Scott of the Antarctic Film score by RVW

This film, produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Charles Frend, was the 1948 Royal Command Film Performance. The film has particular resonance in Gloucestershire where Scott’s son lived and set up the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and where Cheltenham was the birthplace and home town of Edward Wilson who died on the expedition with Scott. The film is the epitome of the well made British film, using location footage and based largely on Scott’s diaries, it is a meticulous recreation of that fateful expedition. Starring John Mills as Scott and a strong supporting cast including Kenneth More and James Robertson Justice, it contains Vaughan Williams’ score which is generally recognised as British film music’s finest achievements and which formed the basis for his later Symphonia Antarctica.