andrey k
The film is beautifully shot and acted, technically marvelous as all mountain films are, but I was bored; the film is too long, every scene could be cut in half and it wouldn't lose its appeal. There are so many scenes that just drag for the sake of cinematography and savoring the mountain views. I think only die-hard fans of mountain will appreciate the film's runtime, 2+ hours. As for the actors, they are beyond praise, it's the one and only Leni Riefenstahl and Gustav Diessl known for the film "Westfront 1918". It's because of them and flawless cinematography that I could endure this overly long film.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
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A sunny day in the Mountains - Dr. Johannes Krafft is out mountaineering with his lovely wife and a mountain guide. In his youthful exuberance, he looks up at the mountain that stand before him and laughs.
And like a furious and vengeful Greek God, the mountain strikes him and his life down. As his wife is standing next to a crevasse, peering down into it, an avalanche begins. In the ensuing chaos, the rope which connects her to safety is cut, she falls into the terrible deep, and Johannes clutches the end of the rope with force.
This is a film of primal, operatic power. The plot is threadbare - the entire story could be summarized quickly, with little loss of important events, but the plot is hardly the point of the film. What Pabst and Franck accomplished in their two hour mountain epic was to create a poem of beautiful horror. To combine the elements of wind and water, moving from Winter into Spring, and to express to us, the audience, what a mountain truly means, and to place us firmly in the shoes of those victimized by its terrible beauty. Terrible beauty: a dead man lies sprawled over an ice bridge. As searchers approach, the light shines through the ice, but not through the man's body, crisply showing us the fact of his death in combination with the grace of the piece of ice upon which he rests.
Some of the cinematography present is as beautiful and stirring as anything in cinema itself. The film takes a few moments just to show us the textures of things, cinematically interesting surfaces and movements. There are images, many of them having to do with clouds, that have nothing really to do with the matter of the plot, and yet no single frame ought to be taken away, for they support our experience of entering the world completely and wholely. There is some 'filler', sure. But the film can hardly faulted for not constantly hitting the giddy heights it occasionally reaches. Fanck and Pabst take us to a high realm of cinema, and if they slip a few times, they can hardly be faulted. As this film shows us, climbing is a dangerous occupation.
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It's best to forget that Leni Riefenstahl is the female lead, in order to enjoy the film more purely. And then, afterwards, remember that she must have surely seen the film, and been inspired by it, to some degree.[/size][/font][/size][/font]
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
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Audience Member
good early talkie adventure drama.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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Audience Member
Stunning cinematography, tedious storytelling.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
A Masterpiece of Impressionism-Expressionism The Fight between Man and Mountain Breathtaking Cinematography & Action Bombastic Soundtrack, Brilliant Acting and Leni Riefenstahl is so bewichting
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
While trying to go the distance on Leni Riefenstahl's convincing performance and an abundance of gorgeous winter mountain imagery, Pitz Palu ultimately falls into a crevasse due to a redundancy in the latter. The film does have its moments, namely Riefenstahl showing a restrained aptitude instead of huge heroics and dramatic night rescue footage, but showing the audience similar shots of snowy faces over and over again only bloated the length and made the film feel tedious and repetitive. I think the film could have benefitted from shaving about 25 minutes from its 133 minute runtime. Or perhaps if Leni herself had directed it, the editing would have actually been unique and have provided us with something to chew on for those extra minutes. In the end though I trust that Quentin Tarantino is a good compass regarding film in general and am glad that he pointed me toward (via Inglourious Basterds) what is undoubtedly one of the definitive "mountain" films of the time.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
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