Another good film which is probably more interesting for the background than the plot is "Hell Below Zero" starring Alan Ladd. It's the usual love/murder storyline with Stanley Baker looking providing the evil atagonist, however the film features extensive footage of the Salvesen whaling fleet operating in the Antarctic. This includes the catchers chasing and harpooning the whales and the carcasses then being brought onboard the factory ship and being processed, the men working etc plus some brief descriptions as to what is going on. Not only that but it's all in colour. It's all very graphic so perhaps not for the cuddly toy lovers out there but very interesting all the same.
I grew up in an area where a lot of men went "chasing the whale" with the very well known firm of Christian Salvesen of Leith and this usually meant them being away for upto 2 years at a time in the South Atlantic, during which time they lived and worked in very primitive conditions and endured much hardship. However, when they came home they were rich men, although the first thing their wives/mothers etc usually did when they came back would be to burn all their clothes and send them off to the steam room at the public baths.
Anyone who's been in the vicinity of a whaling factory ship will know exactly why!