Third Man on the Mountain

 Third Man on the Mountain is the story of a teenager trying to conquer the mountain that killed his father. Just think of it as a revenge movie! Except you can't kill a mountain....or can you? This movie is the fifth movie that Disney made in England, the others being Robin Hood, Treasure Island, The Sword and the Rose, and Rob Roy. The film is based off of the 1954 novel Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. The book details the real life first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. While the main character in this film is entirely fictional, and thus is not in Banner in the Sky, the character of Captain John Winters is based off of real mountain climber Edward Whymper. The book's rights were bought fairly quickly by Disney in 1957. Disney reunited with Ken Annakin, who had directed Robin Hood and The Sword and the Rose, to direct Third Man on the Mountain. For the lead, they went with James MacArthur, who was shaping up to be their new, young leading man. David Niven was signed on to play Captain John Winter, but had to drop out, which made room for Michael Rennie. Rennie is perhaps best known for his role in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Janet Munro, fresh off her first role for Disney in Darby O'Gill and the Little People, plays Lizbeth, the love interest for MacArthur's Rudi. I've only seen Munro in Darby, so it was fun seeing her in another film. My favorite character in the film is Franz Lerner, who is Rudi's uncle and takes over as his father figure. Lerner is played by James Donald, who had roles in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Great Escape. I think I just like James Donald as an actor, though in this movie he plays the strict uncle, so he's not the most sympathetic of characters. 

The story follows young Rudi Matt, an 18 year old who loves to climb mountains like his dad. He lives in the village of Kurtal in Switzerland, where many people come to climb the mountains for fun. One of the most lucrative jobs in the area is as a guide for those willing to brave the mountains. Rudi's father, Josef Matt, was an expert mountain climber and guide. The Citadel is the highest and most dangerous peak in the region and no one has been able to scale it yet. Josef was the last person to die trying to get to the top of the Citadel, saving the group that he had led up the mountain. The rumor in the village is that Josef had found a secret passage to get to the top of the Citadel the day he died. Rudi dreams of being a mountain guide like his father, but his Uncle Franz is too afraid that Rudi will get himself killed going up there. Franz is himself a mountain guide and knows how easy it is to make a simple mistake and fall to your death. Franz helps raise Rudi with Rudi's mother after Josef died on the mountain. Franz tries to keep Rudi from becoming a guide by giving him more menial jobs to do in the village, like being a dishwasher for Herr Hempel, who runs a local hotel. Hempel's daughter Lizbeth likes Rudi and often spends time in the kitchen talking to him. Rudi often sneaks out of the kitchen so he can climb the smaller mountains. One day, while he is supposed to be washing dishes, he goes on one of the mountain passes and runs into a climber stuck in a crevasse. Rudi saves the man, who ends up being the famed mountain climber Captain John Winter. Winter thanks Rudi and tells him that his aspiration is to find the secret path up to the the top of the Citadel. Once they get back to town, Winter hires Franz to be his guide up the mountain and convinces Franz to let Rudi come as a porter. Winter buys Rudi all new mountain climbing equipment and all seems too good to be true. The three men journey up the mountain and all is going well until Franz learns the real reason Winter wants to go up the mountain is to get a better look at the Citadel. Franz calls it an evil place and refuses to discuss a route up. Rudi tries to look for a better way up the mountain and ends up getting himself stuck, causing the other two men to risk their lives trying to save him. Rudi is shamed for his carelessness and the men travel back to Kurtal. Once they get back, Winter leaves the town and Franz sells Rudi's new gear. Lizbeth buys the new boots from Franz and saves them for Rudi. Teo, Josef's old climbing buddy, decides to teach Rudi how to properly climb mountains. Rudi goes to his uncle to ask to be his porter, but is publicly humiliated by him. 

