The Mountain (1956) User Reviews

Dmytryk shows the magic and beauty of the high mountain country!

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 24 June 2000]

The emotional power of Dmytryk's films may derive from his range of vision always patronizing his characters, restoring honesty and ability to a style and realism...

For Tracy climbing a mountain is a matter of integrity... The conquest of a peak brings moments of exultation and bliss... What he gets from the adventure is just sheer joy... He is simple, kind and sincere...

All brothers dream, but Tracy dreams for the little... He sees life in an honest way... His brother (Wagner), at the contrary, dreams big and with open eyes to make it reality...

When a plane crashes on the top of the mountain, Wagner insists on going up to plunder the remains of the wrecked plane... Spencer accedes to the request to stop his spoiled younger brother to climb the mountain alone...

The avaricious brother is a novice in climbing techniques... He is seeking outdoor adventure only to bring gold and silver, and to strip the dead passengers robbing their money, jewelry and goods...

Tracy - with previous mountaineering experience - had something else in him which responds to the challenge and goes out to meet the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward to shield the safety of his brother with passion and enthusiasm...They are two generations apart, two opposite characters with two utterly different goals...

After a long and hard journey up the mountain, they succeed to reach the airplane wreck and to find that one passenger is still alive - a Hindu girl (Anna Kashfi).

A concerned Tracy gives all his good nature assistance as a caring human being to the injured delicate girl... But an unscrupulous brother intends to murder the helpless woman in order to steal her precious gem...

With the most gorgeous natural areas around; large fields with many ridges and faces; difficult rock climbing; and weak snow bridges, Dmytryk adds to the drama (in VistaVision and Technicolor) the magic and beauty of the high mountain country...

A very good, solid film

[tohu · 7/10 · 14 April 2007]

This is a really good, solid film from the 1950s American era. Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner play two brothers who climb a mountain - but the characters and motives are very different, and there are twists in store when they reach the top.

Tracy is always watchable, and this is no exception. He plays a simple man, a good climber and a deeply honourable person. His younger brother (a very beautiful-looking 26-year old Robert Wagner) is everything he isn't: greedy, lazy, shallow and petulant. The climbing scenes are terrific. Even if you aren't interested in climbing (I'm not) they are so precise and tense you will find yourself mesmerised. But it's really the actors, and the relationship between the two characters, who hold your attention.

If you find this film on TV it's likely to be in the afternoon. And it's a very good way to spend a couple of hours. The cliché is unavoidable, but they really don't make them like this anymore!

Humble and spiritual

[microwave · 7/10 · 28 September 2004]

This movie is often described as simple and unidimensional. But in the context of spirituality and high moral character, this movie rates high.

Spencer's character is described as dull, and his acting effort minor. But how else is a man reverent of nature and God supposed to be portrayed. The subtleties of this character are often overlooked in our glamorized, sensationalized society. Quiet reverence, devotion to God and family are the central messages of this movie. Observe how Tracy's character tolerates and endures the unruly "modern-ess" of his much younger brother, portrayed well by Wagner.

This movie may be "sappy" to some, but I found it's moral message to be most uplifting and a pleasant departure from machine guns, gangster and starlets, sex and violence. Although, in a very minor respect, those elements are visible in this movie. This is a good family movie.

A solid film with great performances...

[JimVines · 29 December 2002]

This film has two fine performances from the great Spencer Tracy and the young Robert Wagner. The story is taut, suspenseful, and the climbing scenes are fantastic. If you haven't seen this film, check it out (it's shown regularly on American Movie Classics here in the USA and is also available on video). If you truly have an appreciation for good films and solid acting, you won't be disappointed.

Thoroughly engaging adventure tale...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 23 August 2009]

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 VistaVision. Critics at the time complained about the interspersing of on-location footage with studio shots, as well as the age difference between brothers Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. Poor Tracy (already well into his golden years) seems pressed to the breaking point in this physical role, while scowling mercenary Wagner is one-note obstinate throughout. Still, Tracy's work is so fluid, so compassionate and believable, one gets caught up in this saga despite the picture's weaker attributes. Expository early scenes and other minor characters are practically irrelevant, and cinematographer Franz F. Planer captures it all with astute grace. **1/2 from ****

Prophetic Film? - The Mountain

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 5 January 2022]

In this adventure film in the Swiss Alps, a plane crashes and there are plans to make a climb to see if there are survivors. Spencer Tracy does a very good job as a Swiss mountain man who has lived there his whole life and knows the mountain like the back of his hand. His younger brother?, Robert Wagner, who is well over thirty years younger (this narrative was extremely hard to swallow), is a greedy, murderous creep, who thinks the world owes him a payday. Wagner is amazingly convincing in the role, even though in most former and latter roles, he was generally a substandard actor. Maybe this film was a taste of things to come in the future.

