Main Cast: Dudley Sutton, John Hurt, Hayley Mills, Tony Britton
Release Year: 1972
Country: UK
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
A great deal of director Al Viola's version of this film was pruned away for its general release. The missing portions are not only the heart of the story, but they are the heart of the novel by Graham Billings which gave rise to the film. The whole story is that Forbush (John Hurt) is going nowhere in his romance of Tara (Hayley Mills) because he is basically an uninteresting, shallow man. In desperation, he decides to go off to Antarctica and study penguins. He hopes that his heroism in doing this will prove his sincerity to Tara. Once there, he grows genuinely enchanted by his project and develops a real interest in penguins. It is this, rather than his courage, which wins him Tara's affections. The truncated version omits most of the film's reputedly spectacular and affecting Antarctic footage (shot by Arne Sucksdorff) in order to concentrate on the love story. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Joss Ackland - Head of Board; Avril Angers - Fanny; Richard Bond - Third Pilot; Rudy Bond - 3rd Pilot; Judy Campbell - Mrs. Forbush; John Comer - Police Sergeant; Sally Geeson - Jackie; Margaret Lacey - Auntie; Cyril Luckham - Prof. Tringham; Brian Oulton - Food-Store Clerk; Nicholas Pennell - Julian; Geraldine Sherman - Penny; Marianne Stone - Policewoman; Dudley Sutton - Starshot; Burnell Tucker - 2nd Pilot; Thorley Walters - Mr. Forbush, Sr.; Hugh Moxey - Lord Cheddar; Norman Claridge - Principal; Jumoke Debayo - Traffic Warden; Salmaan Peer - Ahaz Khan; Lew Luton - 1st Pilot; Andy Robins - Barry; Amanda Steer - Wendy
Credit
Tony Masters - Art Director, John Furniss - Costume Designer, Derek Cracknell - First Assistant Director, David Tringham - First Assistant Director, Albert T. Viola - Director, Bernard Gribble - Editor, John Addison - Composer (Music Score), Edward Scaife - Cinematographer, Arne Sucksdorff - Cinematographer, Harry Waxman - Cinematographer, Henry Trettin - Producer, Ken Ritchie - Sound/Sound Designer, Anthony Shaffer - Screenwriter, Graham Billing - Book Author
