The Mountain (1956)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Ranald MacDougall (screenplay)
Henry Troyat (novel)

Release Date:

November 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

IT FILLS THE SCREEN with Excitement and Suspense!

Plot:

When a plane crashes on a mountaintop Chris wants to plunder the wreckage. His older brother Zachary...

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Mountain Climbing | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Zachary Teller
Robert Wagner	...	Christopher 'Chris' Teller
Claire Trevor	...	Marie
William Demarest	...	Father Belacchi
Barbara Darrow	...	Simone
Richard Arlen	...	C. W. Rivial
E.G. Marshall	...	Solange
Anna Kashfi	...	Hindu Girl
Richard Garrick	...	Coloz
Harry Townes	...	Joseph
Stacy Harris	...	Nicholas Servoz
Yves Brainville	...	Andre

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17649) | UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Mont-Blanc, Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In the Italian dubbing, the "new silk rope" becomes a "new nylon rope"; this is due to the popularity of nylon ropes then in Italy, as they had been used in the recent 1954 Italian expedition to K2, which received lots of media attention in Italy at the time.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Zachary and Chris are preparing the climb, Zachary takes the best rope, saying to Chris: "you'll be on the end of my rope; if something goes wrong, I'll be on the end of your rope. Wanna change?" Yet, the day after, we always see Zachary climbing with his rope on the backpack (a plain white one, so presumably the best "silk new one"), while Chris has no rope on his backpack: this means they are climbing using Chris's rope, the "second best one".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

One-of-a-kind

One wonders how a movie of this sort ever got made, basically a two character drama in a one-set play (although the set is rather a spectacular one, and the quality of the color of this production is eye-popping). Although Spencer Tracy more or less sleep walks his way through this film, sometimes using his "Portuguese Fisherman" accent from "Captains Courageous", sometimes not, he still would be my choice of the person to first see on opening my eyes after surviving a plane crash....he exudes character and compassion. Robert Walker's "angry young brother" character, on the other hand, is quite unbelievably unprincipled...I wish he had been given even a modicum of balance in this tale. A plodding, predictable script does pick up and turn exciting towards the end. Overall, the viewer might be left with a sense of the strangeness of this 1950's artifact.