The Epic of Everest (1924)

Despite the sometimes quite condescending inter-titles as they travel through Tibet, this is still a fascinating documentary following the ill-fated Mallory/Irvine expedition to scale the "Mother Goddess of the World". We begin as the team travel through the lower Himalayan plateau where they encounter all sorts of people, animals and customs. This stage, for me, was far more interesting. It's depiction of a civilisation that on one hand bathed their children in butter (to help insulate against the cold) whilst building some of the most amazing architecture nestling, like eyries, amidst the mountains - frequently looking like they had been hewn from the rock itself - was quite bewitching. The general contentment and hospitality of and offered by the local population is writ large as this group move through their territory until they reach the foothills (still 20,000-odd feet above sea level) and their ascent starts in earnest. Using some remarkable long-lens photography we get a sense of the scale of their operation, and of it's perilous nature. There is little by way of photography of the latter stages of their trip, but what we do see really did make me reach for a jumper and wonder what on earth could ever drive people to undertake such a venture. It hasn't as much going on as with the Shackleton or Scott films, but is still well worth appreciating.