

Hailed as an American hero, Richard Byrd soared into history when he claimed to be the first man to fly over the North Pole. Four years later, he topped this feat by flying over the South Pole. Then, in the winter of 1934, Byrd faced the ultimate challenge: to survive the Antarctic winter entirely alone. Fellow explorers, original expedition footage and dramatic reenactments shed new light on a controversial expedition that nearly cost Byrd his sanity and his life.

Alone on the Ice (VHS)

In June 1934, as temperatures dropped to 70 degrees below zero, Richard Byrd lay alone in a tiny hut near the South Pole, close to death. No one had ever experienced winter in the interior of Antarctica. Desperately ill, Byrd made a note in his diary: Fully expect to die. In an age of heroes, he was one of the world’s greatest. An explorer,aviation pioneer and scientist, Byrd was also an egotist, risk-taker – and, his critics claim, a self promoter who took credit for the accomplishments of others. Byrd became an international hero after he claimed to have made the first flight over the North Pole. But some questioned whether he had really made it. Undeterred, Byrd set out for Antarctica where he would be the first to fly over the South Pole. Then, with no poles left to conquer, he secretly planned a dramatic feat: enduring the winter alone on the polar ice. Drawing on compelling archival footage, interviews with family members, colleagues and historians, and a rich musical source, ALONE ON THE ICE tells the remarkable story of America’s most famous, and controversial polar explorer.

Amundsen - Frozen Heart (VHS)

Fierce duels at the North and South Poles end with triumph, tragedy and controversary. He was the first to sail the Northwest Passage above Canada (1903-1906), and the first man to reach the South Pole (1911). Quite possibly he was the first man to set a flag on the North Pole as well (1926). These accomplishments were only achieved by careful planning and unyielding will. Amundsen’s charismatic personality and ability to charm were seductive for many people. At the same time, he let down the women he loved, and betrayed his own brother. Cynically, and with bitter irony, he made enemies with entire nations. When Amundsen declared bankruptcy in 1924, he sent his two adopted Eskimo daughters back to Siberia. With a cold heart he explained, “I would have liked to have kept my two adopted wards, but it didn’t work out. It was just an experiment anyway.” Roald Amundsen’s personal diary is written as a letter to the greatest love of his life. The letter was never sent, but “Kiss” Bennett and the polar hero used telepathic communication instead. Their relationship is hidden from those around them, and like the other women in Amundsen’s life, Kiss is married to another man. Roald Amundsen hopes that by conquering the North and South Pole’s frozen wilderness that he can win the love of the world. But only death will satisfy a man who is in love with his own reflection.

Antarctic Pioneers (DVD)

An important companion program to The Life and World of Frank Hurley, this documentary was directed and narrated by the world-famous photographer, Frank Hurley, who re-tells the stories, as only he could, of Antarctic expeditions from 1911 to 1954. Utilizing never-before-seen archival footage and photographs, Captain Hurley describes expeditions in 1911 with Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton, in 1928 with Sir Hubert Wilkins, and in 1954 with Philip Law aboard the ice-breaker, the Kista Dan, to establish Mawson as a permanent station. This is a rare film that reveals the true hardship and courage of early Antarctic pioneers.

Antarctic Wildlife Adventure (VHS)

National Geographic Video Set sail with a family of real-life explorers for the most remote and starkly beautiful continent on earth – Antarctica. Aboard the 50 foot schooner Damien II, a husband-wife naturalist team and their three sons will guide you an the voyage of a lifetime. Rocky coasts, azure blue seas, and magnificent towering icebergs set the backdrop for a wide variety of wildlife as you navigate south through the islands of the pristine Antarctic peninsula. From the deck of the small craft you will see humpback whales perform a graceful underwater ballet. And while on shore you will mingle with three species of penguins as well as marvel at young elephant seals at play. Join National Geographic for the ultimate Antarctic Wildlife Adventure!

