Third Man on the Mountain

When people think of Walt Disney, any number of movies come up. Go ahead. Think of a classic Disney flick. Okay, did you pick one? I bet it was an animated movie, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In the 1950s and 1960s though, Disney backed some of my all-time favorites, many of them live action flicks like The Love Bug, Swiss Family Robinson and of course, the Davy Crockett episodes on TV's Disneyland. Let's give another one a try, 1959's Third Man on the Mountain.

Growing up in the mountain village of Kurtal in Switzerland, Rudi Matt (James MacArthur) has spent his life dreaming of being and doing one thing. He's working in town as a dishwasher at the hotel, but he aspires to be a mountain guide for tourists and climbers who want to explore the nearby mountains. Mountain climbing in his blood though, even if that stigma hangs over his head. Why? When Rudi was just a boy, his father died on an immense, intimidating mountain that towers over the town, the Citadel. No one has ever even made it up the mountain, but Rudi's father and his legend grew. Rudi wants to live up to his famous name and may get a chance when a famous mountain climber, John Winter (Michael Rennie), visits the town with an intention of becoming the first person to ever climb the Citadel. Winter takes a liking to young Rudi and sees the potential. Could the younger climber join him in his dangerous climb?

That Walt Disney fella, he sure knew what he was doing. From his TV shows to movies to marketing to his theme parks, Disney simply knew what audiences wanted. Read more about his Walt Disney Pictures HERE. He didn't pander to any one demographic. These were movies families could watch together where both parents and the children could enjoy them. Director Ken Annakin works with an interesting story with composer William Alwyn turning in a solid score (the duo would work together again a year later on the classic Swiss Family Robinson). I don't put 'Mountain' in classic status because there are some issues, but it's still a solid movie with some really easy to recommend moving pieces.

Quite the familiar face in Disney movies, MacArthur had already starred in The Light in the Forest, starred here in 'Mountain' and would star in two later Disney ventures, 'Swiss Family' and Kidnapped. Just 21 at the time of filming, MacArthur brings that ideal youthful charm to the part. You believe him as a teenager. Considering his background of losing his father at a young age, we're rooting for him to reach all of his goals, to become the mountain climber that his Dad would have been proud of. A young actor who's likable and natural. Go figure, but it works. I've always been a MacArthur fan because of 'Swiss' and TV's Hawaii Five-O, and even at a young age, he shows off that natural on-screen ability. He's got some good scenes with another Disney favorite and Swiss co-star, Janet Munro, and a former mountain guide who he looks up to, Uncle Teo, played by Laurence Naismith.

In casting his films and TV shows, Disney often was able to pick out that ideal actor for the perfect part, often with names you might not think of. Rennie is excellent as famous mountain climber John Winters, a mentor who becomes a sort of father figure to Rudi. Also look for James Donald as Rudi's uncle, Franz, who is worried his nephew will follow in his father's steps and ruin his life with all its dangers. Herbert Lom plays Emil Saxo, a guide from another village with some selfish intentions. Even MacArthur's mom, Helen Hayes, makes a quick appearance as a tourist at the hotel.

Above all else, there's one BIG old reason to watch this Disney flick. It's the mountain scenery with Disney deciding to film on-location in Switzerland in the Alps. The climbing footage shot up on the mountains is absolutely stunning with the Matterhorn serving as the film's Citadel. This movie serves as a prime example of why I love older films. There wasn't any computer-generated images available so the alternative...well, was to ACTUALLY FILM STUFF!!! Production involved stunt doubles and climbers actually climbing and the resulting footage is stunning to watch. Just beautiful stuff to watch. When filming in the mountains became unfeasible, equally beautiful matte paintings stood in for the action. All the while, we see insert shots of MacArthur, Rennie, Donald and Lom all climbing to add that little touch of realism and authenticity.

The movie struggles at times with the more personal, dramatic moments off the mountains, but it's a minor flaw relative to the overall success. The cast is very good, the visual and mountain locations pitch perfect. Another winner from Mr. Disney.

Third Man on the Mountain (1959): ***/****

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies

When I think of the big roadshow epics of the late 1950s and into the 1960s, I typically think of historical epics, big period pieces with casts of thousands. There were the comedies out there too though, like the classic 1963 road epic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1965's The Great Race and on a slightly smaller scale, 1965's Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. By 1969, the big road epic comedy had played out its course....almost. A quasi-sequel to 'Machine,' here's 1969's Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies.

It's the 1920s and the Monte Carlo Rally, a race across Europe ending in Monte Carlo, is fast approaching. Racers from all over the world are heading to several different starting points around Europe hoping to win the prestigious race. Among them? Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), an Englishman with a mean, devious streak up his back, looking to save his father's car company. His opposition and co-owner courtesy of a shrewd poker move? Fun-loving, kooky American, Chester Schofield (Tony Curtis), who has some big ideas about what to do with the far-more traditional English cars. The two men agree to race for it all, whoever beats the other in the Rally takes complete control of the company. But with racers from all over the world coming to compete, this will be one crazy race.

