Pretty Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

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This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

John Noel was born in 1890 and he became fascinated by Mount Everest. In 1919, an Everest committee was formed, and in 1922 the first ever Everest expedition was set up. Noel went along and filmed not just the Mountain, but also the beauty of Tibet. Noel had difficulty developing the film on the mountain because it was so cold, but he fought against the elements to develop his film. On the expedition climbers set new altitude records, but the climbers had to turn back unable to attempt the summit. There are clips from this 1922 documentary Climbing Mount Everest shown in Battle for the Himalayas: The Fight to Film Everest. I would very much like to see the 1922 documentary it looks very impressive and it was the first time that Everest had been filmed.In 1924, Noel went back to film another expedition which everyone had high hopes for. Remembering the lessons he had learnt form the 1922 expedition, Noel bought land in Darjeeling, set up a photographic studio and sent his film to be developed there so it was unaffected by the harsh cold on the mountain. This documentary is excellent. Noel uses colour tinting, which helps make you actually feel the cold of the mountain, his film shows how big and awe inspiring Everest is to behold.Noel captures George Mallory and Andrew Irvine beginning their ascent, you see them disappear out of sight and then see a vast cloud of mist envelop the mountain. The most poignant part of the documentary sees a search party set up the signal of a cross on the side of the mountain which meant all hope was lost. It is still unknown to this day whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit or not. Mallory's body would be discovered on Everest in 1999, Irvine's is still to be found.When they returned to Britain, Noel's documentary of the expedition was shown, but it was to become controversial because he hired Tibetan monks to perform at premieres and this offended Tibet. Their outrage meant that Britain would be denied any further access to Everest until 1933.Noel's documentary is impressive beautiful, interesting and of great historical importance for two reasons. One it is an impressive feat to have filmed on the mountain, for many people his footage was the first time they would have seen Everest. Secondly the documentary shows the ill fated Mallory and Irvine attempting their ascent.Well worth a watch for anyone interested in Mount Everest and for documentary lovers everywhere.

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.

Comprised entirely of silent footage taken during the Mallory and Irvine expedition of 1924.I doubt I'm revealing much of a spoiler when I say it didn't end well. Knowing the fate that befell the young men on the mountain, it makes the footage all the more poignant, particularly the early scenes featuring smiling, optimistic faces at the beginning of their challenge.Although digitally remastered, it's hard to believe your watching footage that is (almost) a century old. The skies, the mountain peaks, and the small, close details captured on film look almost as fresh as anything from the modern era. There is a subtle ambient soundtrack played throughout the film that really adds to both the impressive, otherworldly landscape of wonder and the creeping, inescapable finality of how it will play out. A strangely disturbing mix of the ephemeral and the eternal. (Easily the most pretentious thing I've typed in years!)Brilliant.

I thoroughly recommend watching the wonderful BFI restoration of this enthralling documentary. The picture quality (with some nice blue and lavender tints) and the specially commissioned score are superb. It benefits also from having no voice over but relying solely on the title cards to narrate the footage.Some of the original anthropological observations smack a little of colonial condescension but considering the era in which the film was made they are quite mild, and all such negatives are outweighed by the very rare cinematic portraits of Tibetans.And then there are the mountains - beautiful and terrible - and the mountaineers - heroic and tragic. I couldn't take my eyes from the screen.