Antarctic and Arctic Photo Gallery (CD-ROM)

Over 1700 images! Description: This electronic book on CD-ROM presents a truly spectacular collection of over 1700 photos taken by NOAA scientists at the poles of the Earth. Subjects include: Antarctica, the South Pole Station, McMurdo station, Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic oceanography on the ship Nathaniel Palmer; Arctic Field Party, snow, sled dogs, explorers, ships, scientific equipment, icebergs, glaciers, ice flows, pancake ice, sea ice, penguins, whales, fish, seals, eagles, mountains, flowers, rainbows, dramatic aurora, sunrises and sunsets, unusual cloud formations, and many other beautiful scenes. This book-on-a-disc makes a superb reference work for nature enthusiasts, libraries, researchers, schools, students, and home reference! NOAA says: "Scientists, sailors, pilots, divers, and other members of the NOAA family and its predecessor agencies have worked on every continent and in every climate that exists on Earth. This album records but a small fraction of that experience but will take you from Arctic regions to the South Pole. Share the wonders of our planet with these dedicated professionals as they lead you down their paths, the "Paths Less Taken" and join NOAA on a journey to the very ends of the Earth." Our unique "IMAGE GALLERY" in Acrobat format reproduces the photos in a "photo album" suitable for quick full-screen browsing! Many of the photos are accompanied by the NOAA caption. This format was designed to mimic the look and "feel" of a real book. There is no need to laboriously import images into a slow-loading program. We've also included the original image files, with 183 of the finest scenic photographs provided in high resolution (about one MB per file).

Antarctica (Nature) (DVD)

NATURE Takes You to the End of the Earth - and Below DOUBLE PROGRAM (168 Minutes)

Antarctica - Life in the Freezer (VHS)

National Geographic Video Hosted by: David Attenborough What does it take to survive in the coldest place on Earth? For Weddell seals, enduring Antarctic winters means staying under water – where, even at subzero temperatures, it’s warmer beneath the ice. Renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough leads you on a spectacular journey through this remote, ice-covered continent. See how savage winds chisel away solid granite boulders, mummify a 3000-year-old seal, and force emperor penguins to huddle together to protect their eggs. Retrace the steps from nearly a century ago of the area’s first explorers as a British team races to the South Pole against a Norwegian expedition. And follow modern-day scientists as they struggle to live and work in the coldest corner of the Earth.

Antarctica IMAX (VHS / DVD)

ANTARCTICA takes you to a continent beyond imagination. Discover a new world and learn of Antarctica's wildlife in a way never before possible. ANTARCTICA creates a sensation of truly being there -- a remarkable film experience where, through the heartfelt words of Antarctica explorer Robert Scott, you'll re-live the brutal hardships, wonders and isolation of the first men on this magnificent frontier. Join in the search for scientific clues locked in centuries-old ice...fly a helicopter over towering glacial peaks...dive through a submerged crystalline cavern in Chaos Glacier...join a company of penguins in an underwater ballet. ANTARCTICA has been digitally remastered at The Enterprise Studios for your home library and features the incredible sound and image quality that is a trademark of the IMAX large-screen format. TOPICS 1. Antarctica 2. Penguins 3. Ice Sheets 4. Climatic Changes 5. In the Cause of Science 6. The Quest Continues...

Antarctica: Journey to the Ice (DVD)

BGT Award - Best Documentary Following in the footsteps of legendary adventurers like Sir Ernest Shackleton and Robert F. Scott, this outstanding documentary follows a small Russian icebreaker's intrepid journey through the wilds of Antarctica to South Georgia and the Falkland Islands and allows viewers to experience the feeling of an Antarctic adventure. Expert filmmaker Steve Hills combines his talents with writer Gill Williams to reveal the amazing scenery and wildlife in this area, along with astonishing footage of whales, seals and seabirds. Great Explorers Series This series offers a mix of historical and contemporary documentaries on some of the most courageous and daring people who have documented their explorations of the world.

Complete Guide to Global Warming (CD-ROM)

Over 30,000 pages of information! Description: This electronic book on CD-ROM provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection available anywhere of official information and documents on climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, and ozone depletion. Hundreds of reports from the EPA, NASA, NOAA, Energy Department, DOT, State Department, and United Nations cover every aspect of the problem, from the latest climate science data to regulatory action in the United States and elsewhere. There is extensive material on the proposed Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, inventories of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, US and world temperature measurements and trends, spacecraft observations, impacts on sea levels and individual states, research papers, energy production and consumption, paleoclimatology, ozone depletion, polar ozone hole, the Montreal Protocol controlling ozone-depleting chemicals, chlorofluorocarbons, and much more - over 30,000 pages of superb information. This book-on-a-disc makes a superb reference work for concerned citizens and environmentalists, researchers, libraries, schools, students, and home reference! The CD-ROM is designed to provide a convenient user-friendly general reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed or printed without untold hours of tedious searching and downloading. Vast archives of important government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review.

