ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[MaineWriter]

Talk about a mountain movie!

[Fran]

From Amazon:

For Your Eyes Only is showing its age a bit now. At the time a hugely welcome return to basics after the leaden FX spectacle of Moonraker (the second remake of You Only Live Twice in a row for the series), it still holds up as one of the best of Roger Moore's Bonds, but its faults are much more apparent than they once were. Among them is the tendency to undercut everything with unfunny little jokes (a scoreboard keeping count of thugs Bond knocks out, Bond giving a bemused royal wave to pursuing thugs, and a horrendous cameo from a Maggie Thatcher lookalike in the end), some flat studio work (no disguising the fact that the mountaintop Greek monastery is just a Pinewood set), a dated Bill Conti score and a comic relief nympho nymphet Lynn Holly Johnson constantly throwing herself at a disinterested Bond. Luckily, the pluses more than compensate -- a stronger plot than usual for the Moore efforts, at least one cold-blooded murder, and a very welcome absence of gadgets until the postscript that ensures that Bond has to extricate himself with his own wits in some pretty good setpieces. Best among them is a mountaineering sequence where he uses his bootlaces - not steel bootlaces, just common bootlaces - to save himself in an old mountaineers' trick.

[Ellemeno]

Keep in mind this was 1918:



Tagline - The crowning triumph of the motion picture.  These giant monsters of the past are seen to breathe. To live again. To move and battle as they did at dawn of life.

Plot Outline - In a dream Uncle Jack looks through a magic telescope owned by the ghost of a hermit and sees what life was like millions of years ago, including a battle between prehistoric monsters.

Here's a long review of it: http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewse-g/ghostofslumbermountain.htm

[southendmd]

AKA "Alpine Fire"

IMDb: "Hoehenfeuer" intimately shows the powerful and sad story of a family in the Swiss alps, living far from the next village, and its deaf son who not only feels trapped in his lack of hearing but also in the narrow-minded context of the family.

Its beautiful camera shows the alps how they really are (or at least were): the old snow, the sleeping trees, the cold, wet air, the hard life.

The film is gnarled like the old trees standing there and looking at what these poor people do, how the story inevitably goes where it has to go.

[MaineWriter]

Lots of zipping around the Italian Alps, when they aren't zipping around Torino.

[oilgun]

From IMDb: An American soldier goes west to escape the Mexican War and becomes a mountain man. He is taken in by an old trapper who teaches him how to survive. After unavoidably violating an Indian burial ground, he loses his new Indian wife and their adopted child to vengeance, and a vendetta between him and the Crows ruins his idyllic life as a fur trapper. Gorgeous scenery and a great role for Will Geer in a thoughtful meditation on the American West.

[southendmd]

Hmm, "K2" was already played.  So, I found this Norwegian film.  And this tiny little picture.  No idea what the film is about, but "mountain" is a listed keyword.

Here's the plot summary:  (Mikaela, help!)

IMDb:  På en gønn øy i havgapet bor en gruppe mennesker. I sitt enkle jordnære miljø lever de i harmoni med seg selv og hverandre. Et lite samfunn i balanse, tilsynelatende. En fremmed kommer til øya, og brått ødelegges likevekten. Som en orkan rammer ulykken det lille samfunnet. I løpet av noen korte, dramatiske timer av fortettet vold forandres øyfolkets tilværelse. Et drap utløser angst, hat og massepsykose, og skjulte krefter slippes løs.

[MaineWriter]

A musical remake of the 1937 classic which by the reviews I read, falls into the "so bad it's funny" genre. But they are still in the Himalayas!



Somebody out there loves this movie, and actually created a website for it!

http://www.losthorizon.org/1973/index.htm

[Fran]

From Palmarejo Films:

Synopsis: "My Backyard Was A Mountain" is the story of Adan, a Puerto Rican boy who has one day to find a home for his pet goat, Chivo, before his family relocates to New York City in the late 1950’s. While searching for a new owner for Chivo, Adan discovers the promise of first love with his childhood friend, Denise, whom he will also have to leave behind.



From IMDb:

"My Back Yard Was A Mountain" is a wonderful, beautiful film. Twenty-four emotional minutes that go by so quickly the film feels as though it is only five minutes in length.

The music is perfect, not intrusive in the least, yet as important to the narrative as the character's themselves. The acting is accomplished, and I was particularly impressed by Leily Sanchez as the young girl who etches herself in the memory of the young boy, a memory that will remain with the boy who becomes a man for another 40 years.

The directing is confident, intelligent, thoughtful, and the story a pure joy to watch; as powerful and emotional as I have seen in a short film to date. "Is this really a student film?" was my question after seeing the film for the first time. I have now seen the film three times and will see it again.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffsnKDa89A[/youtube]
Trailer: 1:30

[southendmd]

AKA "Postmen in the Mountains"
(an IMDb user states the literal translation is "Those Mountains, Those People, That Dog")

IMDb:  An old postman has spent his whole life delivering mail to the mountain of Hunan and is about to retire. His only son is due to take over his duties. As father and son journey through the mountains, the son begins to appreciate the toil and burden his father has to bear as postman for the villagers, and the old postman is also deeply moved as his son relates his mother's anxiety as she waits for him to return home from every trip.