The Mountain Calls

The Mountain Calls

Feature film about the tragic first ascent of the Matterhorn 1865

1938 · 95 min · ★ 7.1 · Drama

During an early, unsuccessful attempt at climbing the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper finds himself rescued by an italian guide, Jean Antoine Carrel. The two men quickly build a friendship and agree to reach the peak together. However, local villagers ploto to divide the alliance of Whymper and Carrel and both men join rival teams as they set out in a race to conquer the mountain. A mountaineering drama based on the novel by Carl Haensel and inspired in the dramatic true story of Edward Whymper, who led the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. There is another version of the film titled The Challenge, shot the same year in English.

Directed by Luis Trenker · Written by Richard Billinger

Your Rating

Cast

Luis Trenker Jean-Antoine Carrel
Herbert Dirmoser Edward Whymper
Heidemarie Hatheyer Felicitas
Peter Elsholtz Giordano
Lucie Höflich Mother Carrel
Blandine Ebinger Miss Sweaton
Lotte Spira Mrs. Seiler
Maria Koppenhöfer Mrs. Croz
Ernst Legal Amtsrichter
Walter Franck Staatsanwalt
Erich Ziegel Verteidiger
Erich Dunskus Mailli

Make it a double feature

2h 56m together

The Mountain Calls

The Doomed Battalion

Both from Luis Trenker.

More from Luis TrenkerSee all →

The Burning Mountains

The Burning Mountains · 1931

The Burning Mountains

Shortly before the First World War, an Italian and an Austrian mountain guides take part in a mountaineering expedition together. Not long afterwards they find themselves fighting on different sides in the same area in the Dolomites, fighting to conquer the same high pass (Col Alto). When the war is over, they meet again. Their friendship has survived the war. There are two other versions of the film. The original was shot in German the same year (Berge in Flammen). The other, shot in English the year after, was produced by the American Universal Pictures (The Doomed Battalion). Both uses scenes from the original German version.

The Doomed Battalion

The Doomed Battalion · 1932

The Doomed Battalion

Shortly before the First World War, an Italian and an Austrian mountain guides take part in a mountaineering expedition together. Not long afterwards they find themselves fighting on different sides in the same area in the Dolomites, fighting to conquer the same high pass (Col Alto). When the war is over, they meet again. Their friendship has survived the war. American version of the film Berge in Flammen. It uses some scenes from the original German-French version. There is a third version of the film titled Les Monts en Flammes, shot the same year in French.

The Knights of the Mountain

The Knights of the Mountain · 1930

The Knights of the Mountain

MovieMysteryRomance

The mountain guide and ski instructor Hans Turri has been hired by the tourist Gregory Milacz to make a route in the mountains. Both are caught by a storm, so while Milacz is waiting at the Concordia Hut, Turri returns to the valley again. On the way back, Milacz has disappeared. Suspicions turn against Turri as a murder suspect for the jealousy he might have for the beautiful Mary Dulac. To get rid of the accusation of murder, Turri sets out to find Milacs. French version of the film ‘Der sohn der weissen berge’, shot the same year by the same team but with different actors.

The Fight for the Matterhorn

The Fight for the Matterhorn · 1928

The Fight for the Matterhorn

Struggle for the Matterhorn (German: Der Kampf ums Matterhorn) is a 1928 German-Swiss silent drama film co-directed by Mario Bonnard and Nunzio Malasomma and starring Luis Trenker, Marcella Albani, and Alexandra Schmitt. The film is part of the popular cycle of mountain films of the 1920s and 1930s. Art direction was by Heinrich Richter. Based on a novel by Carl Haensel, the film depicts the battle between British and Italian climbers to be the first to climb the Matterhorn. Trenker later remade the film as The Challenge in 1938.

Mountain of Destiny

Mountain of Destiny · 1924

Mountain of Destiny

After a mountaineer is killed attempting to climb a difficult mountain, his son dreams of conquering the peak that has defeated his father. But his mother makes him promise never to attempt it. Events eventually force her to release him from the promise, and he ascends the mountain successfully.

The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son · 1934

The Prodigal Son

Story of the trials and tribulations of a German who emigrates to the US during the Great Depression.

Luftsprünge

Luftsprünge · 1969

Wetterleuchten um Maria

Wetterleuchten um Maria · 1957

Wetterleuchten um Maria

Baron Siebenzell employs the young forest ranger Thomas Sebald, to stop the bold poachers he's plagued with in his beautiful mountain forests. Most of the men in the village reject and ridicule Thomas because of his job. Nevertheless he falls in love with the mayor's daughter Maria - not knowing, that her father is the poacher's leader.

