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The Last Place on Earth [DVD]

Martin Shaw (Actor), Sverre Anker Ousdal (Actor) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.5 out of 5 stars 152
IMDb8.1/10.0
Additional DVD options Edition Discs
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DVD
November 9, 2010 		—
1
$19.99
$19.99 —
DVD
November 20, 2006 		—
2
$87.49
$87.49 $59.33
DVD
April 12, 2011 		—
3
$84.49
— $24.66
DVD
June 1, 2001 		—
3
—
— $27.22
Format Box set, DVD, Color, NTSC
Contributor Robin Soans, Hugh Grant, Stle Bjrnhaug, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Richard Morant, Sylvester McCoy, Stephen Moore, Tom Gerrard, Martin Shaw, Michael Maloney, Jan Hrstad, Tom Georgeson See more
Language English
Number Of Discs 3
Runtime 6 hours and 36 minutes

Product Description

DVD Miniseries.

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 5.5 x 2 inches; 11.2 ounces
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Box set, DVD, Color, NTSC
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 6 hours and 36 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2001
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Martin Shaw, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Stephen Moore, Stle Bjrnhaug, Tom Georgeson
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Bfs Entertainment
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00005J74R
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 3
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 152

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
152 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kenneth Stover
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a really great story
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
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Originally shown on PBS TV, now you can own this document-drama about the Amundsen-Scott race to the South Pole.
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Trevor Willsmer
5.0 out of 5 stars "Scott killed himself. That's what the British do best."
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2006
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The Last Place On Earth is a now forgotten British mini-series that's worth remembering. Based on Roland Huntford's still controversial myth-shattering biography of Scott and Amundsen's race to the South Pole, it's the kind of thing which would be done in a rushed 2-3 hours at most today, but in 1985 got more than twice that running time over seven episodes. The benefits are amazing. It may take three episodes for the rivals to hit Antarctic waters, but Trevor Griffiths' excellent script, despite a few liberties with history, chronology and supporting characters (particularly Brian Dennehy's Frederick Cook, both men prone to dramatic license), has enough room for its characters' flaws and virtues to be fully explored and quietly builds up real involvement.

Martin Shaw's Scott gets most of the flaws, though the show doesn't go quite so overboard with them as Huntford's book (to be fair, Scott's pomposity and ability to repeat disastrous mistakes gave him lots of ammo). But despite being played rather superbly with a charismatic twinkle in his eye by Sverre Anker Ousdal, Amundsen isn't perfect either, as his disastrously mismanaged false start and his jealousy and antagonism toward a more famous member of his expedition demonstrate. Although the story doesn't allow it to be explored, the final episode contains plenty of hints of the bitter man he would eventually become as his victory was increasingly overshadowed by the `glory' of Scott's failure.

Ferdinand Fairfax's direction is impressively cinematic, one episode boasting a complex uninterrupted travelling take that's almost up there with Touch of Evil if only on a technical level. There's a lot of familiar British actors when they were still little-knowns among the supporting cast - Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Michael Maloney, Pat Roach, Richard Wilson and one of the lesser Dr Whos, Sylvester McCoy (excellent here) among them - as well as the one-time star of guilty pleasure Song of Norway, Toralv Maurstead, looking considerably older than his years as an ill-starred member of Amundsen's expedition (for once, with the exception of Max Von's Sydow's Nansen, the Norwegians are played by real Norwegians). Per Theodor Haugen also makes his mark as Amundsen's brother, constantly left to deal with the details and itinerary of the everyday life the explorer cannot deal with and Stephen Moore quietly shines as Scott's only real friend. There are a couple of moments that don't really work - Scott glimpsing what he thinks is a cross at Cape Evans where his own memorial would later stand is shot far too literally and the very 80s rock scoring of Amundsen crossing the mountains to the plateau is horribly sub-Chariots of Fire - and none of Amundsen's team on the Polar trek itself ever become characters in their own right the way Scott's men do, but they're minor flaws. This has a 9.4 rating on the IMDB. It earned it.

