I watched this film out of curiosity after having seen the 2016 restoration of the original silent version, "Der Kampf ums Matterhorn", which made a strong impression on me - I'd heard that Luis Trenker had remade the film ten years later without the romantic subplot which is the weakest element of the silent version, and wondered how much difference it would make to the treatment of the subject. My own feeling is that it makes the film stronger in some ways, but that the silent version is actually more effective in others (and, as I discovered later after doing some research, to be honest neither of them is particularly historically accurate in any case - I don't know how close they are to the Carl Haensel novel on which the film claims to be 'loosely' based).
Removing the contentious sub-plot in which Carrel becomes jealous of the other man's supposed relations with his wife (I gather Whymper's family in England had strongly objected to the film's release with this story-line, even though it's shown that the jealousy is actually unfounded) ironically has the effect of making the friendship between the two of them seem less convincing; in this version, rather than selflessly going to the aid of a stranger after witnessing his fall, then having him convalesce in his house for months, Carrel quarrels with his English employer, causes him to fall by jerking on the rope at the wrong moment, turns back and leaves him to climb alone, and then rescues him with a side-order of "I told you so"... and that is basically all the interaction we see between them before the friendship is declared. They climb together on one afternoon and on bad terms, and I didn't find the rescue on its own enough on which to base a loyalty that is supposed to lead to violent feelings of resentment and betrayal.
I actually felt that the (equally fictional) version in which Carrel's suppressed hate is transformed into undying allegiance when he realises that he has been wronging the man who trusts him with his life -- and in which they have spent a lot of time together and climbed in company more than once -- was more psychologically plausible; this one just feels very abrupt. So far as I remember the scene in which Whymper's carriage leaves the village (and friendship is sworn) is almost identical between the versions, which makes the excision of all the preceding context all the more apparent. It's simply a pity the 'romantic' sub-plot was handled via the evil half-brother character, which means that the silent version isn't really satisfactory either!
Substituted for the unsavoury hints at rape and adultery in the 1928 version is a wholesome romance with Felicitas, who is here the daughter of the local innkeeper rather than Carrel's wife. This seems to be another major change (although my German was not good enough to pick up all the fine details); this version of Carrel, rather than being a prosperous and respected figure in the village who is approached at the start of the film to lead a rescue attempt after an avalanche, is an outlier and outcast whose obsession with the mountains goes down badly with his neighbours, and Felicitas' father is far from happy at the connection.
With the initial six reels of the silent film effectively removed, their place has been taken by a new and much more complex plot strand concerning the rival expeditions. In the original, Carrel simply writes to his friend in England warning him to come soon if he wants to be the first to ascend the Matterhorn, but Whymper arrives too late and sets off alone to try to race the Italian expedition; he would rather have climbed with Carrel, but if that's not an option then he will do his utmost to reach the peak first with any help he can get. In the new version there is a complicated intrigue aimed at separating the two men in the name of Italian patriotism; one element I found very effective was the touch whereby Whymper, stung by Carrel's apparent repudiation of their agreement, sends back to him the eagle's(?) feather he had received in token of friendship, valueless in itself compared to the foreigner's gift of an engraved ice-axe, but costing every bit as much or more effort to obtain. Another touch that I like is that, while the character is referred to throughout as 'Jean-Antoine Carrel', his friends call him 'Tonio', thus unobtrusively pointing out his Italian nationality.
In place of the three eager young Englishmen who make up the numbers in the earlier film, we here get a more realistic attempt at representing the actual English climbing party; we also get Douglas' young fiancee, whom I suspect has no historical basis but whom I rather liked as an addition. Her character is used effectively at several points in the film to lighten the atmosphere or conversely to raise emotion.
But as with the silent movie, the outstanding sequences are the actual climbing shots and the stunning location filming, shot in the Alps and on the Matterhorn itself above the clouds. We're watching men climb in tweeds, hobnails and gaiters, with heavy canvas knapsacks and using their long ice-axes as walking-sticks, without artificial aids of any kind, held only by a slender strand of manila rope anchored around the bodies of their fellows; these sequences are basically shot as pure silent technique, to the accompaniment of the beautiful score. (I can't remember whether any of the shots from the original film are in fact reused!)
One thing that did puzzle me a bit and never gets explained is the eventual outcome of the mistaken identity when all Breuil rejoices in the belief that the Italian expedition has reached the summit; this error is highlighted in several sequences, but never seems to lead to any payoff. Presumably the villagers learn their mistake at some stage, but this whole plot element seems a bit of an unnecessary extra complication without consequences...
