The Alps (2007)

John Harlin III attempts to climb the North Face of the Eiger, the site of his father's death 40 years earlier.

Director:

Stephen Judson

Writers:

Stephen Venables, Stephen Judson

Stars:

Michael Gambon, Adele Hammond, John Harlin III

2 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Michael Gambon	...	Narrator
Adele Hammond	...	Herself
John Harlin III	...	Himself
Adele Harlin	...	Herself
Siena Harlin	...	Herself
Daniela Jasper	...	Herself
Robert Jasper	...	Himself
Bruno Messerli	...	Himself
Christine Pielmeier	...	Herself
Adele Siena	...	Herself

Storyline

In 1966, John Harlin II died while attempting Europe's most difficult climb, the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland. 40 years later, his son John Harlin III, an expert mountaineer and the editor of the American Alpine Journal, returns to attempt the same climb.

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Plot Keywords:

switzerland | death | climbing | avalanche | reenactment | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Adventure

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Die Alpen

Filming Locations:

Eiger Mountain, Kanton Bern, Switzerland

Company Credits

Production Co:

MacGillivray Freeman Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Ride the Wild Wind"
Written by Queen
Performed by Queen

User Reviews

Emotional, but not enough scenery or information.

I enjoyed the first 15 minutes of "The Alps". Breathtaking views as an introduction, promise of a story, even some drawings and animations to provide real information about the Alps.

Then it got downhill as far as I am concerned.

The whole story is a bit of "I love and support him", "I must succeed", "rocks are dangerous, ice is dangerous, snow is dangerous", with many scenes arranged specifically to create emotions. This would have been fine as a background, but the whole "I must surmount my father's fall" story got in the first plane and obscured other content, once past the 15 minutes I mentioned.

There was not enough information about the mountain - no visualisation of the path taken, no details about rocks, just very brief mentions of "ya know, snow might go down in avalanche" and such. Nothing about how they use axe and other tools for climbing. Not much about the mountains. I have learned almost nothing about the Alps or climbing - only generic things that even kids know (at least in Europe). "Educational" scenes filmed on the train were too long and too basic for my liking.

Views? There was a bunch of great scenery showing the Alps, but overall not enough - and the remainder was the three people climbing, in closeups. Potential wasted, at least for me. Maybe the budget influenced that? Overall this film is for me an example of "an American documentary". Much fluff stretched over time, minimum interesting content that gets rehashed over and over. How many times do we need to hear about father of the hero? Come on, it's not US TV channel, there was no break for commercials and you don't need to remind people what they are watching...

I gave the movie a "5" as it has some great visuals and is pleasant to watch (but not as many of these as I expected) though it fails on other counts. Not too bad for an IMAX movie, not too good either.

Note: I am not saying this is a bad movie - just that I did not like it.