Product Details

• Actors: Alexander Scourby, Leslie Nielsen, Joseph Campanella, Orson Welles, Richard Basehart
• Directors: Alexander Grasshoff, Aram Boyajian, Bert Haanstra, David Seltzer, Jack Kaufman
• Writers: James Lipscomb
• Producers: Al Giddings, Alexander Grasshoff, Bud Wiser, James Lipscomb
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
• VHS Release Date: May 6, 2003
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792299884
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,916 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Surviving Everest, produced by National Geographic, bills itself as a "collector's edition" and is really three videos in one. The first segment of a half-hour's length is titled "Surviving Everest" and features informative interviews with men who have made it to the summit and back. Their insights into the horrendous conditions faced by mountaineers on the world's highest peak are moving, and their explanations of particular obstacles (such as the treacherous Khumbu Icefall) on the way up the mountain add much to one's understanding of the feat. The second part of the video, lasting for nearly an hour, is titled "Return to Everest" and is a profile of Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953, along with the Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, first conquered Everest. Hillary has often returned to Nepal, and his involvement helping the Sherpa people is lovingly chronicled. The final segment of the video is a brief interview with Hillary that surprisingly--considering the high production standards of National Geographic videos--suffers from an odd audio problem in which Hillary's thoughtful answers are very clear but the questions put to him can barely be heard. All in all, this is a highly informative tape for those with a general interest in Everest, and the photography, as befits a Geographic production, is never less than spectacular. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing - Not really about Everest Climb, February 18, 2000

By 

Jeremy A. Ellis (Robbinsdale, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic: Surviving Everest (DVD)

This DVD was, frankly, a disappointment. Very little of it is about Mt. Everest or Sir Edmund Hillary's climb. A better description of the main feature would be "What Sir Edmund Hillary did AFTER he climbed Everest". It is about the culture of the people who lived around the base of the mountain, and how Sir Edmund has helped them by building schools and teaching them about conservation. VERY LITTLE of the main feature is about his climb of the mountain.

There is an extra featurette called "Surviving Everest: First hand accounts" where individuals who have climbed Mt. Everest talk about their experiences and there is a fair amount of footage on the mountain. However, the quality of this footage is not as good as I had hoped. If you want to see major mountain climbing footage, look elsewhere. The IMAX DVD has gotten mixed reviews, so I don't know what to recommend. You may want to wait for "The Conquest of Everest" the movie made of Sir Edmund Hillary's first ever climb of Everest. I have never seen this, but it must have more climbing footage than this DVD did.

One other bone to pick, the main feature and the "extra" interview with Sir Edmund specifically mention that he had a cameraman with him and they got some amazing pictures on his first climb - BUT, these were sadly left out of the too-small "Photo Gallery".

So far, the other two National Geographic DVDs I have are pretty good: Battle for Midway (incredible battle footage) and Secrets Of The Titanic.

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and misleading, January 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: National Geographic: Surviving Everest (DVD)

The DVD quality is poor. It feels like an old VHS tape. Most disappointing, considering this is from National Geographic! Collector's Edition my foot.

The title is misleading. This dvd has nothing to do with Everest. It mostly discusses Hillary's social endeavors in Khumbu region-- which is nice, but not what I purchased it for. If you want to see anything about surviving Everest, watch the Nova series: "Everest: The death zone".

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and misleading, January 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: National Geographic: Surviving Everest (DVD)

The DVD quality is poor. It feels like an old VHS tape. Most disappointing, considering this is from National Geographic! Collector's Edition my foot.

The title is misleading. This dvd has nothing to do with Everest. It mostly discusses Hillary's social endeavors in Khumbu region-- which is nice, but not what I purchased it for. If you want to see anything about surviving Everest, watch the Nova series: "Everest: The death zone".