Tracy shines

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 13 April 2011]

I waited many years for this film's conversion to DVD. As a kid I remember so well watching this in black and white on "Saturday Night At The Movies".

I first bought the DVD of this, and now the Blu-Ray version, both produced by Olive Films. It's a fairly good transfer, and the Blu-Ray is decidedly better (as it should be). However, the film has not been fully restored, so there are some scenes where the color seems to fluctuate...but, that may just be a result of the age of the film (well over 50 years). Certainly not enough of a problem to make the movie less enjoyable, although oddly enough, it's the in-studio "mountain climbing" where the color varies the most, not the natural Alps footage. And, considering that much of this movie was actually filmed in the French Alps, well, it's still magnificent Vista Vision photography! And, they do a great job of combining in-studio footage with Alps backgrounds, making this more realistic than many films of its era. Unfortunately, despite being in the Alps and it's snowing...you can't see their breath! Even in Ronald Colman's 1937 film "Lost Horizon" they worked in a large freezer so you could see their breath in the mountain scenes. But again, one really shouldn't get lost in these shortcomings, because Spencer Tracy's acting makes up for it all.

Spencer Tracy has been my favorite actor pretty much all of my life, and I'm in my mid-60s (tied perhaps with Cary Grant). But it wasn't until I watched this for the third time that I fully realized why I so admired Spencer Tracy's acting -- believeablily; almost instant believability. Portraying a Clarence Darrow lawyer figure...instant believability. Portraying a judge at the Nuremburg Trials, instant believability. Portraying a father whose daughter is about to marry a Black man, instant believability. And now playing an old sheepherder who once climbed mountains...instant believability. And here, as usual, playing the moral center of the picture.

And then there is Robert Wagner, It's a good performance, although I wonder why he accepted the role. It's about as unlikable a character as you will find in any film, short of a rapist or murderer. He's brave enough to slap and belittle and old man, but a coward once he gets on the mountain. It occurred to me that Wagner's character is very much like a roommate I had for a couple of years. One evening he said, "I'm very sensitive." I responded with, "No, you're half of sensitivity -- the selfish have...you have no sensitivity toward others." (Sorry Dang). Robert Wagner was the "pretty boy" in the film, but does reasonably well.

There are two problems with this film. First, the age difference between Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner was not reasonable to make them brothers. Father and son would have been believable, and in my view, would have worked. But then again, in most movies you have to suspend belief in one area or another, so, okay...I can live with it. The other issue here is that Robert Wagner is such a jerk (I was going to say...well, you know) that you not only know he's going to die climbing the mountain, but from the moment early on in the film when he slaps Spencer Tracy in the face, you're rooting for him falling to his death off the mountain! But, okay there, too! ;-) While we all know that Spencer Tracy wasn't doing the actual mountain climbing here -- he was already 56 and in somewhat declining health -- this must have been a tough movie for him to make. He may not have yet been the lion in winter, but he was certainly well into late autumn. But, over the years, as Tracy aged he only improved. His later years saw most of his finest performances...and this is one. The double used for the climbing did an excllent job. You could almost believe it was Tracy.

It's surprising to see Robert Wagner in such a negative role, but it's just as surprising to see Claire Trevor as a very mature washer woman in the village who has her eye on Spencer Tracy. E.G. Marshall is here, as well as William Demarest, but they both have very, very minor roles.

Many have criticized the closing scene as Tracy's character reports that he had all the ill intent while his brother was a hero. I have mixed feelings about the ending. Why should a thief and coward be given credit for something he didn't do.

I understand that Spencer Tracy didn't really like this film. I wonder if it was the film itself or the strenuous nature of the project at his age.

A fine film and a different story...well worth viewing.

A saint and a demon go hiking

[petra_ste · 6/10 · 23 May 2007]

The Mountain is the story of two brothers, Zachary (Spencer Tracy) and Chris (Robert Wagner), who climb a mountain after a plane crash.

Let's forget that Tracy and Wagner are hardly credible as brothers, since the former was about fifty and the latter about thirty when the movie was filmed; that's a minor problem.

