A Walt Disney Production, released by Buena Vista in the USA: November 1959. New York opening at the Normandie: 11 November 1959. U.K. release through Walt Disney: November 1959. Australian release through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: 17 March 1960. 105 minutes. U.S. TV title: Banner in the Sky.
SYNOPSIS: A juvenile re-make of "The White Tower" which was based on a 1945 novel of the same name by — guess who? — James Ramsey Ullman. The bitterness and astringency of the 1945 novel has been considerably toned down here. The engagingly hard, lead characters, played in the 1950 film by Glenn Ford and Alida Valli, have been translated into porous teenagers, whilst the embittered philosopher (originally enacted by Claude Rains) has been transformed into a slightly physically handicapped but overall unconvincingly comic figure (Laurence Naismith). The less said about the rest of Ullman's self-bowdlerizations, the more you will enjoy "Third Man on the Mountain".
NOTES: Location scenes filmed in Zermatt, Switzerland. Although the story is fictitious, the events closely parallel the first ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper, an Englishman, in 1865. Four members of the expedition were killed after reaching the summit. But the remaining three — including Whymper and a Swiss youth — returned safely. (Available on an excellent Walt Disney DVD).
COMMENT: Despite all the compliments handed out to "Third Man on the Mountain" by contemporary critics, it is possible to justify a few negative comments: Though set in 1865, disappointingly little use is made of the period background; James Macarthur and Janet Munro are hardly convincing as Swiss peasants; but then neither are James Donald or Laurence Naismith; and my final gripe is that the story is both derivative and ridiculously clichéd, whilst the dialogue is often embarrassingly, amateurishly theatrical.
Fortunately, none of these quibbles really matter. All told, they do little to undermine the breathtaking suspense of the mountaineering sequences and the stark beauty of the alpine scenery.
OTHER VIEWS: Comes near being a primer for incipient climbers, and it stays exciting to the end...Like so many Walt Disney productions in this genre, it maintains a 'boy's book' tone... The suspense, which is high, springs from the very authoritativeness of setting and incident. — Paul V. Beckley in The N.Y. Herald Tribune.
SYNOPSIS: A juvenile re-make of "The White Tower" which was based on a 1945 novel of the same name by — guess who? — James Ramsey Ullman. The bitterness and astringency of the 1945 novel has been considerably toned down here. The engagingly hard, lead characters, played in the 1950 film by Glenn Ford and Alida Valli, have been translated into porous teenagers, whilst the embittered philosopher (originally enacted by Claude Rains) has been transformed into a slightly physically handicapped but overall unconvincingly comic figure (Laurence Naismith). The less said about the rest of Ullman's self-bowdlerizations, the more you will enjoy "Third Man on the Mountain".
NOTES: Location scenes filmed in Zermatt, Switzerland. Although the story is fictitious, the events closely parallel the first ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper, an Englishman, in 1865. Four members of the expedition were killed after reaching the summit. But the remaining three — including Whymper and a Swiss youth — returned safely. (Available on an excellent Walt Disney DVD).
COMMENT: Despite all the compliments handed out to "Third Man on the Mountain" by contemporary critics, it is possible to justify a few negative comments: Though set in 1865, disappointingly little use is made of the period background; James Macarthur and Janet Munro are hardly convincing as Swiss peasants; but then neither are James Donald or Laurence Naismith; and my final gripe is that the story is both derivative and ridiculously clichéd, whilst the dialogue is often embarrassingly, amateurishly theatrical.
Fortunately, none of these quibbles really matter. All told, they do little to undermine the breathtaking suspense of the mountaineering sequences and the stark beauty of the alpine scenery.
OTHER VIEWS: Comes near being a primer for incipient climbers, and it stays exciting to the end...Like so many Walt Disney productions in this genre, it maintains a 'boy's book' tone... The suspense, which is high, springs from the very authoritativeness of setting and incident. — Paul V. Beckley in The N.Y. Herald Tribune.