Der Kampf ums Matterhorn

Fight for the Matterhorn

Anton Carrel is a mountain guide in Italy's Breuil and dreams of being the first to reach the top of the Matterhorn. He gets his chance when English climber Edward Whymper hires him as a guide. Carrel agrees although his envious stepbrother convinces him that Whymper has eyes for the Italian's wife. The joint expedition fails, but Carrel saves the Englishman's life and they go their separate ways as friends. Years later, their fates are once again entwined as they compete to reach the summit. Whymper wins the race, but on July 14, 1865, on the way down, four members of his team fall to their deaths … The film is an Alpine thriller that supplements historical events with a jealousy subplot and a legal coda. Neither the original negative nor a contemporary print, nor the censor’s certificate of the German theatrical release version has survived. The key source materials for the reconstruction were prints of the French and Czech export versions, as well as fragments of a 16 mm print from the 1930s. The missing German title cards were reconstructed using the censor’s certificate of that 16 mm re-release version.

Source: 68. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)