What's heavy-handed to the point of being insulting is the characterization of the two brothers. Zachary is the equivalent of a saint: he is kind, patient, pious, respectful towards the dead, ready to take on himself the most ignominious accusations to protect Chris and to risk his life not only for his brother but even for a stranger.

Chris, on the other hand, is a mean-spirited, whiny creep who treats Zachary like rubbish, beats him, threatens to leave him without a house, is ungrateful when his brother saves his life, then robs corpses, destroys a cross on a grave and tries to murder the only survivor of the plane crash. It's so over-the-top it's laughable.

Climbing scenes are competently filmed and Tracy is reliable as always, but, had Zachary been given some flaws and Chris some qualities, The Mountain would have been far more interesting.

6/10

A great-looking Alpine drama, almost undone by bizarre casting.

[barnabyrudge · 7/10 · 6 October 2011]

In 1950, Air India Flight 245 crashed into the side of Mont Blanc in the Alps, killing everyone on board. A couple of years later, French novelist Henri Troyat wrote a book entitled 'La Neige En Deuil' about a plane crash in the Alps, and this 1956 movie is a screen adaptation of that book. With Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner playing brothers, the film immediately gives itself credibility problems. Both good actors and both effective enough in their individual roles, but to believe in them as brothers is remarkably difficult. Wagner was 26 and looks marginally younger than that; Tracy was 56 and looks a good deal older. Their relationship simply doesn't ring true and the tremendous age gap is the key factor. Luckily, if you're willing to overlook this piece of lunatic casting the rest of the film is well-made, absorbing and very interesting.

Aging sheepman and Alpine expert Zachary Teller (Spencer Tracy) hears of a terrible air crash in the Swiss Alps on a mountain he knows better than anybody. Zachary is very superstitious and refuses to climb the mountain as he has already had a few near-fatal accidents upon its slopes. A rescue party sets off to the crash site but is forced to turn back when their guide – one of Zachary's close friends – is killed in a tragic fall. Later, Zachary's impetuous and cold-hearted younger brother Chris (Robert Wagner) decides to go to the crash site to find loot and make himself rich. Zachary is appalled at the idea – he calls it pick-pocketing the dead within the sight of God – but he knows his brother will surely die if he tries to climb alone. Therefore he joins him on the hazardous climb. When they reach the crash site, they discover a young Hindu woman still alive in the wreckage. Chris wants to leave her to die so that he can fill his pockets with loot; Zachary is determined to bring her down to safety at all costs. Soon the brothers are locked in a furious moral feud.

Tracy does very well as the older Teller brother. He is such a skilled actor, so very watchable. There are very few films where he doesn't command attention, and in this one his morally righteous mountain man is at once lovable and deeply humbling. Wagner is quite good too as the selfish younger brother. Obviously they don't suit each other as siblings, but the point about their incompatibility as on-screen brothers has been laboured enough. Edward Dmytryck shoots the film in glorious VistaVision, capturing his Alpine scenery in breathtaking beauty. If nothing else, this is a truly great-looking film. The narrative is rather slow in parts, particularly the opening, but it builds to some genuinely hair-raising climbing sequences later on. The ascent of the brothers to the wreck site is powerfully done, with one moment in particular (when Wagner slips and the rope slides through Tracy's hands, burning and bloodying his palms as he tries to break his fall) that lingers long in the memory. A solid character film – almost a two-hander play with a more spectacular backdrop than most – The Mountain is a very worthwhile 105 minutes.

Rescue And Redemption

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 15 November 2006]

During his career Spencer Tracy essayed a few roles as a foreigner and did quite well in them for a man who was so typically American. Of course the most prominent was Manuel Fidello in Captains Courageous, but he also played a gypsy in Tortilla Flat, a Cuban fisherman in The Old Man and the Sea, a German in The Seventh Cross. He certainly did a lot better than Henry Fonda who was also typically American, but laughable in War and Peace.

In The Mountain he plays a Swiss mountaineer, a simple peasant guy with great dignity and iron moral sense. He's got a younger brother played by Robert Wagner and there's a generation gap between them.

Wagner's performance reminded me very much of what Marlon Brando said in The Young Lions about how he resented working for tips from foreigners in his own country. Wagner wants to get up and out of their Alpine village and doesn't care how. Brando and Wagner are both ambitious, Brando's way was to become a Nazi, Wagner had a less political approach to satisfy his ambition, one a lot more crude though.

