A Maldição da Montanha

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 .

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...

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.

This is just one of those movies that never gets old. I love the movie Spencer Tracy is one of the best actors of all time. They just don't make them like him anymore. The action and the drama is top of the line. Go out and Rent this or watch it when it shows up on AMC or TCM or on your local TV station at 2 am when ever you get the chance. You will not be disappointed. This is one of those movies that could never be remade in todays Market. Just who could replace Spencer Tracy or even Rober Wagner. I don't know what else to say about a movie in which climbing a Mountain could keep you interested for 90 minutes. Just the bond between the Brothers is such a great story Enjoy the movie.

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.