About the death pass
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | About the death pass |
| Original title | The Far Country |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Anthony Mann |
| script | Borden Chase |
| production | Aaron Rosenberg |
| music |
Henry Mancini Frank Skinner |
| camera | William H. Daniels |
| cut | Russell F. Schoengarth |
| occupation | |
| |
About the Death Pass is an American western directed by Anthony Mann from 1954.
action
The film is set in Alaska in 1896 at the time of the legendary Klondike gold rush . Jeff Webster arrives in Skagway town with a herd of cattle from Wyoming . This little wild town is overflowing with gold miners who all want to go to the Klondike River . The city is ruled by the corrupt trader Gannon, who has made himself a judge. Webster's herd of cows accidentally disrupts an execution carried out by Gannon, whereupon the herd is confiscated by Gannon out of sheer arbitrariness. Webster is also said to be executed first. The saloon owner Ronda Castle, who is in a relationship with Gannon, saves him from that. This is where the basis for the competition from Webster and Gannon develops. Webster is hired by Ronda Castle to lead their herd into the rapidly growing Canadian gold rush settlement of Dawson . Before that, however, he takes back his herd of cattle. Gannon swears revenge, but can't do anything because Jeff has already crossed the Canadian border. His long-time friend Ben Tatum and the very young Frenchwoman Renee Vallon, who has fallen in love with Jeff and sees Ronda as a competitor, travel with him and Ronda.
The quickest way to get to Dawson is to cross the mountains on Death Pass . Since Jeff considers this to be too dangerous and instead takes a safer detour, he and Ronda separate for a short time. But when Ronda and her other companions are buried in an avalanche on the Death Pass, Jeff rushes back to rescue her. Arriving in remote Dawson, Jeff can sell his cattle for maximum prices and thus acquire the mining rights for a gold mine. Meanwhile, Ronda opens a successful saloon in Dawson, which rivals the restaurant of the three Dawson-based old-young ladies Hominy, Grits and Molasses. In the following months, Jeff and his partner Ben made a fortune, but at the same time unrest returned to Dawson, which was populated by more and more gold prospectors. Murders become more and more the order of the day, and finally “Judge” Gannon from Skagway appears, who wants to expand his sinister influence on Dawson and is gradually taking away the gold prospectors their acquired land.
Jeff, always insisting on his independence, does not care about these problems; when Dawson's honest citizens want to appoint him sheriff because of the problems, he turns it down. The instead appointed Sheriff Rube Morris cannot stand up to Gannon and his henchmen. The rich Jeff and Ben want to move away instead and settle on a farm in quieter areas. In order to avoid Gannon's revenge, the two want to disappear via a secret river path. But Ben couldn't shut up at the local saloon, and they are ambushed by Gannon's henchmen. Ben dies, the wounded Webster is nursed to health by the women Renee and Ronda, who are still courting him. The recovered Jeff faces Gannon in a duel, but Gannon has arranged an ambush with his henchmen. Ronda takes Jeff's side and warns him of the ambush, but is shot by Gannon. In the final shoot-out, Jeff can finally kill Gannon. Renee, hoping to marry Jeff, and the other villagers congratulate him.
Reviews
"Entertainingly staged westerns in an impressive natural setting. Impressive: James Stewart as a pragmatic, sometimes quick-tempered, sometimes suspicious and vulnerable hero. "
“Mann's heroes (especially James Stewart) are boundless loners. Independence, freedom and independence are the skills to assert oneself ruthlessly and with violence against others. The stories that Anthony Mann tells show the difficulties and torments with which this wild autonomy becomes social responsibility. "
“The most apt thing has already been said: Anthony Mann, so it was said at JH Fenwick in Sight & Sound , feel and use 'the possibilities of a landscape in the same way as a sniper would.' And nowhere can you see that better than in The Far Country , where the vastness of space is less of a promise than a constant threat. One look up into the snow-covered backdrop over the Death Pass - and it is clear that the trek will be buried under an avalanche. No other director has illustrated with such illusion that the conquest of the West is always about exploitation and every glance always means an invisible drawing of boundaries. "
background
- Director Anthony Mann made a film in VistaVision for the first time .
- It was director Anthony Mann's fourth western with James Stewart in the lead role.
literature
- Michael Althen : About the death pass. In: Bernd Kiefer , Norbert Grob (ed.), Marcus Stiglegger (collaboration): Filmgenres. Western (= RUB . No. 18402). Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 186-189 [with references].
Web links
- The Far in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Althen: About the death pass. In: Bernd Kiefer , Norbert Grob (ed.), Marcus Stiglegger (collaboration): Filmgenres. Western (= RUB . No. 18402). Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 186-189, here 186.