The Epic of Everest | |
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Directed by | J. B. L. Noel |
Starring | Andrew Irvine, George Mallory |
Music by | Eugène Goossens, fils and Frederick Laurence (compilers) |
Running time | 87 minutes |
The Epic of Everest is a 1924 documentary about the Mallory and Irvine Mount Everest expedition. After a digital restoration in 2013, the film was re-released in UK cinemas. [1] The publicity surrounding the film provoked a diplomatic incident, the "Affair of the Dancing Lamas", that delayed future expeditions and may have destabilised the Tibetan government. [2] [3]
"Captain John Noel was the official photographer on the 1924 British Expedition to Mount Everest, famed for the tragic loss of mountaineers, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. Noel was an adventurous explorer who had tried but failed to get to Everest through Tibet in 1913. It is this centenary that the BFI is celebrating with the restoration of his film, which Noel financed himself and released as The Epic of Everest in 1924. He toured extensively around the world, lecturing with the film footage and beautiful colour slides. [4] " [5]
The live musical accompaniment for London screenings was compiled by the conductor Eugène Goossens with help from composer and music librarian Frederick Laurence. It included excerpts from Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain , Eugene Aynsley Goossens' Old Chinese Folk Song, and various Tibetan folk tunes. [6] The Morning Post commented that "No film in London today has had more care taken in securing good and appropriate music". [7]
In 2020, the restored print was selected by the BFI London Film Festival for inclusion in We Are One: A Global Film Festival, an online film festival organized during the COVID-19 pandemic. [8] A newly commissioned score for the restoration was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Simon Fisher Turner. [1]
George Herbert Leigh-Mallory was an English mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions in the early 1920s. He and climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen ascending near Everest's summit during the 1924 expedition, sparking debate as to whether they reached it before they died.
Andrew Comyn "Sandy" Irvine was a British mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, the third British expedition to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.
The goal of the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition of 1999 was to discover evidence of whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had been the first to summit Mount Everest in their attempt of 8–9 June 1924. Key objectives included finding Irvine's body and retrieving a camera that might hold proof of their summit success. Jochen Hemmleb, after reviewing historical records, pinpointed a search area based on a 1975 Chinese expedition report. The expedition was instigated by British climber Graham Hoyland. It was organised by regular Everest expedition leader Eric Simonson and advised by researcher Jochen Hemmleb, with a team of climbers from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
Noel Ewart Odell FRSE FGS was an English geologist and mountaineer. In 1924 he was an oxygen officer on the Everest expedition in which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine famously perished during their summit attempt. Odell spent two weeks living above 23,000 feet (7,000 m), and twice climbed to 26,800 feet (8,200 m) and higher, all without supplemental oxygen. In 1936 Noel Odell with Bill Tilman climbed Nanda Devi, at the time the highest mountain climbed.
Shelkar or Shekar, also called New Tingri, is the administrative centre for Tingri County, Shigatse Prefecture in southern Tibet Autonomous Region.
Conrad Anker is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author. He was the team leader of The North Face climbing team for 26 years until 2018. In 1999, he located George Mallory's body on Everest as a member of a search team looking for the remains of the British climber who was last seen in 1924. Anker had a heart attack in 2016 during an attempted ascent of Lunag Ri with David Lama. He was flown via helicopter to Kathmandu where he underwent emergency coronary angioplasty with a stent placed in his proximal left anterior descending artery. Afterwards he retired from high altitude mountaineering, but otherwise he continues his work. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.
John Baptist Lucius Noel was a British mountaineer and filmmaker best known for his film of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. His father, Colonel Edward Noel (1852–1917), was the younger son of Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough. Born in Newton Abbot, Devon, England, Noel was educated in Switzerland, where he fell in love with the mountains, and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was baptised Baptist Lucius and added the name John by deed poll in 1908.
The 1924 British Mount Everest expedition was—after the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition—the 2nd expedition with the goal of achieving the first ascent of Mount Everest. After two summit attempts in which Edward Norton set a world altitude record of 8,572.8 metres (28,126 ft), the mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine disappeared on the third attempt. Their disappearance has given rise to the long-standing speculation of whether or not the pair might – under a narrow set of assumptions – have reached the summit. Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 8,156 metres (26,760 ft), but the resulting clues did not provide any conclusive evidence as to whether the summit was reached. Irvine's partial remains were later found in 2024 by a National Geographic team during a descent of the Rongbuk Glacier by the north face.