Thankfully, unlike some recent mini-series releases, this hasn't been crudely cropped in fake widescreen but is in its original fullframe ratio, with all seven episodes presented with opening and closing titles over three discs. The quality isn't demo standard, but that's partially down to the original filmstock that was used (its look is typical of 70s-80s British TV), although the picture quality is noticeably sharper in the last two episodes. No extras.
24 people found this helpful
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Value Appreciator
5.0 out of 5 stars An old show, but a good one
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024
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This show was made years ago. Video quality not the greatest, but, doesn't detract from the story. Excellent acting, faithful to the history, I guess, of these South Pole expeditions. One guy does everything right, and the other, doing everything wrong, shoots himself in the foot with his pride and stunning level of incompetence.
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tjsloss
5.0 out of 5 stars stunning history, acting and film
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2010
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I have seen reviews of this 3 DVD set whose writers suffered the old film and format of a 1985 production. I was far more interested in the message than the medium AND this is a riveting story, crisply acted and beautifully filmed. It is a dramatization of Roland Huntford's 1979 book (originally called Scott and Amundsen) and the cast and crew faithfully followed that script. Huntford sliced the cherished legend of Scott to ribbons. I am regretably old enough to remember the hagiographic Britsh film "Scott of the Anatarctic" with John Mills playing their shining hero of the South Pole. Their dead lion and his perished polar party. All of it hogwash said Huntford who reveals Scott as a self-conscious martinet, a poor planner and a seasoned Antarctic expedition leader who never learned from his grievous errors ... in transport, in clothing, in adequate nutrition, in navigation, in provisioning along the trail for the long trudge home.

The film focuses on not one but two very complex men but, like the book, carries the author's prejudice about Scott's stupidity from first scene to last. Amundsen is portraited as a man equally as ambitious for glory as Scott but one who used his experience with polar travel to make his team's trip to the South Pole and back seem like, well, fun. The results are telling. Amundsen's team returned from their triumph having actually GAINED weight. Scott's whole team perished from starvation. Hard to recommend the book (which is thorough but tedious for anyone not fascinated by all the circumstances) but easy to recommend this fantastic film on DVD.
15 people found this helpful
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Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars 20 STARS!!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2022
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Based on my favorite book of all time, the series is not a disappointment. Quite the contrary. How the actors must have suffered making this. My deepest thanks.

One amazing detail that this serious lacks is that Mrs. Scott had an affair while her husband was on this expedition. I dropped my book when I read with whom...Fridtjof Nansen!
One person found this helpful
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Dave O
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping story that gives the viewer an insight into the race for the pole.
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2013
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I have been fascinated with the saga of the events surrounding the "Race" to the pole. The struggles these brave explorers faced is almost inconceivable.
I carry no favorites. In fact, while this drama was unfolding ,another drama on that continent, that in my opinion, was the greatest polar survival story when an Australian, Sir Douglas Mawson faced even greater challenges as he explored regions of the Antarctic continent.
You may never have heard of Mawson, he was eclipsed by Scott and Amundsen. I have sadly read polar history where Mawson is not mentioned. That's history isn't it. We know it has a "Spin" Lets all take a step back and forget loyalties and allegiances and enjoy this story, remembering the bravery, the "grit" these brave men exhibited in the face of obstacles we can barely comprehend.
The strength of this story is to me the insights into the decisions and processes by which these different parties arrived at their final throw of the dice . Right or wrong, good or bad, weak or strong, this story must not allow these labels to take us from the
gripping, multi- faceted drama's we see unfolding.
Well done. Take in this film and digest it slowly.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Marc Ranger
5.0 out of 5 stars Faithfull to the book
Reviewed in Canada on May 21, 2010
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This DVD is based on the Roland Huntford book "The last place on earth". It is faithfull to the book, but the latter is much more powerful. Martin Shaw as RF Scott and especially Sven Anker Ousdal as Roald Amundsen are remarquable.

Every important event is portrayed and easy to follow. The only 2 drawbacks I didn't like is that the producers took the liberty to change Titus Oates famous last words "I'm just going outside and may be some time" to "nature's call old buddy" which is less dramatic. Brian Dennehy appears two times as Dr. Frederick A Cook and the second time he plays him when Amundsen visits him in Leavensworth prison in the USA. The portrayal of Dr. Cook by Dennehy makes him someone dishonest who deliberatly fraud poor investors. History showed that Cook was right and was even pardonned.

