Mr. Forbush and the Penguins

4/4/2022

I have only recently come across this film, and John Hurt is super. He is "Forbush", a rather rakish biology student who is coasting through life until his professor (Tony Britton) nominates him for a gig counting penguins - in Antarctica! Meantime, he has been bothering local barmaid "Tara" (Hayley Mills) who isn't really interested in him, and is frankly quite delighted when he announces his imminent project. He duly arrives, settles into Shackleton's hut and waits, and waits, and waits - no penguins! Then they arrive, slowly but surely and, despite himself, his interest is tweaked. He has to count them, weight them and generally monitor them and their behaviour. As winter sets in, they start to lay their eggs and incubate them from the extreme storms that very nearly do for him, too! As