From first to last J. Arthur Rank's "Scott of the Antarctic" is a melodrama--in the most favorable sense of the word. It tells the story of Captain Robert Scott's last expedition in 1908 into the Antarctic waste. There are scenes in the film which establish the personal relationships of the five men who make the desperate final dash to the South Pole. Far more important than these relationships, however, is the common purpose of the men to reach the Pole before Amundsen, and to return before the setting of the sun brings the winter blizzards.

Charles Frend, the director, has the good taste and intelligence to use the vast, barren Antarctic as his leading actor. His cameras record, by the thoughtful, subdued use of Technicolor, snow and ice in an amazing variety of hues, from green to an ominous grey. As the party moves painfully from the coastal ice wall to the great glacier, and then to the inland plateau, every change in terrain and sky is effectively caught.

Mr. Frend has innumerable opportunities to fill the picture with false heroics; especially when Scott and his men discover that they are not the first to reach the Pole, for Amundsen's Norwegian flag is already planted there. It is much to Frend's credit that John Mills, who plays Scott, and Derck Bond, Reginald Beckwith and Harold Warrender, as other members of the expedition, play their parts as men who can take defeat quietly and then move on to the next task at hand. Mills, in the same spirit, plays Scott with great honesty and authenticity.

Although the acting is in every respect excellent, the final praise for the success of "Scott of the Antarctic" must go to the cameramen, director, and to Vaughn Williams, who composed the score. Williams' music is not subtle; but it reflects magnificently the changing moods of the Antarctic, and with low, vibrant rhythms the slowing heartbeats of Scott and his men.

"Scott of the Antarctic" is a rare example of the triumph of honest melodrama--a film which faithfully records the melodrama of actual events. There is no toying with spectacular effects, no falsely dramatic sequences. As a result, the natural spectacle of the Antarctic and the genuine drama of Scott's struggle against it come through with clarity and power.