The Mountain Calls (1938)
"Der Berg ruft!" (original title)

The Italian mountaineer Carel wants to be the first man to stand on the top of the Matterhorn. Since the climb is very difficult, he agrees to try it together with the British mountaineer ... See full summary »

Director:

Luis Trenker

Writers:

Carl Haensel (novel), Richard Billinger,

Stars:

Luis Trenker, Herbert Dirmoser, Heidemarie Hatheyer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luis Trenker	...	Jean Antoine Carell
Herbert Dirmoser	...	Whymper
Heidemarie Hatheyer	...	Felicitas
Peter Elsholtz	...	Giordano
Lucie Höflich	...	Mutter Carell
Blandine Ebinger	...	Miß Sweaton
Umberto Sacripante	...	Luc Meynet
Reinhold Pasch	...	Hudson
Robert Thiem	...	Hadow
Kunibert Gensichen	...	Douglas
Luis Gerold	...	Bergführer Croz
Friedrich Ulmer	...	Favre
Bruno Hübner	...	Stefano
Armin Schweizer	...	Herr Seiler
Lotte Spira	...	Frau Seiler

Storyline

The Italian mountaineer Carel wants to be the first man to stand on the top of the Matterhorn. Since the climb is very difficult, he agrees to try it together with the British mountaineer Whymper. But due to an intrigue this agreement is dropped and the two man try it on the same day with two different teams and then disaster strikes.

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Plot Keywords:

exclamation point in title | hillside | remake | claim in title | mountain peak | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

6 January 1938 (Germany)

Also Known As:

The Mountain Calls

Company Credits

Production Co:

Luis Trenker-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was shot back-to-back with The Challenge with Luis Trenker as the only actor appearing in both versions. So it was a British-German co-production just one year before the war.

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Connections

Referenced in Ich filmte am Matterhorn (1971)

User Reviews

Not a typical movie for its time!

Seen the movie in full-length on TV some hours ago. At first I didn't expect anything special, but in the end I was fascinated by the quality and the emotion that this movie is able to transport. For a movie from 1937/38, the music and direction is outstanding. Extreme camera perspectives, dramatic scenes in high mountain area, combined with an even more dramatic score, are the highlights. The performance given by Luis Trenker (who also directed and wrote screenplay) was simply amazing.