Frank Hurley, The Life and Work Of (VHS / DVD)

Narrated by Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey), this is a compelling biography of a pioneer cameraman, war photographer, explorer, film director, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, Frank Hurley - one of the world's finest still photographers. From outback Australia to the deserts of the Middle East to Antarctica, this program shows his extraordinary skills and achievements. Featured are compelling images from historic pioneering expeditions, including Sir Ernest Shackleton's legendary Antarctic Expedition. Also seen is Hurley's footage of his expedition to New Guinea, his coverage of WWI and WWII, and an excerpt from his foray into feature films with The Jungle Women in 1926.

Operation Deepfreeze (CD-ROM)

The CD-ROM contains well over 100 images from all over Antarctica: - Stations & Fieldcamps (McMurdo, South Pole) - Aircraft - Ships - Williams Field - Logisitics - Building Interiors - Radio Rooms - Maps - Aurora - Landscapes & Wildlife - Dry Valleys - Much More All images include a short description. Slideshow and software included.

Penguin Pix (CD-ROM)

The best dressed birds of Antarctica and their amazing environment. Includes high resolution images! - over 120 pictures - pictures available in 3 formats - cropped and uncropped JPEGs - 3.5MB Uncompressed TIFFs - screensaver containing all images - html based gallery of images - history of PenguinPix - shareware software

Race for the Poles (VHS)

They are tales bursting with intrigue, bold claims and even bolder lies, and life-or-death consequences. True chronicles of men driven, despite the odds, to conquer a part of the world as yet untouched by humanity - a land of pristine silence, unimaginable cold and unknowable danger - at the very ends of the earth. This amazing story tells the tale of those brave and ambitious adventurers who sought to be the first men to stand on the Earth's geographical poles. Their names - Perry, Cook, Amundsen, and Scott - will forever be synonymous with the frozen regions they sought to conquer. This fascinating and informative program presents new insights into the events surrounding these adventurers and their missions of discovery to the north and south poles.

Research in Antarctica (CD-ROM)

Over 12,000 pages included. This electronic book on CD-ROM presents the complete story of U.S. research at the South Pole and throughout Antarctica. It covers its subject matter with an extensive array of color images, charts, graphs and maps, with special emphasis on natural phenomenon (including icebergs and iceberg development) and research stations and equipment. Antarctic research stations covered include the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, McMurdo Station, Palmer Station, and Vostok Station. South Pole Station construction and modernization is extensively covered and documented. Geographical areas covered include Ellsworth Land, Filchner- Ronne Ice Shelf, the George V Coast, Gondwanaland, Lake Hoare, Larsen Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valley, the Mount Erebus volcano, Mount Moulton, the Oates Coast, Pine Island Glacier, Ross Sea, Transarctic Mountains, Victoria Land, and Thwaites Glacier. A highlight feature are complete reproductions of major official documents including the U.S. Antarctic Program Participant Guide 2000-2002 Edition, the Field Manual for the U.S. Antarctic Program, and the official U.S. Antarctic Program Reports dating back to 1997-1998. Aircraft coverage includes the LC- 130 Hercules, C-141 Starlifter, and C-5 Galaxy, the Twin Otter, and helicopters. Areas of research covered include: aeronomy, astrophysics, auroral imaging, bacteria, biology, climatology, diatoms, ecology, El Nino, geology, geomagnetic phenomena, geophysics, glacier hydrological and mass balance, glaciology medicine, icebergs, ice cores, ice domes, ice sheets

Robert Falcon Scott (VHS)

Robert Falcon Scott's doomed attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole became a race against his Norwegian rival Roald Amundsen. When Scott and his exhausted men arrived at the Pole, Amundsen's flag was already in place, and before Scott and his team lay only starvation and death on the return trip. Scott had been hand-picked at the early age of nineteen as a man suitable to lead a British polar exploration. On his fateful second journey, Scott made decisions which involved taking great risks, and these still cause controversy today.

