The Mountain (1956)

The Mountain
Directed by Edward Dmytryck
Written by Ranald MacDougall from a novel by Henry Troyat
1956/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix

[box] Zachary Teller: You’re sweating! Thinking of the dead men’s money is making you sweat! I blame myself. It’s my fault for you being like this. Somewhere I must have done something wrong for you to be like this.[/box]

Spencer Tracy channels Manuel from Captains Courageous in portraying an ancient mountaineer.  It’s an excellent performance.

Before the credits roll, we see a plane crashing on a mountain peak.

Zachary Teller (Tracy) raised his much younger brother Chris (Robert Wagner) from birth. Zachary used to be a mountain guide but quit when a client was killed on one of his climbs.  He now confines himself to herding sheep.  Chris has grown up to be a spoiled brat and works at a ski resort.  He has had an affair with a wealthy woman.  Her husband disses him by offering him money and calling him “boy”.  He is now obsessed with the need to get money of his own.  It does not occur to him to work for it.

Zachary refuses to guide a search party up the mountain to retrieve mail from the plane. The search party is eventually forced to turn back and decides to wait for better weather.  Chris wants Zachary to guide him on his own mission to retrieve all the valuables of the passengers.  Zachary initially refuses but relents when it becomes clear that Chris will go on his own and perish without him.

The rest of the film follows the arduous and dangerous climb.  With Claire Trevor as Zachary’s lady friend and William Demerest as a priest.

I thought this was one of Tracy’s better performances.  Not only does he portray Zachary with a very touching simplicity but he also is convincing as an experienced mountain climber.  There are many white-knuckle moments in this film with people dangling from ropes and reaching to grab very tenuous hand-holds. It was fun to see Trevor and Demerest after several years without them.   I have a touch of acrophobia but enjoyed the film anyway.

Fan trailer