One scene that is very definitely done differently from the silent version is the actual accident. This was ingeniously depicted in the original simply by showing the plunging camera viewpoint of the falling men, but here we actually get to see the fall, and it's horribly convincing, from the tumbling close-ups of bodies ploughing through the snow to the final long-shot views of splayed limbs cartwheeling down the mountain into a puff of snow and silence. And of course we get to hear the rope break.
The ending of the film also is very different, with Carrel's motives complicated beyond simple loyalty to risk his life in immediate defence of a friend, to a situation where he still believes Whymper to have disowned their friendship but is shocked to hear of the accusations against him, and acts in defence of 'the good name of all mountaineers'. In this version Whymper is actually being put on formal trial rather than menaced by an impulsive taproom crowd (and defends himself vigorously rather than simply turning away in a daze of shock and exhaustion) -- this felt lengthy and over the top to me as a plot device, though I discovered subsequently that there actually was an official enquiry to assign blame after the disaster.
At any rate Carrel discovers the remnants of the rope, discovers that Whymper also believed himself betrayed (although I was confused by this, since the contents of the accusatory note he leaves behind at the summit seems to be at odds with the speech he actually gives to old Taugwalder there, regretting that Carrel could not be with them -- and Carrel appears to be considering faking a cut end himself), and he makes the requisite dramatic last-minute entrance just in time to save Whymper from a murder charge. The ending here felt a bit abrupt, as the entire misunderstanding is brushed off with a single handshake and fade out... but it's redeemed by the wordless epilogue shot, in which we return to the panorama of the view from the Matterhorn's peak, and see the two men reach it together, reconciled and triumphant (in what is again a very elegant and economical bit of silent-style story-telling!)
I'm torn as to whether I prefer this version or the original; there are elements of both that I'm sorry to lose in the other and also that I found unsatisfactory, and to be honest the fact that I'm missing out on the subtler nuances of the German dialogue doesn't qualify me to pronounce on the treatment. On balance this is probably the better film, and Luis Trenker is excellent in both; the sound version is certainly much easier to get hold of if you want to admire the mountain sequences (and they are worth admiring). I confess to rather preferring the theme of straightforward personal loyalty/conflict used to underpin the silent version, as opposed to what I felt was the somewhat confused motivation here -- the historical truth proves to be, alas, that it was a strictly business relationship where neither particularly liked or trusted the other in the first place.
Removing the contentious sub-plot in which Carrel becomes jealous of the other man's supposed relations with his wife (I gather Whymper's family in England had strongly objected to the film's release with this story-line, even though it's shown that the jealousy is actually unfounded) ironically has the effect of making the friendship between the two of them seem less convincing; in this version, rather than selflessly going to the aid of a stranger after witnessing his fall, then having him convalesce in his house for months, Carrel quarrels with his English employer, causes him to fall by jerking on the rope at the wrong moment, turns back and leaves him to climb alone, and then rescues him with a side-order of "I told you so"... and that is basically all the interaction we see between them before the friendship is declared. They climb together on one afternoon and on bad terms, and I didn't find the rescue on its own enough on which to base a loyalty that is supposed to lead to violent feelings of resentment and betrayal.
I actually felt that the (equally fictional) version in which Carrel's suppressed hate is transformed into undying allegiance when he realises that he has been wronging the man who trusts him with his life -- and in which they have spent a lot of time together and climbed in company more than once -- was more psychologically plausible; this one just feels very abrupt. So far as I remember the scene in which Whymper's carriage leaves the village (and friendship is sworn) is almost identical between the versions, which makes the excision of all the preceding context all the more apparent. It's simply a pity the 'romantic' sub-plot was handled via the evil half-brother character, which means that the silent version isn't really satisfactory either!
Substituted for the unsavoury hints at rape and adultery in the 1928 version is a wholesome romance with Felicitas, who is here the daughter of the local innkeeper rather than Carrel's wife. This seems to be another major change (although my German was not good enough to pick up all the fine details); this version of Carrel, rather than being a prosperous and respected figure in the village who is approached at the start of the film to lead a rescue attempt after an avalanche, is an outlier and outcast whose obsession with the mountains goes down badly with his neighbours, and Felicitas' father is far from happy at the connection.
