Product Description

One of the greatest survival stories of all time comes to life in this extraordinary true story of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, a testament to heroism and human endurance. All 28 men survived nearly two years in the barren, frigid Antarctic when their ship was caught in pack ice and eventually crushed. Featuring stunning Antarctic images and recreations plus original still photography and 35mm motion picture footage by Rank Hurley, the official photographer for the expedition, this is a voyage you'll want to relive again and again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24213 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2002-09-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 40 minutes

Amazon.com
Of the many films that have chronicled Ernest Shackleton's team's legendary trans-Antarctic expedition and their struggle for survival, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure is the only documentary that traces the actual steps of the explorers' blessed journey. While providing a concise summary of the Shackleton team's 1914-16 expedition, this breathtaking IMAX feature employs exacting re-creations and flyover footage (from 1999 and 2000) of the same harsh landscapes that Shackleton and his men traversed, by land and sea, during their ill-fated voyage. As with most IMAX films, climactic moments are driven by a bombastic score (how many swollen crescendos can one movie handle?), and the harshest facts of the Shackleton journey (e.g., sacrificing beloved dogs for food and euthanasia) are omitted for family viewing. That's a condescending compromise, and the gravitas of Kevin Spacey's narration is a bit overstated. What matters here are the visuals (both vintage and contemporary), and they're absolutely magnificent, conveying the sheer horror--and divine beauty--of the greatest survival story of all time. --Jeff Shannon

Attention:

The initial shipment of the DVD release of Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure had a defective Dolby Digital track, which was corrected for all subsequent manufacturing. The DTS track was always properly synched.

Some used copies with the defect may be circulating, but all of Amazon.com's new inventory is of the corrected edition. You can distinguish the corrected edition from the defective because the corrected edition has a blue dot under the "Image Entertainment" logo on the lower left corner of the back cover. If you have a defective edition, please return it to the retailer where it was purchased for replacement with a corrected version.

The VHS edition never had any synching issues, so none of the above applies to the VHS edition.

New York Times
...every bit as exciting as a commercial epic.

Chicago Tribune
...the finest IMAX film yet.

Customer Reviews

Good...but not the best
This is a good, overall telling of the exciting adventure of Earnest Shackleton's expedition attempt to transnavigate the South Pole. The videography is, as usual, quite spectatular.

However, two other recent versions of this amazing tale are both worth mentioning. "The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" (2000), with Liam Neeson, and PBS NOVA's "Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance," (2002) with David Ogden-Stiers narrating, are both better accounts because you really get more of the in-depth impact of what did and could have gone wrong on the expedition. It is incredible that, in an era where tradegy from expedition travel was not that uncommon, the fact that all 27 men made it back alive - in such a harsh yet beautifully intriguing environment - is truly amazing. If the IMAX version captured your interest, these other two will rivet you to your chair.

A word from the producer
My name is Ryan Mullins and I produced the DVD of Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure. Let me start by stating that I had no choice but to input a star rating in order to register this comment, my Mother suggested 5 stars...

I am writting in response to the discussion regarding the bad batch of disks that went out at the beginning of this release. Much to our shock and horror, an out of synch Dolby Digital 5.1 track appeared on the first run of disks. At the time we took all measures available to us to pull back and quarantine as many of the bad copies as possible. No further bad copies have left our plant since September, 2003. Unfortunately DVDs circulate among a lot of different stores and sub-distributors over a a long period of time. Unsold copies can be returned into the system and go back out without being noticed. We do try and catch them but there are literally thousands of DVDs flowing through the system on any given week.

As stated by the editor, any bad copy will be cheerfully replaced by the vendor who sold it to you. Be assured that we are doing are best to rectify this problem. If it has a blue dot on the back cover over the Image Logo it is a proper copy.

My apologies to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this mistake.

Sincerely,

Ryan.

Another Great IMAX film on DVD, but....
Actually, I'll give the film five stars....the DVD release....well, please read on.

Having seen this film in its original IMAX presentation very recently, I can truthfully say that the images and sound of the DVD edition are splendid, given the smaller TV size that most people will view this video on. However....

The DVD release contains four soundtracks. They are:

1) A DTS digital surround track - English
2) A Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track - English
3) A French language soundtrack
4) A Spanish language soundtrack

I can't comment on the DTS track -- I don't have DTS capable playback equipment. However, it is absolutely clear that the Dolby Digital 5.1 English track is OUT OF SYNC with the picture (by approx. 3.5 seconds). If you don't believe me, a simple comparison of the 5.1 English track with the French or Spanish soundtracks will confirm this. It is especially evident in the first shot of the film, which depicts a photographer taking still shots of the scene. The flash of the bulbs and their accompanying sound are wildly out of sync on the 5.1 English track, but are fine on the French and Spanish tracks.

At least, this was the case on my DVD copy, purchased in January 2002. If the releasing company has corrected the error (which, of course, they should) then future releases of this DVD may sound fine. It is hard to understand how a DVD with this kind of error could have been released without anyone at the releasing company noticing it.

Hopefully, to anyone who has already purchased a copy of the initial DVD, the company will offer a free replacement once the problem has been fixed.