Fight for the Matterhorn

Ninety years on, mountaineers rather than mountains remain the true focus of interest in movies claiming to be about mountains, as the recent 'Mountain' (2017) attests.

Despite the beautiful shots of mountains and even more beautiful shots of clouds liberally sprinkled throughout the movie, 'Der Kampf ums Matterhorn' devotes more time to the petulent face of Luis Trenker as Jean-Antoine Carrel than to the mountains which he treats as enemies to be conquered - along with rival mountaineers like Edward Whymper - rather than sources of wonder and beauty (when Wymper & Carrel finally reach the summit of the Matterhorn, the camera concentrates on them rather than on the incredible view that their expedition are the first men ever to see).

The following year the brief but vivid scenes of Trenker skiing at night through the ice carrying a torch would be exploited to far greater effect - and at the service of a much stronger story - in 'Die Weisse Holle von Piz Paulu'.