The Mountain (1956)

Selfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims.

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Henry Troyat (novel), Ranald MacDougall (screenplay)

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Claire Trevor

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

When a plane crashes on a mountaintop Chris wants to plunder the wreckage. His older brother Zachary has given up mountain guide work but goes along rather than letting his brother risk it alone. The only survivor is a Hindu girl who Chris wants to kill. Zachary fights him off. While Chris steals from the dead passengers, Zachary prepares a sled to take the girl down the mountain.

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Plot Keywords:

mountain | hindu | survivor | wreckage | carrying someone | 

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Taglines:

Actually Filmed Amid the FRENCH ALPS in VISTAVISION

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Maldição da Montanha

Filming Locations:

Mont-Blanc, Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

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".

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Quotes

Father Belacchi: They're getting up a rescue party to climb the mountain.
Zachary Teller: Why, if everybody's dead?

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Connections

Featured in The Patsy (1964)

User Reviews

Thoroughly engaging adventure tale...

In a small village at the base of the Alpine mountains, a greedy young man--tired of living poorly with his elderly brother on a sheep farm--talks his sibling into climbing one of the highest peaks to raid a doomed Indian aircraft of its gold. Engrossing story from Henri Troyat's novel is genuinely beautiful to behold in color-saturated Vista-Vision. Critics at the time complained about the interspersing of on-location footage with studio shots, yet poor Spencer Tracy (already in his golden years by this point) seems to be pressed to the breaking point regardless! As the scowling mercenary, callow Robert Wagner is one-note obstinate; however, Tracy's work is so fluid, so compassionate and believable, one is caught up in this saga despite the picture's weaker attributes. Expository early scenes and other minor characters are practically irrelevant, though cinematographer Franz F. Planer captures it all with astute grace. **1/2 from ****