A plane crashes on a forbidden Alp near their house, a mountain that Spencer Tracy had climbed solo before. An expedition to reach survivors fails with the death of a friend of Tracy. Wagner wants to go up on the mountain to loot the passengers. Tracy wants to see if there are survivors and they make the climb.

A survivor does turn up actually, a Hindu woman played by Anna Kashfi, this was in fact an Air India plane that crashed. Her survival touches off a test of wills and purpose for the brothers.

I hadn't seen The Mountain for many years and I had forgotten how riveting Spencer Tracy's performance was. In the dialog and in the closeups the anguish in him tears at the audience.

The only criticism I have of The Mountain was that Tracy and Wagner were playing brothers. Tracy was the least vain of all the great Hollywood stars from the studio era, he was known for never wearing makeup. He looks every bit the 56 years on the screen and Wagner looks his age and he was in his twenties then. They're not too believable as brothers, but both are skilled enough players to overcome it. But they should have been made father and son like in Broken Lance.

Outside of that The Mountain is one great film.

A plane crashes on a mountaintop then Wagner wants to plunder the wreckage and Tracy tries to care him

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 1 October 2013]

Sprawling adventure detailing the obsessive search for a crashed plane including spectacular scenarios , impressive images and maintains a fair degree of intrigue . Selfish and shady Chris Teller (a young Robert Wagner) pressures his older brother (snowy hair Spencer Tracy), a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims . As they set out to inspect an inter-continental routed aircraft that crashed in the French Alps . Suffering experiences in climbing the peak , it results to be evident that one brother intends to loot , while the other designs to save whatever he can .

Wonderfully photographed story dealing with greed and selflessness . Interesting screenplay by Ranald MacDougall , being faithfully based on the novel by Henry Troyat . Top-notch Spencer Tracy as an expert climber who attempts to care his younger brother , as usual , he displays a quiet dignity . Acceptable acting by Robert Wagner as an ambitious young with a ruthless charm . Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses and script's shortcomings , especially the disparity in their ages is disconcerting ; as both protagonists playing brothers, Spencer Tracy was 30 years older than Robert Wagner in real life ; Tracy previously portrayed Wagner's father in the western Broken lance . Very good support cast playing brief interpretations , such as Claire Trevor as Marie , William Demarest as Father Belacchi , Richard Arlen as Rivial , E.G. Marshall as Solange and gorgeous Anna Kashfi film debut as Hindu Girl . Very real climbing images as well as perfectly staged scenes , being marvelously photographed by Franz Planer , he fills the screen with excitement and suspense.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck .Filmmaker Edward , better known for overtly personal movies such as The Caine Mutiny was a craftsman whose career resulted to be interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result. The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury , Mark Stevens and Patrick Knowles . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ among others. Rating : a complete must see , it's recommended for Spencer Tracy and climbing buffs .

a great small movie

[john22900 · 10/10 · 1 December 2006]

This is one great film.

The mountain climbing sequences are very impressively done and extremely well photographed.

Tracy is amazing as the righteously moral brother and his performance is nuanced as to not make it a caricature which could have easily happened in the type of character he was asked to portray.

Wagner has the more showy part as a villainous egomaniac, willing to do anything - even commit murder - to make his dreams of wealth come true.

I love films that deal with mountain climbing such as the Clint Eastwood film, The Eiger Sanction, but this film even beats that one!

Mild and totally accessible

[hung_fao_tweeze · 7/10 · 19 February 2010]

This may be the Gilligan's Island of mountain movies - of course there aren't many movies like this out there anyway. There are no frills in this movie. The story is what it is and that is all it is. Plane crashes on mountain and feuding brothers with different sets of values climb to the crash for very different reasons. There are no sudden plot twists or surprises. It is an easy movie to watch without having to think too hard. A fine family film very much in the old Disney adventure vein. You can over analyze that Tracy and Wagner don't look anything like brothers or that some of the backdrops (especially from the dramatic narrow cliff-wall scene) don't quite make sense. There's quite a few yet minor logic failures. (I'll never understand why the original rescue crew had to walk all the way across that field carrying their wounded when a perfectly viable jeep was right there and could have helped.) Bottom line though: It's a good movie to enjoy - period.

