L'Epopée de l'Everest

The other reviews of this wonderful film will give the reader more than enough motivation to watch it himself. I would like to add the point, however, that Mallory & Co. did not consider themselves to be personally superior to the natives. The film expresses a lot of respect for these hearty and isolated people, including praises for their unremitting cheerfulness towards their work. Such praises have been a part of the history of Everest exploration since that time. The Tibetan and Nepalese quite admirable. However it is probably true that Mallory and Irvine did believe they came from a more advanced society and I think that too is indisputable.

We are so steeped in cultural relativism that we fail to make this distinction. It is a distinction that the natives themselves have made; as over the decades they have adopted as many innovations as have been introduced to their country. After seeing many films of Everest explorations I suspect that they have less nostalgia about their "old ways" and modes of living than many Westerners--steeped in romantic notions about the purity indigenous peoples--believe.

As a silent film enthusiast and as someone who has taught close to 30 classes on silent movies at the local university, I have seen a LOT of silent movies including a number of silent documentaries but nothing quite like THE EPIC OF EVEREST. I was vaguely aware of the 1924 George Mallory expedition but was unaware that they had taken a movie camera with them and recorded all but the last 2000 feet of the climb (the last part done with an early telephoto lens). I knew that Mallory and his associate Andrew Irvine had perished some 600 feet from the summit and that their bodies had not been recovered (Mallory's was found 75 years later and buried on the mountain). This astonishing documentary while essentially just a documentation of their journey becomes so much more because of the quality and the purity of the images captured by amateur cameraman Captain John Noel. Noel doesn't just record the expedition but enshrines and transforms it by the beauty of the set ups he chose.

The film begins with them setting out and then arriving in a Tibetan village. Although 200 miles away, Mt Everest looms over everything. Noel's camera captures the look and feel of the village and its people. Remember this is almost 100 years ago and much of what he captures has long since slipped into history. The customs and clothing of the villagers of that time have been preserved forever. As they get closer to the mountain, the natural conditions began to change and we are thrust into an unbelievable landscape of ice and snow. The way the camera catches it you'd think you were on a far away planet. The power and majesty of Everest are all around as it literally becomes a force of nature dooming the expedition. While there is a palpable spirituality to the images, they are enhanced by the title cards which occasionally refer to the mountain as a divine entity (Chomo-Lung-Ma "Goddess Mother of the World"). Some also reflect the condescending British colonial attitude of the time.

A major contribution to the effectiveness of the film is the haunting new score commissioned by the British Film Institute and composed by Simon Fisher Turner. It is a balanced mixture of ethnic music and minimalist simplicity augmented by authentic sound effects including the actual wind from the mountain itself. When you realize that these men were not decked out in the latest equipment but with only tweeds and thick coats and gloves to protect themselves, you then realize their courage and fortitude and become amazed at what they actually did manage to accomplish.. While there are natural similarities to SOUTH, Ernest Shackelton's ENDURANCE documentary and the Cooper-Schoedsack saga of Persian tribesman, GRASS, those silent films lack the poetry and potency of Captain Noel's images. I came away from my viewing of this thinking "This is the most amazing documentary I have ever seen!". I know that I'll be revisiting it on several occasions...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

THE EPIC OF EVEREST is a silent, tinted 1924 documentary that follows an ill-fated expedition to climb Everest by the explorers George Mallory and Paul Irvine. The documentary is a melting pot of icy vistas, adventure-style hiking and rescue, Eastern mysticism and camaraderie. I was worried that it might be staid and dull given the era it was released, but instead it's a vibrant film and one that's full of heart.

Of course, the world was a lot different when this documentary was shot and much has changed, but that's what makes it so interesting and useful as a historical document. It's a snapshot of a long-forgotten world in which men heroically explored the globe and interacted with remote peoples, all the while pushing themselves to attain the unattainable.

THE EPIC OF EVEREST is gripping in places and surprisingly moving given the eventual outcome of the expedition. I didn't feel that it had dated at all, as it had me hooked throughout.

Soon will reach its centennial, J.B.L. Noel's pioneering documentary of mountaineering is restored to its mint condition by the BFI National Archive, THE EPIC OF EVEREST is the official record of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine's fateful 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, and the sole fact of the film's own existence should be hailed and venerated as a tremendous cinematic triumph.

Unthinkable of bringing the entire film-making apparatus to the Everest region at its time, whose nature environs (with its rarefied altitude and gelid temperature) alone seriously challenge the preservation of film stocks, to say nothing of how the team can operate the actual filming process, THE EPIC OF EVEREST solemnly and preciously lifts a corner of the veil off the insurmountable Mount Everest to the eyes of its safely ensconced beholders (color-tinted magnificence evokes a particular otherworldliness which can perfect define the epithet "early filmic").....

continue reading my review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

This early documentary chronicles a British funded expedition aimed at climbing the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, for the very first time. More specifically, this was the famous doomed expedition of 1924 where George Mallory and Andrew Irvine lost their lives somewhere just short of the summit. It remains unknown if they ever made it to the top. Mallory's body was found over seventy years later in 1999, Irvine's body has never been found, his ultimate location remaining an enduring mystery.

This is one of those documentaries that you know in advance is going to end in a very bad way. The fate of the climbers is so well documented and was such big news at the time that the vast majority of people approaching this film will be only too aware of the downbeat nature this expedition ended on. The footage was taken by Captain John Noel with a hand cranked camera, which I am sure was a fairly bulky device, making it all the more impressive that this footage was shot at all considering that this heavy equipment would have to have been heaved so far up this most imposing mountain. Much of the climbing material was, by necessity, taken on a long range lens and is consequently quite limited; yet the long distance we see the climbers from gives the imagery a slightly haunting perspective. Nevertheless, there is a considerable amount of stunning photography of mountain vistas and, in general, it captures a feel of what the men saw there. In addition to this, there is some very valuable material captured of the isolated Tibetan people who live in the shadow of Everest. This was the first time they had been captured on film and so this is very nice time-capsule stuff. In fact, most of the smaller more personal details captured in the film are moments from the lives of these people, with actually very little of the climbers themselves. This is a shame, especially considering that this would be the final testament to Mallory and Irvine.

As was probably unavoidable for a silent documentary it relies fairly heavily on title cards to convey information. But this is kind of what you would expect, nevertheless, it doesn't detract too much and the content generally is fascinating. Visually it has been beautifully restored by the BFI so that the imagery with its expressionistic colour tints can be appreciated in all their glory. Also pleasingly, a modern score has been composed too. For me, this is always a welcome addition to a silent film and in this case it is no different. It's a subtle minimalistic soundtrack with some live sounds added too for extra atmosphere and ambiance. On the whole, this is a very good bit of restoration work on a very fine old documentary. This is the kind of historical adventure that deserves to have some kind of visual documentation and even though we know it has a sad conclusion; it's beautiful in many ways.