Track in the mountains

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Movie
German title Track in the mountains
Original title Track of the Cat
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1954
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director William A. Wellman
script AI Bezzerides
production Robert Fellows ,
John Wayne
music Roy Webb
camera William H. Clothier
cut Fred MacDowell
occupation

Trail in the Mountains is an American western directed by William A. Wellman from 1954. It is based on the 1949 novel Track of the Cat by Walter Van Tilburg Clark .

action

The dysfunctional Bridges family lived in seclusion around 1900, far from civilization, on their ranch in Northern California . The old father, a former scholar, has degenerated into an alcoholic; the bigoted mother is a Christian fundamentalist and has fallen out with her husband. The couple have three sons: the responsible older son Arthur, who struggles to keep the family peaceful; as middle son the reckless and brutal Curt, who takes care of the ranch with a hard hand; and as the youngest son the shy Harold, whose fiancée Gwen Williams is visiting the ranch. The only daughter of the family is the old maid Grace, who ekes out a sad existence. In addition, the ancient Joe Sam, a former Paiute chief, still lives as a helper on the ranch . It is also Joe Sam who discovers that a mysterious big cat in the mountains - which has occasionally grazed the area for many years - has returned with the snow and is now killing the family's cattle. The big cat had killed Joe Sam's last member of the family many years ago.

Curt makes fun of Gwen because he sees her as a threat. The fearful Harold endures this in silence, which in turn causes resentment with his fiancée, who demands more self-confidence from him. When Arthur suggests that the ranch be redesigned so that Harold can manage part of it and thus start his own family, Curt rejects it immediately. Arthur and Curt later go in search of the wild cat, but Arthur is killed by the cat while Curt is getting snowshoes and new food for the further hunt on the farm. When Curt discovers the dead body of his brother, he grimly sets off on the hunt for the wildcat alone while he sends the horse home with Arthur's dead body. There is more trouble there when Ma Bridges sees Harold and Gwen kissing. Pa accuses his wife, drunk, of always opposing love. Harold and Gwen want to leave, but his mother persuades him to stay until Arthur's funeral.

Curt spends the night in a ravine, but discovers that all the provisions are in his red coat that he had sent home on horseback with Arthur. Hungry Curt goes mad as he reads from a book of poetry by John Keats . After Arthur's funeral, Gwen and Harold really want to leave, but Ma can persuade her son to stay again. He should build a big fire to show Curt the way home. To Gwen's annoyance, Harold actually stays and lights a fire. Curt, now insane, sees the fire and tries to follow it, but falls to his death over a cliff. After three more days of searching, Harold and Joe Sam go in search of Curt, although his absence has brought peace to the family. Ma regrets that she always incited Curt against the family and that Curt is now dying sinfully. She also apologizes for leading her family from civilization to the barren, hostile landscape for religious reasons.

Using Joe Sam's knowledge, Harold finds his brother's body on the cliff. The wildcat suddenly appears, but Harold is able to shoot it. Harold and Joe Sam return home, where a now decimated but united after the crises family is waiting.

background

Director William A. Wellman shot this experimental western in color, "but left the winter scenery predominantly in black and white, so that the red jacket of the main character as well as other targeted splashes of color stand out in a contrapuntal way ." Wellman had long planned to create a To make “ black and white film in color”, as he himself called it. In 1943 Wellman had already filmed a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark with Ritt zum Ox-Bow with Henry Fonda in the lead role. As with Ritt zum Ox-Bow , the dark plot of Track of a Cat was not very promising for Hollywood producers from a commercial point of view, which is why Wellman had to look for funding for a long time. The film was ultimately produced by the film production company Batjac Productions founded by John Wayne, and Track of the Cat was then distributed in cinemas by Warner Brothers .

Wellman shot the exterior scenes on Mount Rainier in Washington State . Lead actor Mitchum later described the filming as the toughest of his entire film career. Former child star Carl Switzer, known for his role as "Alfalfa" with the little thugs , was cast as the very old Indian Joe Sam - although he had no Indian ancestors and was only 26 years old at the time of filming.

The film premiered on November 27, 1954 in the United States. In Germany, the film was first broadcast on December 13, 1997 on ZDF . In the German dubbed version, Robert Mitchum is voiced by Oliver Stritzel .

Reviews

Bosley Crowther gave the film mixed reviews in the New York Times on December 2, 1954. While he praised the actors, Wellman's film is mostly a “heavy and awkward travesty of a deep matriarchal western or melodrama with Greek undertones.” The film offers a beautiful snow backdrop and offers a lot of dialogues about profound things, but offers “no psychological path, none dramatic point ”. Among the current critics, however, Dennis Schwartz wrote very positively of the film that it was "a brilliantly realized, demanding, dark, brooding Western". Schwartz wrote about the use of color in the film: "The unforgettable appearance was very effective in charging the film with the sexual energy present in the subtext," and it also gives the film an aura of mystery. It's one of "those overlooked great films that somehow got under the radar, in this case probably because it's so unique as a western."

The television magazine Prisma wrote about Robert Mitchum that he was showing a “brilliant achievement” in the lead role of Curt: “Trail in the mountains is one of his lesser-known works. His performance is no less impressive. (...) Last but not least, its intense play gives the gloomy family saga its oppressive atmospheric density. ”The lexicon of the international film judged:“ A bizarre cinematic experiment, at the same time a dark psychological western about obsession with power and bigotry, staged a bit clumsy in places, but credibly told and played excellently. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Trail in the mountains at two thousand and one
  2. ^ Lee Server, Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care," St. Martin's Press, 2001, p. 259.
  3. ^ Trail in the mountains at two thousand and one
  4. ↑ Trace in the mountains with the German synchronous file
  5. ^ Trail in the Mountains at the New York Times
  6. ↑ Track of the Cat with Dennis Schwartz
  7. ↑ Trail in the mountains near Prisma
  8. ^ Trail in the mountains at two thousand and one