The Stars Shine

The Stars Shine · 1938

The Stars Shine

German all-star musical from 1938 that was a big commercial success.

The Holy Mountain

The Holy Mountain · 1926

The Holy Mountain

MovieDramaAdventure

In the mountains, Diotima meets Karl and fall in love and have an affair. Karl's friend Vigo mistakenly believes she's in love with him, causing rifts in all relationships.

Mountains on Fire

Mountains on Fire · 1931

Mountains on Fire

Two of Germany's best and busiest directors collaborated on Berge in Flammen (Mountain in Flames). The storyline should be of interest to pro-ecologists, inasmuch as the directors take to task the warmongers of the world for despoiling the natural beauties of the European mountain ranges with their shell-fire. The final outrage occurs during a battle between the Austrians and the Italians in the Dolomites, culminating with the destruction of an entire mountain (hence the film's title). The harrowing images on screen were complemented perfectly by the musical score of Giuseppe Beece. Also known as The Doomed Batallion, Berge in Flammen was filmed in three different languages -- German, English, French -- for a total cost of $150,000.

His Best Friend

His Best Friend · 1962

His Best Friend

The young engineer Peter and his best friend, the mountain guide Anderl, are passionate mountaineers. When Peter falls in love with Clarissa, the girlfriend of his student friend Marius, it leads to a fatal chain of dramatic events. Peter tells Clarissa that he is planning an ascent with Anderl on the dangerous Eiger north face. She does not want him to go, so finally Anderl decides to overcome the mountain alone. Halfway up Anderl has difficulties and Peters come out to help him and to finish the climb together. During the ascent, a storm brings the two men in mortal danger. Marius joins the rescue team, but he is still full of resentment and jealousy towards Peter.

The Challenge

The Challenge · 1938

MovieRomanceAdventure

During an early, unsuccessful attempt at climbing the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper finds himself rescued by an italian guide, Jean Antoine Carrel. The two men quickly build a friendship and agree to reach the peak together. However, local villagers ploto to divide the alliance of Whymper and Carrel and both men join rival teams as they set out in a race to conquer the mountain. A mountaineering drama based on the novel by Carl Haensel and inspired in the dramatic true story of Edward Whymper, who led the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. There is another version of the film titled Der Berg Ruft, shot the same year in German.

Love Letters from the Engadine

Love Letters from the Engadine · 1938

Love Letters from the Engadine

MovieComedyDrama

Constance, the young widow of a wealthy American, gets a love letter from the Engadine region, signed by the famous guide Toni Anewater she had met during a holiday in the previous year. Constanze and her friend Dorothy therefore go to Switzerland for winter sports. But identical love letters to other ladies in London, Paris and Rome have been sent. Toni does not know anything about the letters. Everything seems to be a cunning of the hotel owner to attract tourists.

The Rebel

The Rebel · 1932

MovieDramaHistory

A young medical student returns to his Tyrolean home to find out that Napoleon's troops have taken over the area and that his mother and sister have been murdered.

The Kaiser of California

The Kaiser of California · 1936

The Kaiser of California

MovieDramaWestern

The film follows the life story of Johann Augustus Suter, the owner of Sutter's Mill, famous as the birthplace of the great California Gold Rush of 1848.

More Like This

Children of Paradise

Children of Paradise · 1945

Children of Paradise

MovieDramaRomance

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man · 1980

The Elephant Man

MovieDramaHistory

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.

1984

MovieScience FictionDrama

In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly · 2007

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

MovieDramaHistory

Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum · 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

MovieActionDrama

Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.

Alice in the Cities

Alice in the Cities · 1974

Alice in the Cities

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.

Genius

MovieHistoryDrama

New York in the 1920s. Max Perkins, a literary editor is the first to sign such subsequent literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When a sprawling, chaotic 1,000-page manuscript by an unknown writer falls into his hands, Perkins is convinced he has discovered a literary genius.

Shooting Dogs

Shooting Dogs · 2006

MovieDramaHistory

Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcism of Emily Rose · 2005

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

MovieCrimeDrama

When a young girl called Emily Rose dies, everyone puts blame on the exorcism which was performed on her by Father Moore prior to her death. The priest is arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial begins with lawyer Erin Bruner representing Moore, but it is not going to be easy, as no one wants to believe what Father Moore says is true.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter