Baby It's Cold Outside

TCM is spending tonight at the north and south poles. The lineup includes Dirigible, a movie I blogged about back in May 2009, at 12:45 AM. The night, however, starts off with the more or less true-to-life film Scott of the Antarctic at 8:00 PM.

John Mills stars as Robert Falcon Scott, who in 1910 led an expeidition to Antarctica in an attempt to become the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the pole in January 1912 -- only to find out that his rival, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, had already reached the pole and planted the Norwegian flag there. Worse, the expedition hadn't been planned properly, and on the way back the team were unable to find one of their caches of provisions, with the result that they all died. At least Scott only died of starvation and exposure. Another failed Antarctic expeidition from around the same time saw the explorers, in an attempt not to starve, kill their dogs and eat the meat, including the livers, which resulted in a severe case of vitamin A poisoning. (In their defense, they didn't know about vitamin A, as it hadn't been discovered yet.)

TCM is also showing Admiral Richard Byrd's documentary of his South Pole expedition, titled With Byrd at the South Pole, at 3:45 AM.