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Title: CONQUEST OF THE SOUTH POLE, the

Reference number: 7910

Date: 1989

Director: d. Gillies Mackinnon

Sponsor: Film Four International

Producer: Gareth Wardell

Production company: Jam Jar Films

Sound: sound

Certificate: 12

Colour: col

Fiction: fiction

Running time: 95.00 minsc

Description: Five unemployed young men, bored with their empty lives, decide to embark on a fantasy adventure. They start off on their journey in their own back yard in Leith, Scotland. [synopsis from BFI database at http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/414723, last accessed 12/3/2009]

Shown at 43rd Edinburgh International Film Festival, 1989. Based on the stage play by Manfred Karge.

Credits: Jam Jar Films presents in association with Film Four International Manfred Karge's

art d. Andy Harris
ed. Stephen Singleton
lighting cameraman Sean van Hales
m. Guy Woolfenden
original stage play by Manfred Karge translated by Tinch Minter and Anthony Vivis
adapted for the screen by Gareth Wardell
exec. p. John Kelleher
associate p. Penny Thomson

Sloopianek Stevan Rimkus
Butcher Leonard O'Malley
Brown Gordon Cameron
Frankieboy Alastair Galbraith
Penguin Ewan Bremner
Louise Laura Girling
Rosie Julie-Kate Olivier
Roddy John Michie
Job Centre Assistant Michael Nardone
Barman Romilly Squire
Tramp 1 Allan Ross
Tramp 2 Rab Christie
Shakleton Gareth Wardell
Waiter Matthew Costello
Musician 1 Andy Munro
Musician 2 Graham McKellar
The Dog Cindy
The Penguin Max

London Casting John Hubbard

p. man. Lee Leckie
location man. Bill Clark
p. co-ordinator Lesley Robinson
p. accountant Hilda Booth
1st ass. d. Darryl Collins
2nd ass. d. Gus McLean
3rd ass. d. Sally Charlton
p. runner Peter la Terriere
focus Louise Stoner
clapper loader Kay Sheridan
grip James Coulter
second grip Stuart Bunting
sc. supervisor Margaret Waldie
continuity trainee Pearl Morrison
stills Gordon Terris
gaffer Billy Watkins
sparks Andy Stewart
genny operator Len Holt
camera dept. runner Jayne Wilding
sd. mixer Colin Nicolson
boom operator Tony Cook
sd. dept. runner Andrea Seth
art dept. ass. Zoe MacLeod
p. buyer Jerry Organ
construction man. Ross Balfour
stagehand Paterson Lindsay
painter Brian Gilmore
standby props Piero Jamieson
standby chippie Brian Adams
dressing props Patrick Harkins
propss van driver Dave Gilchrist
make-up Mari Baird
make-up ass. Helen Jenkings
costume designer Lynn Aitken
wardrobe ass. Morna Baxter
art dept. runner Linda Ward
sd. ed. Paul Clegg, Clive Gardener
dubbing mixer Colin Martin
ed. dept. trainee David Gibson
stunt co-ordinator Stuart St. Paul
special effects Kevin Molloy
speech consultaant Marillyn Gray
archive consultant Arne Pedersen
production publicity Nora Farrell, Sarah Lewis-Davis
post production secretary Rosie Pringle
caterers Brendan Croasdell, Carmel McPike
dog handler Norma McCabe
penguin handler Richard Hill
sc. adviser Frederic Lindsay

"Star of Scotland" composed by Guy Woolfenden. Alto Saxophone Christopher Gradwell. Trumpet Dave Hancock. Trombone Colin Sheen. Keyboards David Firman. Bass Guitar Dave Olney. Percussion Eric Allen. Drums Barry de Souza. Musicians Session Services of London.

m. consultant Wayne Bickerton
mixing engineer Paul Batchelor
music recorded at Odyssey Recording Studios, London
titles Plume Partners
processing laboratories Metrocolor London Ltd.
re-recording studios VideoLondon Sound Studios
catering Dowling Caterers
publicity Hall Associates
lighting and electrical equipment supplied by Cinequip Lighting
archive material supplied by The Norwegian Film Institute, Oslo
filmed entirely on location in Leith Docks and on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland

Special thanks Karin Bamborough and David Rose [... et al ...]

© Jam Jar Films Limited 1989. All rights reserved.

Shotlist: Drama - Re-enactment of a journey to the South Pole, with tragic consequences.
Leith. The hopelessness of unemployment drives young Penguin to attempt suicide. To give him a reason to live, Sloopianek proposes a re-enactment in the docks of Amundsen’s 1911 journey to the South Pole: Penguin will be Bjaaland, the champion skier; Slopianek, Amundsen; their friends Butcher and Brown. The trek will take place among the white sheets of the communal yard where Brown lives with his wife Louise. While Butcher steals a Norwegian flag and Brown petitions his brother-in-law Roddy for a job among the ‘snowmen’ in his icebound cold store, Sloopianek allows himself to be seduced by the disdainful Louise. At midnight, the youths break into the Eskimo Shop to steal necessary equipment. ‘Bjaaland’ falls into a crevasse between two tables in a cafe substituting for the Antarctic Gates of Hell. Louise appeals to Sloopaniek- perhaps the father of the child she is expecting- to release Brown from the fantasy; Sloopaniek refuses and Louise uses a flare-gun to incinerate the pigeon-coop. The group breaks up. Amid the ruins of the pigeon-coop, Sloopaniek takes heart at the thought of the child- Louise’s ‘Antarticus’ or ‘Antartica’. Some time later, at a birthday party for Louise, Sloopaniek and his friends revive the idea of Amundsen’s trek and seal their compact by setting Frankieboy the husky on Roddy. Next day, Sloopaniek leads his party, including Louise, to the top of a hill, where a rock is marked and a flag waved. Later, Butcher announces he is leaving for Canada, and Penguin, now half-mad, jumps from an office window when once again he is offered no work.
Based on the stage play by Manfred Karge.

The synopses in this database are distilled from a variety of sources: ‘Sight and Sound’, ‘Monthly Film Bulletin’, Edinburgh International Film Festival Programmes and the Scottish Screen Archive Catalogue, Scottish Screen Publicity Material.