It's too bad that the poor casting decisions get in the way of excellent cinematography and special effects.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 23 April 2012]

The casting decisions in "The Mountain" was insane--even by Hollywood standards of the 1950s. After all, Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner are cast as brothers--and their age difference is 30 years! And, frankly, at this point in his life, Tracy looked significantly older than 56--probably due, in part, to his heavy drinking. On top of that, the film is based in the Alps--yet no one sounds French, German or Italian--just American. For me, all this really took me out of the experience and overwhelmed everything else in the film--both the good and the bad.

"The Mountain" begins with a plane crashing into a mountain in Europe. A group of mountain climbers have volunteered to climb to the summit to look for survivors, but the job looks almost impossible. After all, it's getting late in the year and the mountain has claimed lives over the years. One climber who isn't about to climb is a guy played by Tracy. He is a VERY experienced climber but has given up the sport because he KNOWS he'll die if he keeps climbing--as he nearly lost his life the last time he climbed this mountain. Soon, the rescue party returns--their leader is dead and they don't believe it's possible to make it. So far, so good. However, inexplicably, Wagner insists he'll go up the mountain alone (even though he's NOT an experienced climber) because he wants to rob the dead. Even more inexplicable is that Tracy agrees to go along--even though he's horrified by his brother's callousness. His intention is just to keep the younger sibling from getting himself killed. What happens next? See the film.

I thought as I watched the film that although Spencer Tracy looked way too old for the part that he did a nice job. As for Wagner, however, he didn't have much chance in this film. First, he was acting against one of the ages best actors. Second, his character was about as one-dimensional as Snidely Whiplash or Simon Legree!! He was ridiculously written--and his character sure went to a lot of trouble just to steel. He could have easily committed crimes at sea level, instead! When the film began, I was very impressed. The camera-work was great--with incredibly vivid colors and a scope that was just lovely. And, many times during the film, I marveled at the way the director and his crew were able to make it appear as if Wagner and Tracy really were climbing in the mountains. Too bad, then, that the writing and casting was so dumb that all the great looks of the film were in vain. Overall, a time-passer that should have been much better.

FYI--Something you might want to look for if you like spotting goofs is Tracy's hands. In a VERY shocking and exciting scene, his hands are horribly torn apart by a rope. His brother falls and Tracy's only recourse is to grab the rope and hold on for dear life--as you see blood pouring off his torn hands. It's a VERY effective scene. Yet, shortly after, his hands are perfect--not a trace of a wound that should have taken weeks to heal. And, looking at the accident, you'd assume he'd always be seriously scarred by this!! However, at the very end, his hands are all bandaged! Talk about lousy continuity.

A beautiful picture

[callmurf · 14 July 1999]

Here is Spencer Tracy doing what Spencer Tracy does best; live the part. He is one of only a few actors that engage you with almost no dialogue. The story is simple; Indian plane crashes on a mountain and two brothers climb to reach the wreckage; both for very different reasons.

The movie is filled with spectacular climbing footage, and incredible vistas. (It was filmed in VISTA-VISION you know) It's a journey between two brothers and the guilt that one carries for what he perceives to be his failings in raising the younger. Robert Wagner plays the young brother who only cares for money and greed. (he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever) Spencer is the elder who embodies all that is good and just. The Mountain serves as the grand reminder of how small we really are, but also the great feats we can accomplish.

Rent it. Watch it. I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

Tracy in a role that should have gone to Kirk Douglas...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 16 October 2012]

The awful miscasting of SPENCER TRACY absolutely ruins what might have been a very gripping film. He's cast as an experienced mountain climber whose younger brother, ROBERT WAGNER, wants to make the mountain climb to a plane crash where there are riches to plunder.

The whole film is really a character study of the two men, a study in opposites. Tracy is a simple man of sterling character while Wagner excels in his bad guy role. But to accept them as brothers, with the huge age gap between them, doesn't lend credibility to the story and its many mountain scenes.

The climbing itself is realistically done, but after awhile it becomes more of an endurance test for the viewer as the climbers experience several near fatal mishaps. All of it is filmed in mostly outdoor settings which are beautifully photographed. The stunning scenery is a delight to behold with only occasional studio shots subbing for the real mountain rocks.

Summing up: Could have been much better with more accurate casting. Tracy was only 56 at the time, but looks more like Wagner's grandfather and lacks credibility as a mountain climber capable of rescuing single-handedly an Indian girl from the plane wreck.

Where was Kirk Douglas?

Neat Flick....