However, if you can forget those 2 miscues, the DVD is a lot of fun.
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B.B.
5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Place on Earth - DVD
Reviewed in Germany on May 15, 2012
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Dieser faszinierende Wettlauf des Engländers R.F. Scott und des Norwegers R. Amundsen, mit ihren Teams jeweils als Erste den Südpol zu erreichen, ist meiner Meinung nach die beste existierend Verfilmung. Den Darstellern gelingt es in fantastischer Weise die Dramatik des Geschehens rüber zu bringen, die einzelnen Charaktere sind einmalig überzeugend und authentisch dargestellt. Die 7 Episoden fesseln von der ersten bis zur letzten Sekunde. Ein absolut sehenswerter Film!
Schön wäre es allerdings, wenn es zusätzlich noch deutsche Untertitel gäbe.
3 people found this helpful
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givbatam3
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Antarctic Adventure Series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2009
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I decided to write this review after seeing the television
dramatization of Ernest Shackleton's "Endurance" expedition.
Although I have seen "Last Place" many times, seeing "Shackleton", which is not bad, made me appreciate how
good "Last Place" really is. Ultimately, "Last Place" gives
a very good presentation of the different approaches to polar
exploration that Amundsen and Scott had. Unfortunately, "Shackleton" did not do this as well. Scott, a typical product of the hidebound Royal Navy and the class-ridden society
that made up late Victorian Britain believes that technology combined with immense will-power and "natural superiority of the Englishman" will overcome all obstacles.
Amundsen, a citizen of newly independent Norway, was much more open-minded and willing to make due with less. Unlike the British who believed they were a superior civilization and had nothing to learn from "inferior natives" like the Eskimos had clothing and food that was less well adapted to life in the very harsh polar climate. This flexibility that Amundsen had led him to adopt the clothing of the Eskimos and also led him to be more concerned about the problem of scurvey which plagued previous expeditions to the polar regions. This meant that Amundsen's men were much healthier (they actually gained weight on the journey!) than Scott's. By using dogs, there was less physical strain on the Norweigians than on the British who pulled their sled by themselves for much of the trip.
Amundsen was a meticulous planner whereas Scott had a tendency to rely on the British habit of "muddling through" and hoping that things will work out. In the end, these differences meant the difference between life or death for the two expeditions.
It is true that Roland Huntford whose book of the same name is the basis of the series has a real hatred for Scott which comes out again and again and showing a negative image of Scott which is probably exaggerated in the series, but Amundsen's flaws are also brought out such as his hiding the truth about his plans to go to the South Pole instead of exploring the Arctic as he claimed he was going to do and his almost disastrous too-early start to the South Pole which brought out his conflict with the legendary Hjalmar Johansen. Thus, I believe the viewer does come out of the series with a pretty honest idea of the truth about the race to the Pole and the very different outcomes for the two expeditions.
Beside the outstanding script and acting, the cinematography is absolutely breathtaking and the almost hurculean efforts to film this in the harsh environment of Greenland really paid off in making making one of the most impressive productions ever to be seen on television or the cinema. Anyone who is interested in history, exploration, or the psychology of men in extreme conditions will immensely enjoy this treasure.
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Mark Drage
5.0 out of 5 stars Tells the truth.
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2013
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I read the book then saw the series. I am glad that someone finally put the matter of Scott straight. He was not a hero, he was a bungler who had no leadership ability and got his men killed because of his lack of leadership and foresight. The seires contrasts the constant drama of the English with the workaday attitude of the Norwegians. Amundsen knew what he was doing and Scott didn't. That's why the Norwegians made it just fine and the Scott party all died.
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D. Warfield
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2012
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Any movie, book or whatnot is going to portray an historical figure in the way they believe that person to be, so I don't expect any movie to be "on the spot" in that aspect. Personally, I did not find the portrayal of Captain Scott too far outside the realm of possibility. I would think you'd have to be decisive, egotistical and a bit of a "know-it-all" to even attempt the feat.

In terms of cinematics I thought it was a brilliant film. 'Twas definitely not a rose-coloured portrayal of the trek and its physical ramifications; by the end of the movie it was difficult for me to even look at the men.

A previous rater had mentioned the dated soundtrack, I agree; no Golden Oldies on this one. But everything else made up for it - the acting, make-up and scenery were top-notch!
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