Review of The White Hell of Pitz Palu

Most famous for being a Leni Riefenstahl vehicle (well, actually now probably even more famous as a twice-referenced film in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, which obviously was the impetus for me to rent the film, though I've always wanted to see it), the real star of this picture is the breathtaking photography of Piz Palu, a peak in southeastern Switzerland. There are so many stunning shots, much of the film may be spent with mouth agape, wondering how they accomplished the feat of filming this when they did. Riefenstahl is actually a pretty good second reason to see the movie. I had only ever seen the ancient version of the actor/director, but she was actually quite a stunning beauty in 1929. The story here is okay, but nothing special. Mountain expert Gustav Diessl has been searching the peaks of Piz Palu far and wide to find the body of his long lost wife, whom he lost years earlier during a climb (he assumes she's frozen in the ice somewhere). Riefenstahl and her new fiancé, Ernst Petersen, meet him at a cabin at the base of the mountain. Petersen, afraid that his bride-to-be is more attracted to this ubermensch, decides to second Diessl. Riefenstahl will have none of that and decided to go with them, too. Like a total a-hole, inexperienced Petersen almost gets all three of them killed. This is the second movie of the week (after Jacques Becker's Casque d'or) about a dumb guy who makes a complete idiot of himself for a woman. At least Riefenstahl would be worth it (impending Nazi-ness notwithstanding), but it's not like she ever asked her clearly beloved future husband to prove himself. About half the movie is about the three of them desperately trying to signal rescuers (who are also searching for the corpses of a bunch of other climbers who had a run-in with an avalanche). The major problem with The White Hell of Pitz Palu (I know I keep changing the spelling of "Pitz/Piz", but so does the Kino DVD, which uses "Pitz" on its cover but "Piz" in its intertitles) is that it just drags on and on. Every bit of information that is communicated could probably have been communicated in half the time. I'm all for full, original versions of films, and I definitely would have chosen the 133 minute version given a choice, but I'd bet the 90 minute cut (the silent version, if there is such a thing) is a lot better. Kino has released a whole bunch of these Leni Riefenstahl "Mountain Pictures" (the inspiration for Guy Maddin's Careful), including Tiefland, S.O.S. Iceberg, The Holy Mountain, The Blue Light and Storm Over Mount Blanc.