The Bottom of the World

Bottom of the World was produced under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. As the title indicates, the film focuses on Antarctica, or “Little America” as it was then known. This desolate patch of the world had already been given a thorough cinematic treatment in With Byrd at the South Pole, but Bottom of the World explores another section of Antarctica, just off the shores of the island of South Georgia. For many years the southernmost colony on earth, South Georgia had been populated solely by men since 1780, most of them in the whaling business. The bulk of the film concentrates on these whalers, who in 1930 continued to ply their trade in the established 19th-century tradition, albeit with state-of-the-art equipment. Purely an educational exercise, the film makes no effort to include the “popular” elements of suspense and humor.