[squatpuke · 7/10 · 27 February 2001]

I like this movie...saw it on AMC w/o commercial interruption and must say it was very entertaining....

Yeah, the climbing is lame and staging is set...but what do you expect from a movie made in the '50s....very good story....moral

Altruism vs Egoism

[esteban1747 · 6/10 · 7 October 2003]

This is the second film starred by the duo Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. In the first one (the western Broken Lance, 1954), Tracy acted as the Wagner's father while now in this drama Tracy is Wagner's eldest brother, and also the man who raised Chris Teller (Wagner) in his childhood. So two brothers, who should have the same ideas and ethics in their lives, but paradoxically it was not like that. Chris was a young man very ambitious, able to kill for money while his eldest brother was a hard working man unable to do harm to anyone. A plane coming from Calcutta felt down in a high mountain called Montecarlo in France. The people of the neighboring village organized an unsuccessful rescue. At this point, Chris, knowing that in the plane there were plenty of money and that his brother was the only one able to climb the mountain, decided to compel his brother Zachary (Tracy) to go for rescue. After some arguing and discussion Zachary agreed to do that, for this they have to walk long and difficult ways always guided by experienced Zachary. When they finally reached the plane, they found an Indian lady still alive, and Zachary decided to help her to survive. but Chris wanted to get the money and to kill her. This situation compelled Zachary to beat Chris and to leave him alone, taking the lady with himself to save her. The fact is that Chris alone could not manage and died falling down, but Zachary succeeded back with the lady. When asked about all what happened Zachary said that his brother Chris did everything possible to save the lady and he (Zachary) was who planned to take the money in the plane. He lied but everybody in the village knowing the kind man he was, never believed him. One of the things that I cannot easily accept is the egoism of Chris. If he was raised by his brother, he should have loved him and also should have had the same ethic values as Zachary. This seems to me a bit incoherent in the plot and from the original novel. Everyone is a product of the environment where he/she was raised and lived.

Good and Evil Meet on a Mountain Top

[snicewanger · 6/10 · 16 August 2018]

The title summits up this film The mountain itself is the real star of this film Great cinematography and breath taking special affects during climbing sequences. But they are not enough to offset a terrible script and really inept casting decisions. Quite frankly it's Spenser Tracey's worst acting job. He hated doing the role and stayed drunk for most of the shoot and it shows.He even broke a wine bottle on Bob Wagner's hand in a drunken rage which required stitches to close Tracey and Wagner as brothers was just beyond movie goers suspension of disbelief. Tracey overdoes the humbler mountain climber turned sheppard and turns him in to a caricature.Wagner actually is better. He was trying to break his All American Boy Next Door image. He starts out as sky instructor/gigolo desperate to get and when the plan crashes on the mountain he see a chance to Finally get the money to fund his escape.He really comes through in the finale confrontation. If you can just watch the assent and descent sequences you will appreciate the movie. It's when they are on thee ground that the story comes apart.

Never Betray Your Brother

[jromanbaker · 7/10 · 3 March 2024]

This is an uneven film, but worth seeing with all its faults. Filmed partly on location the mountain itself is Mont Blanc, and in a village near to Chamonix. Two brothers live there and one is an elderly looking Spencer Tracy and the other played by Robert Wagner. Based on a French novel everyone speaks English, and Wagner's surly, thick American accent jars. Only Claire Trevor looks and sounds as if she lives there, but her part is so small ( she is in love with Tracy ) that I commend her for taking the role. Most of the action takes place to reach the plane that has crashed there, apparently killing all of the passengers. No spoilers but the film really comes alive during the last half hour of the film, and a lot of the time is spent bickering between the two brothers who go on a search party of their own to reach the crash. The message and I think there is one is that even if one brother behaves abominably badly the other brother will not betray him. This message must have been apparent during the troubled Hollywood years of the 1950's. Beautifully filmed and well directed, the mountain is the star along with the performance of Spencer Tracy.

another great great movie

[john22900-725-426519 · 9/10 · 29 April 2010]

Although some criticisms of this movie seem fair on the surface such as the vast age difference between the two brothers portrayed by Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner, most of the criticisms even as fair as they may be fall by the wayside when you start watching the film. This is basically a tale of two brothers, one good and one evil. The story just sucks you in to it and the characters and it doesn't let go even if the characters are much too simply drawn.

The whole thing starts when a plane crashes on top of an Alpine peak.