The townspeople soon begin talking about two men seen climbing high up on the mountain. They look through a telescope and see it is Winter, along with Emil Saxo, a guide from a rival tourist town. The next day, Teo looks into the telescope and sees three men now and deduces that the third man is Rudi, who has snuck off after being rejected by his uncle. He convinces four men, including Franz, to go up the mountain to retrieve Rudi. Rudi catches up with Winter and Emil and tells them that he has permission from Franz to be up there. They continue until Winter suffers a head injury from a rock slide. Winter tells Rudi to go back and get Franz. He is about to go but instead seeks out the secret passage to the Citadel. In the meantime, Franz and the group, including Teo, find Winter and Emil. They are about to go search for Rudi, but Rudi comes back at that moment saying that he found the passage. Franz insists on taking Rudi back down the mountain, but Teo convinces him that Rudi has earned the chance to climb up the rest of the way. Winter, Franz, Emil, and Rudi all climb up the mountain. Winter begins to have a fever so Franz stays with him while Emil continues upward. Rudi sneaks away to be with Emil and all seems well until Emil falls and breaks his arm. Though Emil urges Rudi to continue without him, Rudi starts to carry the man back down to the camp. Winter and Franz discover the two men are missing and set out to find them. They find Rudi's abandoned pack and Winter takes it with him. Rudi is able to get Emil back to camp and thanks to Rudi's shortcut, Winter and Franz make it to the top of the Citadel. The four men return to Kurtal to a hero's welcome. Winter reveals to Rudi that he planted Rudi's flag at the top of the mountain, causing the whole village to cheer. Lizbeth kisses Rudi and they all live happily ever after. 

They filmed the movie at the Matterhorn in Switzerland, and as you can imagine the filming process was not always easy. The entire cast and crew had to take a basic mountaineering class, all 170 of them. James Donald ended up falling off a crag but luckily escaped with minor injuries. A crew member was not as lucky and broke three ribs when he fell into a crevasse. MacArthur enjoyed being in Switzerland and would climb the Matterhorn when he had a day off. Disney productions would later detail the difficulty of making a film partly on a mountain in the Walt Disney Presents episode, "Perilous Assignments." While the film hasn't stayed in the public consciousness, the movie did inspire something that is very well-known to Disneyland patrons. While Walt was in visiting Switzerland for the filming of Third Man on the Mountain he became so impressed by the beauty of the real Matterhorn that he grabbed a postcard and sent it back to WED Enterprises (what Disney Imagineering used to be called) asking them to build this ride for him. This actually solved a problem Disney was having in Disneyland, as there was a hill that was made from the excavated dirt from Sleeping Beauty's castle that Disney had called Holiday Hill. While Disney had encouraged people to use the hill for picnicking, horny teens had instead turned it into a lover's lane, much to Disney's despair. He had wanted to put a tobaggon ride in the park, and he finally was able to combine this idea with the real Matterhorn and the newer models of rollercoasters called wild-mouse. While the ride was definitely inspired by the real Matterhorn and Third Man on the Mountain, it is not a ride based off of the movie. Unless there's a part in this movie where Rudi gets chased down the mountain by a yeti and I completely forgot about it. 

The movie premiered on November 10th, 1959 and it received mixed reviews. Some reviewers did not the overall cloying sentimentality, while others complained about the overacting from much of the cast. Something that all the reviewers had to agree on was that it was a marvel to watch, as it was a very beautiful film. This is definitely not a film that would have been perceived as well if it had been filmed on a soundstage. The movie did not end up making back its budget, only grossing $1.7 million against a $2 million budget. It's really too bad that this movie has been almost completely forgotten. It's got some great action sequences and it really does put you on edge watching them traverse the mountain. I found James MacArthur, Michael Rennie, and James Donald to have really great performances throughout, with MacArthur doing a better job than he did in The Light in the Forest. Unfortunately this is one of those movies that is not on Disney Plus so it's a bit harder to find. I was able to find it at library on VHS, so that was a fun viewing experience. Hopefully once the movie is more readily available it might get the recognition it deserves.