With the initial six reels of the silent film effectively removed, their place has been taken by a new and much more complex plot strand concerning the rival expeditions. In the original, Carrel simply writes to his friend in England warning him to come soon if he wants to be the first to ascend the Matterhorn, but Whymper arrives too late and sets off alone to try to race the Italian expedition; he would rather have climbed with Carrel, but if that's not an option then he will do his utmost to reach the peak first with any help he can get. In the new version there is a complicated intrigue aimed at separating the two men in the name of Italian patriotism; one element I found very effective was the touch whereby Whymper, stung by Carrel's apparent repudiation of their agreement, sends back to him the eagle's(?) feather he had received in token of friendship, valueless in itself compared to the foreigner's gift of an engraved ice-axe, but costing every bit as much or more effort to obtain. Another touch that I like is that, while the character is referred to throughout as 'Jean-Antoine Carrel', his friends call him 'Tonio', thus unobtrusively pointing out his Italian nationality.
In place of the three eager young Englishmen who make up the numbers in the earlier film, we here get a more realistic attempt at representing the actual English climbing party; we also get Douglas' young fiancee, whom I suspect has no historical basis but whom I rather liked as an addition. Her character is used effectively at several points in the film to lighten the atmosphere or conversely to raise emotion.
But as with the silent movie, the outstanding sequences are the actual climbing shots and the stunning location filming, shot in the Alps and on the Matterhorn itself above the clouds. We're watching men climb in tweeds, hobnails and gaiters, with heavy canvas knapsacks and using their long ice-axes as walking-sticks, without artificial aids of any kind, held only by a slender strand of manila rope anchored around the bodies of their fellows; these sequences are basically shot as pure silent technique, to the accompaniment of the beautiful score. (I can't remember whether any of the shots from the original film are in fact reused!)
One thing that did puzzle me a bit and never gets explained is the eventual outcome of the mistaken identity when all Breuil rejoices in the belief that the Italian expedition has reached the summit; this error is highlighted in several sequences, but never seems to lead to any payoff. Presumably the villagers learn their mistake at some stage, but this whole plot element seems a bit of an unnecessary extra complication without consequences...
One scene that is very definitely done differently from the silent version is the actual accident. This was ingeniously depicted in the original simply by showing the plunging camera viewpoint of the falling men, but here we actually get to see the fall, and it's horribly convincing, from the tumbling close-ups of bodies ploughing through the snow to the final long-shot views of splayed limbs cartwheeling down the mountain into a puff of snow and silence. And of course we get to hear the rope break.
The ending of the film also is very different, with Carrel's motives complicated beyond simple loyalty to risk his life in immediate defence of a friend, to a situation where he still believes Whymper to have disowned their friendship but is shocked to hear of the accusations against him, and acts in defence of 'the good name of all mountaineers'. In this version Whymper is actually being put on formal trial rather than menaced by an impulsive taproom crowd (and defends himself vigorously rather than simply turning away in a daze of shock and exhaustion) -- this felt lengthy and over the top to me as a plot device, though I discovered subsequently that there actually was an official enquiry to assign blame after the disaster.
At any rate Carrel discovers the remnants of the rope, discovers that Whymper also believed himself betrayed (although I was confused by this, since the contents of the accusatory note he leaves behind at the summit seems to be at odds with the speech he actually gives to old Taugwalder there, regretting that Carrel could not be with them -- and Carrel appears to be considering faking a cut end himself), and he makes the requisite dramatic last-minute entrance just in time to save Whymper from a murder charge. The ending here felt a bit abrupt, as the entire misunderstanding is brushed off with a single handshake and fade out... but it's redeemed by the wordless epilogue shot, in which we return to the panorama of the view from the Matterhorn's peak, and see the two men reach it together, reconciled and triumphant (in what is again a very elegant and economical bit of silent-style story-telling!)
I'm torn as to whether I prefer this version or the original; there are elements of both that I'm sorry to lose in the other and also that I found unsatisfactory, and to be honest the fact that I'm missing out on the subtler nuances of the German dialogue doesn't qualify me to pronounce on the treatment. On balance this is probably the better film, and Luis Trenker is excellent in both; the sound version is certainly much easier to get hold of if you want to admire the mountain sequences (and they are worth admiring). I confess to rather preferring the theme of straightforward personal loyalty/conflict used to underpin the silent version, as opposed to what I felt was the somewhat confused motivation here -- the historical truth proves to be, alas, that it was a strictly business relationship where neither particularly liked or trusted the other in the first place.