SPOILER ALERT! The first rescue attempt fails and ends in disaster. But then Wagner coerces his older brother Tracy into taking him up the mountain in order to rob the passengers of their money and jewelry. Tracy at first refuses these demands from Wagner until Wagner turns completely nasty to get his way.

The climbing sequences are especially well done and certainly among the best mountain climbing sequences ever filmed.

I certainly appreciated the high moral tone the film took in showing the stark difference between good and evil. Few films ever do that especially the modern ones which is one reason why I much prefer older films and classic films made during the golden age of Hollywood.

Picking the pockets of the dead.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 19 August 2013]

The Mountain is directed by Edward Dmytryk and adapted to screenplay by Ranald MacDougall from the novel written by Henry Troyat. It stars Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Claire Trevor, William Demarest, Barbara Darrow, Richard Arlen, E.G. Marshall and Anna Kashfi. A VistaVision/Technicolor production with music by Danielle Amfitheatrot and cinematography by Franz F. Planer.

Greedy Chris Teller (Wagner) pressures his older brother, Zachary (Tracy) a retired climber, to escort him on a treacherous climb up Bald Mountain to loot the bodies of victims of a recently crashed airliner.

ATTACHEZ VOS CEINTURES!

Two brothers, one old, wise and saintly, the other young, flashy and despicable, these two characterisations form the basis for Edward Dmytryk's The Mountain. After the picture opens with the plane crash, which is rather well done, characters are introduced and we are left in no doubt about who is good and evil here. The mountain of the title is a constant looming presence overlooking the town, and soon enough the two very different brothers are undertaking a perilous climb up said mountain for very different reasons.

The VistaVision/Technicolor photography is often sublime, the Mont-Blanc locale in France beautifully realised, and Dymtryk wrings out great suspense as the ascent for the two lads proves dangerously arduous. Then there's a turn of events that changes things, and then another, until we get to the finale where the moral is laid on heavy and the picture smugly clocks out. It's real safe and enjoyable entertainment, even if the casting of Tracy and Wagner as brothers (with 30 years between them) is most odd (why not write it as a more believable father and son axis for the film?). While some cheap studio shots seep into the production to dampen the awe built up elsewhere.

Hard to dislike in spite of some flaws, and a must for mountaineer types and fans of the effortless acting style of Tracy. 7/10

Excellent performances in a beautifully done film!

[jimbo-142 · 10/10 · 6 October 1999]

If you're looking for a slam-bang action film, look elsewhere. If you want a suspenseful and engrossing drama with solid characters, then look no further. "THE MOUNTAIN" is a first-class motion picture. Spencer Tracy is superb. Robert Wagner is wonderful. The cinematography is first-rate, as is the musical score and all other technical aspects of the film. If you've never seen "THE MOUNTAIN", rent it tonight.

An OK movie in 2012, probably more sensational in 1956

[WatchedAllMovies · 6/10 · 1 April 2012]

I watched this old movie on DVD in 2012.

A plane crashed on a mountain in the winter. It was too hard to climb so rescue attempt was halted. A man who lived nearby came up with the idea to climb the mountain to the crash site to rob the plane. His brother happened to be a retired rock climber, so he made him go along to help. When they reached the crash site, they found a surviver and things changed.

The story is OK, not terribly exciting, but interesting enough that I watched it to the end. The main attraction is the rock climbing scenes. Many are done on a prop mountain with a mountain scene projected in the background. Sometimes you can see the prop moves against the background. But not bad for a 1956 effect.

When the man suffers a rope burn trying to brake his brother's fall, it's because he wasn't using the rope correctly. So if this is to elicit sympathy for the rock climber, it didn't. It only showed he was not a good rock climber.

BTW it's interesting to see the climbing gear in 1956 era. There's no harness or cams. Otherwise it's similar to present time.

Nice scenery

[Ambak · 4/10 · 19 June 2013]

I had hazy memories of this movie from TV screenings many years ago. I remembered it as being pretty good, but having recently watched it again on Blu-ray, it is pretty slow and boring. The casting problem which others have mentioned does grate and Wagner's character seems like an idiot. Robbing a bank would be a lot less risky if he was bent on a life of crime. Nobody attempts an authentic accent but Tracy compensates by speaking veeeery slowly and was clearly in no condition to climb a flight of stairs, never mind a mountain. The VistaVision photography is good and the juxtaposition of location and studio footage is well handled but it's all a bit predictable.