Shackleton (2002)

Matt Day: Frank Hurley

Photos 

Quotes 

• [looking at one of Hurley's photos] 

  James McIlroy : From up there, Grytviken looks almost romantic.

  Frank Hurley : It's just a matter of choosing the right place to look at it from.

  James McIlroy : Hmm, really. In that case I have a couple of maiden aunts who'll be very interested to meet you.

• [preparing to shoot a group photo] 

  Frank Hurley : And look right into the camera. That's where the rest of the world is! Straight into the lens, right here. Think of your wives, your sweethearts, your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren! That's where they are, behind there.

• Sir Ernest Shackleton : Frank, we can't carry any more weight.

  Frank Hurley : I'm not leaving them behind!

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : I have 28 lives to consider.

  Frank Hurley : So have I! And one year of each of those 28 lives is in these pictures. What's the point of our survival if there's no record of what's happened? And if we don't make it, then this will be all the life that's left of us! Without these we've done *nothing*, except get lost like a bunch of schoolgirls on a nature ramble.

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : How many are there?

  Frank Hurley : 520.

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : Well, perhaps we could take a box.

  Frank Hurley : Not enough. 200, you make the selection.

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : 100, we make the selection together. Deal?

  Frank Hurley : 150. Deal?

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : Deal.

• Sir Ernest Shackleton : I'd like to have taken you with me in the Caird.

  Frank Hurley : You've chosen a good team.

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : You're the expedition photographer,

  Frank : I think it right that you stay with the expedition. In some ways you *are* the expedition. I don't know what our chances are in the Caird; evens at best, I suspect. If we die, then what we've done lies with you and your pictures. You are our story. If I don't come back, I want to make sure there's someone there to tell it. I've drawn up this letter: it gives you back the rights to all your pictures and your films if I die.

  Frank Hurley : Thank you, I appreciate it.

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : It's a trick, of course.

  Frank Hurley : Sir?

  Sir Ernest Shackleton : I'm not intending to die.