There was a time when being in Big Brother, a footballer's wife (or even a footballer) or a music promoter didn't make you famous.
To be the hero of schoolboys you had to actually do something worthwhile...like an attempt to reach the South Pole.
Such a feat required real Boy's Own courage, that great phrase, derring-do, and the acceptance that, in pursuit of one's goals, life was risked.
The story of Captain Scott and his party is no longer told in schools as it was when I attended in the 1970s.
I still remember being read the passage about Oates leaving the tent to meet his inevitable death.
But, thanks to the BFI restoration of Herbert Ponting's footage of the South Pole expedition, I have been able to pass it on to my daughter.
Ponting's film was first released in 1924, a full 13 years after Scott's death.
It was shown at Buckingham Palace where King George V claimed it should be seen by every boy across the Empire as an example of what great things they could be achieve.
Much of the film records the lead up to the departure of Scott and his team for the pole.
It begins with the support crew being gathered on the whaling ship the Terra Nova, and then being cheered off by huge crowds in New Zealand.
Aside of the sailors' antics, we also see footage of Scott and Oates. I had never before seen moving images of either man.
Gradually, we are introduced to the harshness of the southern seas with their huge icebergs and treacherous ice floes.
We then discover that Ponting was a forerunner of wildlife experts like David Attenborough.
He introduces footage of seals, seagulls and penguins which would have had people in the1920s agog with wonder but seemed a little repetitive to these eyes.
Meanwhile, the preparations of Scott and his team are painstakingly documented as was their departure.
The last 20 minutes of so is spent telling the tale of their final enterprise and ultimately their deaths. It is bleak and emotional.
The restoration of this footage by the BFI is staggeringly good. I would only quibble at some of the music choices but certainly appreciated a perfect selection at the final crucial moment.
Obviously, The Great White Silence has no sound but it is no worse for it.
Indeed, it struck me that it demonstrates that there is no need for 3D or any fancy gimmicks to convey drama. All that is required is a staggeringly good story.
Rating? 8/10
PS Thanks to the BFI for the DVD screener.
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