The Wildest Dream is a 2010 theatrical-release feature documentary film about the British climber George Mallory who disappeared on Mount Everest in 1924 with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine. The film interweaves two stories, one about climber Conrad Anker returning to Everest to investigate Mallory's disappearance and the other a biography of Mallory told through letters, original film footage from the 1920s and archival photos. The film was released in the US and on giant screen cinemas around the world by National Geographic Entertainment in August 2010 as The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest. The film was released in the UK by Serengeti Entertainment in September 2010 as The Wildest Dream.
Guy Henry Bullock was a British diplomat who is best known for his participation in the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition. As expedition mountaineers, he and George Mallory found a northern access route to Everest by climbing the 6,849-metre (22,470 ft) Lhakpa La col above the East Rongbuk Glacier and by going on to reach the North Col at 7,020 metres (23,030 ft). They did not, however, reach the summit of Mount Everest.
The 1933 British Mount Everest expedition was, after the reconnaissance expedition of 1921, and the 1922 and 1924 expeditions, the fourth British expedition to Mount Everest and the third with the intention of making the first ascent.
The 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition set off to explore how it might be possible to get to the vicinity of Mount Everest, to reconnoitre possible routes for ascending the mountain, and – if possible – make the first ascent of the highest mountain in the world. At that time Nepal was closed to foreigners, so any approach had to be from the north, through Tibet. A feasible route was discovered from the east up the Kharta Glacier and then crossing the Lhakpa La pass north east of Everest. It was then necessary to descend to the East Rongbuk Glacier before climbing again to Everest's North Col. However, although the North Col was reached, it was not possible to climb further before the expedition had to withdraw.
Alexander Macmillan Heron, was a Scottish geologist who became Director of the Geological Survey of India. He participated in the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition following which he produced a geological map of the Everest region of Tibet.
Kharta is a region in Tibet lying to the east of Mount Everest and centred on the Kharta valley and Kama valley. The 40-kilometre (25 mi) Kharta valley starts at the col at Lhakpa La at the head of the Kharta Glacier from which the Kharta Chu river flows east to join the Phung Chu just beyond Khata village. Nearby to the south, the Kama valley starts at the Kangshung Glacier at the foot of Everest's Kangshung Face, and the Kama Chu flows southeast to the Phung Chu. The 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition discovered Kharta when reconnoitring ways to climb Mount Everest and managed to reach the North Col via the Lhakpa La. Since that time Kharta has not been used as a way to approach the summit of Everest but the two valleys have become a popular area for trekking.
The Lho La is a col on the border between Nepal and Tibet north of the Western Cwm, near Mount Everest. It is at the lowest point of the West Ridge of the mountain at a height of 6,006 metres (19,705 ft). It is not exactly a Pass, but a part of Mt. Everest Range. There was once a proposal, which failed, to change its name to Khumbu La.
John de Vars Hazard MC was a British Army officer and mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, most famous for the disappearance of the mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine.
Lingtren, 6,749 metres (22,142 ft), is a mountain in the Mahalangur Himal area of Himalaya, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) distant in a direct line from Mount Everest. It lies on the international border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and it was first climbed in 1935. A mountain nearby to the west was originally named Lingtrennup but is now more commonly called Xi Lingchain.
Major General John Geoffrey Bruce was an officer in the British Indian Army, eventually becoming Deputy Chief of General Staff, who participated in the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition. Bruce, who had never before climbed a mountain, had been appointed as a transport officer, but chance led to him accompanying George Finch on the only summit attempt that used supplemental oxygen. Together they set a new mountaineering world record height of 27,300 ft (8,321 m), only 1,731.7 ft (527.82 m) below the summit of Mount Everest. He also took part in the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, and for a time was slated to make the first summit attempt with George Mallory, before the party was forced to retreat and Mallory subsequently went for the top with Sandy Irvine.
The Affair of the Dancing Lamas was an Anglo–Tibetan diplomatic controversy stemming mainly from the visit to Britain in 1924–25 of a party of Tibetan monks as part of a publicity stunt for The Epic of Everest – the official film of the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition.
The first flight over Mount Everest was undertaken in April 1933 by two Westland aircraft. They were piloted by Douglas Douglas-Hamilton and David McIntyre, with Stewart Blacker and Sidney Bonnett in the observer seats. The expedition was financed by Lucy, Lady Houston and led by Peregrine Fellowes.