The Challenge

The Challenge

The Matterhorn Claimed More Than Their Lives

1938 · 76 min · ★ 6.3 · Romance, Adventure, History, 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 Der Berg Ruft, shot the same year in German.

Directed by Luis Trenker · Written by Emeric Pressburger

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Cast

Robert Douglas Edward Whymper
Luis Trenker Jean Antoine Carrel
Joan Gardner Felicitas - His Daughter
Frank Birch Rev. Charles Hudson
Geoffrey Wardwell Lord Francis Douglas
Moran Caplat Hadow
Lyonel Watts Morris - Publisher
Mary Clare His Mother
Fred Groves Favre
Laurence Baskcomb The Podesta - Mayor
Ralph Truman Giordano
Reginald Jarman Minister Sella

Make it a double feature

2h 37m together

The Challenge

The Doomed Battalion

Both from Luis Trenker.

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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.

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The Doomed Battalion · 1932

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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.

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