La neige en deuil

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.