''The Secret Land'' is a feature-length 1948

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

expedition code-named "

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America (exploration b ...

" to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

in 1946. The film, which was shot entirely by USN and US Army military photographers, focuses on the mission to explore the polar region and evaluate its potential for military operations. ''The Secret Land'' was narrated by actors Robert Taylor, Robert Montgomery, and Van Heflin, and produced by Orville O. Dull. It won the 1948

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for Best Documentary Feature.

Plot

The film re-enacts scenes from several critical moments during the operation, such as shipboard damage control and Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd throwing items out of an airplane to lighten it to avoid crashing when one of its engines failed and the other began to falter under the excess load. Another scene features Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz discussing Operation Highjump with admirals Richard E. Byrd and Richard H. Cruzen prior to their departure. Also depicted are the rescue of a crew of a crashed aircraft and the discovery of an Antarctic oasis of bare ground and ice-free fresh water lakes atop a thermal bulge deep inland.

Cast

* Robert Montgomery as Narrator (voice) (as Comdr. Robert Montgomery, U.S.N.R.) * Robert Taylor as Narrator (voice) (as Lt. Robert Taylor U.S.N.R.) * Van Heflin as Narrator (voice) (as Lt. Van Heflin, A.A.F., Ret.) *

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet (government), cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-cla ...

as Himself (as James V. Forrestal) * Chester W. Nimitz as Himself * Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd as Himself (as Admiral Byrd) * Richard H. Cruzen as Himself (as Admiral Cruzen) * Robert S. Quackenbush as Himself (as Captain Quackenbush) * George J. Dufek as Himself (as Captain George Dufek) * Paul A. Siple as Himself (as Dr. Siple) * Charles W. Thomas as Himself (as Captain Thomas) * Richard E. Byrd as Himself * Vernon D. Boyd as Himself (as Captain Boyd) * Charles A. Bond as Himself (as Captain Bond) * David E. Bunger as Himself (as Commander David E. Bunger) * John E. Clark as Himself (as Captain Clark)

Reception

The film earned $395,000 in the US and Canada and $181,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $10,000.

Awards

''The Secret Land'' won the Best Documentary Feature oscar at the

21st Academy Awards The 21st Academy Awards were held on March 24, 1949, honoring the films of 1948. The ceremony was moved from the Shrine Auditorium to the Academy's own theater, primarily because the major Hollywood studios had withdrawn their financial support ...

in 1948.

References

External links

* * * *
''The Secret Land''
at the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...