Shackleton's Boat Journey (VHS)

Directed by: Harding McGgregor Dunnett Produced by the James Caird Society and Dulwich College. April 1916. Twenty-eight men in desperate condition are stranded on a barren island. Even the whalers of the South Atlantic never venture this far. All are doomed unless their leader can perform another miracle. Fifteen months earlier, their ship, the Endurance, had been trapped in pack ice in the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea. For ten months they had lived aboard ship, until the ice crushed and sank her. For five more months the men had drifted on ice floes before making a perilous sea voyage north to land – the lifeless and uninhabited Elephant Island. Facing the most savage ocean on earth, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men had only one escape – an unthinkable and impossible journey of 800 miles in an open 23-foot-long boat, the James Caird. There was no chance of success, yet there was no choice. It became the most courageous and extraordinary achievement in exploration history. This is the story of that amazing voyage, produced by the James Caird Society and Shackleton’s alma mater Dulwich College, home of the James Caird. Extraordinary scholarship and insight, combined with original photographs from the expedition, make this a marvelous addition to Shackleton lore.

Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica (VHS)

In 1914, explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men set out aboard his ship, Endurance, in pursuit to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica via the South Pole. Instead, Endurance became locked in sea ice, and for nine grueling months he fought a losing battle to save his ship, which was finally crushed by the relentless pack ice. Shackleton and his crew then drifted for five more months on ice floes, enduring inhuman cold and violent storms until they reached a barren rock called Elephant Island. Then, he and four members of his crew embarked on a treacherous 850-mile voyage across dangerous open seas in a tiny 22-foot boat and miraculously reached South Georgia Island. This absorbing program tells the story of one of the most famous chapters in the history of exploration, as recreated by an Irish team of adventurers who retraced Shackleton’s epic journey. The program intertwines stunning photographs, film footage, and diary quotes from Shackleton’s original voyage with the exploits of the modern-day team of explorers and adventurers. Each of these epic voyages will capture the imagination and convey to a modern world the historic significance of Shackleton’s courageous saga of survival and escape from the hostile, frozen continent of Antarctica.

Sir Douglas Mawson (CD-ROM)

An exciting, pictorial account of Sir Douglas Mawson and the Australasian Antarctic Expedition during the “heroic era”; an Antarctic exploration at the beginning of the twentieth century. Mawson made an enormous contribution to Antarctic exploration, and dominated the history of Australia in the Antarctic in the first half of the twentieth century. Of the three polar expeditions of which Mawson was a member, it was the second, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) 1911-14, which firmly established his extraordinary reputation. It features over 300 images taken from fragile glass photographic plates, rare postcards and historic maps, and incorporates interactivity and educative functions. Included are spectacular black and white and experimental color photographs, many taken by Frank Hurley (the official photographer).

The Thing (VHS)

John Carpenter, director of Halloween, The Fog, and Escape From New York, continues his phenomenal string of hits with The Thing, a new version of the classic horror thriller, starring Kurt Russell. It is set in the winter of 1982 at a research station in Antarctica where a twelve man research team finds an alien being that has fallen from the sky and has remained buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon it is unfrozen and unleashed, creating havoc and terror as it changes forms and becomes one of them. Put this frightening story together with outstanding performances, incredible special effects by Roy Arbogast, makeup by Rob Bottin, and special visual effects by master Albert Whitlock and you've got a movie that Time Magazine describes as "Horrific".

Tragedy at the Pole (VHS)

Tragedy at the Pole tells the tragic story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his British team who, in November 1911, began a trek across the ice of Antarctica, striving to be the first to reach the South Pole. After marching and skiing more than 900 miles, the men reached the Pole in January 1912, only to discover that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beaten them by a month. On their return journey, Scott and his four companions perished, and their legacy has been debated ever since. Were they fallen heroes, or were they incompetent? This film brings a new, contemporary angle to our understanding of the men and their expedition, their staggering struggle and the reasons for their deaths. Drawing on extensive meteorological data, personal diaries and accounts from those who survived, the program recreates, in vivid detail, the sights, sounds, legends and ferocious weather of their journey and draws the startling conclusion that Scott was a careful and meticulous planner who was struck down by a freak cold spell that blew apart his careful weather forecasts and shattered his predictions of what to expect on the trek.

Wildlife of the Deep Antarctic (CD-ROM)

Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh Travel to Antarctica's Ross Sea, where you'll meet five of the most southerly naturally occuring animals on Earth. You'll learn about these unique creatures through fact sheets, narrated text, stunning photographs, and never-before-seen videos, including rare footage of killer whales and penguins underwater. You will even hear the animals in their own voices, recorded on location in Antarctica - the raucous mating call of Adelie penguins, the majestic trumpet of the Emperor penguin, and the haunting otherworldly cries of Weddell seals. Whether you're interested in Antarctica or just in wildlife, this CD-ROM is both a valuable educational tool and an essential addition to your CD collection.

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