“The Mountain”

The peak of Mont Blanc, in “The Mountain,” is a killer. It has claimed the lives of climbers and air travelers; it threatens the lives of the brothers portrayed by Spencer Tracy and Bob Wagner. Through the Paramount movie, filmed in VistaVision and Technicolor in the French Alps, you feel that you yourself are facing the terrors of its looming cliffs and crags. But the suspense of the story goes deeper than physical action. Teamed earlier in the highly successful “Broken Lance,” Tracy and Wagner are here locked in an: emotional conflict as loaded with potential disaster as their ascent of the mountain. And you find yourself as deeply involved in this battle between human goodness and human meanness as in the clash of man against nature

On location above Chamonix, France, Robert Wagner and Spencer Tracy were given careful coaching by expert climbers, so that their breathtaking film assault on the mountain would look convincing in close-up

The feat they undertake in The Mountain is no mere athletic stunt. It is a vital mission. But each of the two men is driven by a different motive, and the collision between their aims results in powerful drama

On the map, Tracy marks far-off India. From there came the airliner that has now crashed in the Alps

Bob and Spencer make the hazardous climb upon the urging of the younger man—who is greedy for loot

Unexpectedly, they find a survivor, a badly hurt Hindu lady (Anna Kashfi). Spencer dedicates himself to the task of saving her life. If he succeeds, Wagner’s robbery will eventually be exposed

 

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 1956