The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

It is 1907 and Professor Ivarsson (David Hartman) has made a hasty trip from Norway to England to answer the summons of Sir Anthony Ross (Donald Sinden).  Sir Anthony plans an expedition to Northern Canada and/or Greenland, an area where Ivarsson has explored repeatedly.  His reason?  His son was last seen in Fort Conger, a final outpost for those seeking the North Pole.  Moreover, he has a scrap of paper from the 1850s that talks about a mysterious island under a cloud on the polar ice.  Still not interested, Ross offers a carved whale bone that provides a primitive map to the island.  Ivarsson is sold and agrees to come along.  The pair travel by coach, by train, and by boat to France.  Through torrents of rain, they again take a coach to see Captain Brieux (Jacques Marin), the designer and pilot of the Hyperion, a sleek airship.  Off they go, crossing the channel and thence to Greenland, and finally Fort Conger on the northern reaches of Ellesmere Island.  Indeed, Donald Ross had been there and set out with Oomiak (Mako) to look for the mysterious island; only Oomiak returned.

When I saw this as a kid, it was one of the greatest movies of all time.  It had a cool airship, fights with killer whales, a whale graveyard, a volcano, and Vikings!  Of course, one does not look for strong characters or engaging character arcs as a kid.  To the more mature viewer, Ivarsson is just a walking explainer.  He understands Old Norse and the language of the Inuit.  He can identify the Norse gods, give some background to the culture, propose an explanation for this lost colony, and so on.  He is there to explain the story to the audience, which does not speak well to the director's ability to tell the story.  It got a little silly when he was the one guiding the party through an empty waterway.  Can't we give that mundane task to someone else?  Sir Anthony is impatience incarnate.  He wants speed at all costs, even when it proves counterproductive.  Beyond that, he is defined by his single-minded desire to find his son, which is great but makes for a bland character.  The romance between Donald (David Gwillim) and Freyja (Agneta Eckemyr) felt tacked on, as it didn't have an opportunity to develop.  It started in the middle, which was necessary with the story format.  As such, she was more the token female in this adventure.

The Vikings were surprisingly well-done.  Most importantly, they weren't running around in horned helmets.  Rather than Old Norse, the actors used a variety of Nordic languages (really, how many audience members would know the difference?), which was close enough.

Of note, John Whedon was one of the writers; he was the grandfather of Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers (2012).

Some old-fashioned Rated G family entertainment.  It was Disney, so what else would you expect?  A lot of bland characters on an epic adventure!  Good popcorn fun!