Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein (1991)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Hans-Ulrich Klenner (written by) &
Walter Saxer (written by) ...

Release Date:

3 October 1991 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A meeting of two world famous climbers, one is an experienced mountaineer the other a free climber,...

Plot Keywords:

Climbing | Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Vittorio Mezzogiorno	...	Roccia
Mathilda May	...	Katharina
Stefan Glowacz	...	Martin
Al Waxman	...	Stephen
Gunilla Karlzen	...	Carla
Chavela Vargas	...	Indianerin
Georg Marischka	...	Werbeagent
Volker Prechtel	...	Himalaja-Bezwinger
Hans Kammerlander	...	Bergsteiger
Lautaro Murúa	...	Estanciero
Brad Dourif	...	Fingerless
Donald Sutherland	...	Ivan
Amelie Fried	...	TV-Moderatorin
Werner Herzog	...	TV-Regisseur
Wolfgang Müller

Also Known As:

Cerro Torre Scream of Stone (Canada: English title)
Cerro Torre, le cri de la roche (France)
La conquête de la peur (Canada: French title)
Scream of Stone

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Germany | France | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:6 (w)

Filming Locations:

Patagonia, Argentina

Company:

Sera Filmproduktion

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Werner Herzog]as the television director at the beginning of the film.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During Roger's climb of Cerro Torre, in the scene immediately following the blizzard, several crew members can be seen in the reflection of his goggles.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Cliffhanger (1993)

Soundtrack:

Tristan und Isolde

Minor Herzog but an engaging yarn

Werner Herzog's Scream of Stone is a legend in film sales: a big-budget German-French-Canadian mountaineering drama that became a byword for how not to sell a movie to foreign distributors when they asked so much money that no-one could afford it and it went virtually unreleased before turning up a decade latter on budget DVD (the UK disc retails at £5.99, and this is its first release).

It's actually not at all bad, although there's surprisingly little mountaineering in it: the main thrust of the film is the conflict between a legendary mountaineer who fails to climb an infamous Patagonian mountain and the exhibition climber who claims to have done so, with a restrained Donald Sutherland as the sports journalist caught in the middle and Mathilda May making a better job of the obligatory love interest than the script should let her. Brad Dourif turns up briefly as a fingerless climber infatuated with Mae West and seeming to channel the spirit of early Jack Nicholson (well, it is Herzog - you expected restraint?), but even he is less wild than expected.

The least successful element is the comic relief introduction of Al Waxman's tiresome TV producer towards the end (as well as an actress who HAD to be sleeping with either the director or one of the producers), but it's not fatal. It's a minor film, but an engaging watch with some good photography (albeit the film was surprisingly not shot in widescreen, presumably to emphasise height over width) and a neat ending.