Grab a coat and pickax because we are heading to the Swiss Alps for this next film. The last film of the 1950s, we get to see the mountain that would inspire one of my personal favorite Disneyland attractions: the Matterhorn (called the Citadel in this picture). For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
In 1865, Rudi Matt wants to be a mountain guide like his father, the late legendary guide Joseph Matt, but his mother and uncle refuse. He gets his opportunity after saving the famous English climber, Captain John Winter, who allows Rudi to join him, Rudi’s uncle and a guide from another village to scale the Citadel, an unconquered mountain. Rudi believes that his father had discovered a path to the summit and is able to find that route. As the climbers move higher towards their goal, Rudi faces a hard decision in his effort to reach the summit. Includes a town dance, a rock slide and a lot of broken dishes.
What works
- Every mountain climb was a trip, if only for the fact that they weren’t carrying any modern day safety tools, so really it was just ropes and pick axes and their nice looking suits (not Armani-level nice, but still nice). Okay, honestly the mountain climbs (minus the one with Lizbeth) were my favorite parts of the film. They did more to add to the conflict and tension of the film than anything else.
- the last 20 minutes, essentially the main trip up the mountain, just made the whole movie. By that time, I was fully invested in the success of the climbers and in seeing their journey through.
What may or may not work
- Like in Darby O’Gill, the first 45 minutes to the first hour were really slow. Granted, it is a film about a mountain and they don’t move very fast (if at all). A lot of slow-moving action to the point that I really, really, really wanted to skip forward. I didn’t, because of the rules of the project, but that left me only feeling like I was trapped. Thankfully it picked up towards the end, but still, it could have picked up a hair sooner and I would have been better off.
Honorable Mentions
- I’m really loving that this is set during the era of mountain climbers with sports coats.
- When Teo asks Lizbeth if she wants to continue climbing on, she says “Course!” with her face immediately revealing the truth after (aka my kind of face before and after a workout)
- Teo has this great speech where he calls out all of the other guides in the town for being afraid to climb the Citadel after Josef Matt’s death. It’s one of those moments when I
Side Questions
- What do people do in that town when there aren’t people to guide up mountains? I mean, there are people doing other jobs like working in kitchens, inns, pubs, what-have-you, but still, most of the men seem to be “guides” and as most of them refuse to climb the Citadel, what do they do otherwise?
What I learned from watching this film
- I loved the ending. The ending made the slowness of the overall film worth ALL the things. Rather than having this cookie-cutter ending, where Rudi stands on the summit (mirroring the opening dream-scene), having proved that he was in fact a true mountain guide, Rudi does not in fact make it to the summit at all. To me, it made Rudi a much more realistic character, someone that I could see walking on the streets versus someone who could only exist in the movies. He could always climb again but having him experience that choice to turn away from the summit (to save the life of another guide) gave him more character growth than actually reaching the summit would have.
If you’ve seen Third Man on the Mountain, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with Darby O’Gill and the Little People
Fast Forward to the next film with Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus
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