I have to give thumbs up for whoever decided to acknowledge that much of the plotvl was made up. I couldn't tell how much of this somewhat fictionalized account of the climbing of the great peak of Edward Whymper (Robert Douglas) was stock footage because the film is a rather drearilly photographed account of the 1865 historical event. Certainly the shots of the Swiss mountains are glorious for what they could film, but I found it dreary, frequently ponderous and extremely talkie. There are attempts to plan for several men to make their way so it's a lot of preparation before the trek actually begins.
Douglas is alright, but he's overshadowed by Luis Trenker as his partner, dealing with a shrew of a mother (the over-the-top screeching Mary Clare) who seems to dominate his every attempt for a life of his own. The film picks up towards the end with the tragic falling of several of the climbers, the camera showing the bodies flying through the air with piercing screams. It's a shocking sequence that comes out of nowhere, but the bulk of the film prior to this is hard to sit through without fidgeting. There have been much better movies about mountain climbing ("Conquering Mount Everest"), so this one comes as a disappointment that should have been so much better.
Douglas is alright, but he's overshadowed by Luis Trenker as his partner, dealing with a shrew of a mother (the over-the-top screeching Mary Clare) who seems to dominate his every attempt for a life of his own. The film picks up towards the end with the tragic falling of several of the climbers, the camera showing the bodies flying through the air with piercing screams. It's a shocking sequence that comes out of nowhere, but the bulk of the film prior to this is hard to sit through without fidgeting. There have been much better movies about mountain climbing ("Conquering Mount Everest"), so this one comes as a disappointment that should have been so much better.