Dubbed Monte Carlo or Bust! for international audiences, 'Jalopies' is a sequel to 1965's air adventure, director Ken Annakin returning while also writing the screenplay with Jack Davies. It features an animated credit sequence, a title song sung by Jimmy Durante, and goes for that same stylish effect that previous road comedy epics went for. At 122 minutes, it's relatively short compared to its predecessors, Annakin forced to cut anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes depending on the market (and the source). What's left? A movie that's unfortunately a little lackluster in just about all accounts. It's not as funny as it wants to be, not as stylish and entertaining as it should have been. It's not bad, but it's not good either.

While it isn't my most original critique, all I can say here is that 'Jalopies' simply tries too hard for its laughs. The sped-up physical comedy sequences -- cars, drivers and spectators moving at ridiculously fast speeds -- are goofy for their own sake. Funny here and there, tedious when used time after time. The same for the BIG sequences, like two drivers navigating an iced-over lake full of hockey players. How many times can we see a car sliding/drifting and people jumping out of the way before you just want to turn it off? Well, I don't know the answer there because I lost track, and for the sake of the review, I finished the movie out, hoping at some point it would get better. It didn't really, a big disappoint because I enjoyed the other three previously mentioned road epics so much. They can't all be winners I guess. 

The cast is good and bad, some undone by uninteresting characters, others by the over-reliance on the physical humor, and some by a script that gives them little to do. A star of The Great Race, I liked Curtis as American racer Schofield (favoring 'Zowee!' as one of his go-to phrases) who commits to the goofiness but never really overdoes it. He's given a driving partner of sorts, Susan Hampshire's Betty, who may or may not be trying to slow him down. As his English counterpart, Thomas is good as Cuthbert (Thomas played Cuthbert's father in 'Machines'), the definition of an Englishman, this one so desperately trying to stop Schofield -- and all the other racers for that matter. Also returning is Eric Sykes as Perkins, Cuthbert's much-maligned and blackmailed assistant. This rivalry is the only one that was really appealing to me, the rest falling short here and there.

One of the other positives is Peter Cook (Major Dawlish) and Dudley Moore (Lt. Barrington), two British army officers driving together, Dawlish unleashing all his new-fangled inventions with every opportunity. Their very British demeanor provides some good laughs. Who else to look out for? Another star from 'Machines' but in a different part, Gert Frobe plays a convict look-a-like recruited to race as a famous racer (with Peer Schmidt as his partner)...and smuggle some diamonds for an underused Jack Hawkins (playing a sinister Count). There's also two Italian police officers (Lando Buzzanca and Walter Chiari), one looking for glory, one looking not to get married to an ugly woman, and a female racing team that includes Mireille Darc, Marie Dubois and Nicoletta Machiavelli who I don't believe are ever identified by name. They look pretty. That's their requirement for being there. Also, Bourvil plays the champagne-guzzling race organizer.

When 'Jalopies' gets down to it, there are some entertaining racing sequences. We see 1920s-era cars -- not exactly sleek racing cars -- bombing across Europe (with some great on-location shooting across the continent), especially the finale as the remaining racers gun it into Monte Carlo. There's just too little of it, and far too much use of miniatures and green screen work for a whole lot of sequences. In the end, a disappointment. If you want to be funny, just tap the brakes some and let it happen.

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969): **/****

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

The roadshow epic is unfortunately a thing of the past, a symbol of a Hollywood era that ruled through the 1950s and early 1960s. Even the lousy ones have something worthwhile. For me, I love the huge scale, the intro music, the intermission, the casts of thousands. By the mid 1960s though, things, they were 'a changing, and the epics were becoming a thing of the past. One of the last films hitting theaters before the era completely died out was a good one, 1965's Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

It's 1910, and British army officer Richard Mays (James Fox) is among a small group of pilots worldwide who are helping advance aviation just seven years since the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903. He's sorta-engaged to Patricia Rawnsley (Sarah Miles), the daughter of Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley), a newspaper owner disgusted at the thought of other countries' pilots advancing quicker in aviation than England. Using all his pull, Lord Rawnsley organizes an international air race from England to Paris that will show once and for all who is the best pilot around. Pilots from around the world travel to England with their flying machines with the hopes of winning the race and its lucrative prize. Among them, Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman), an American cowboy, with his eyes set on the race, the prize, and maybe Patricia too. Uh-oh, America vs. Britain!

Working with Jack Davies to write the script and direct the film as well, Ken Annakin was a huge fan of aviation, and it shows with this 1965 epic. Setting the story in 1910 is a great touch as aviation and flying were still in its infancy. There weren't airlines or commercial jets. Individuals -- not businesses -- were trying to figure out what worked and didn't work in flying. Flying machines (yes, planes) flew much closer to the ground, couldn't stay in the air that long, and had a variety of mechanical and structural issues. Sounds fun, huh? And a little dangerous? Yeah, just a little. Check out the Wikipedia link HERE for an idea of the variety of planes featured here. There's some doozies in the group, definitely making you appreciate the modern jet airliner.

In the vein of The Great Race and It's a Mad, Mad World, 'Flying' is big and flashy but never gets too big or unwieldy. An opening montage with Red Skelton starring as individuals through history learning how hard flying can be (Neanderthal, Ancient Greek, Middle Ages, Victorian), leading right into the cartoon credits played under the Flying Machines theme song (listen HERE). I liked Ron Goodwin's score a lot too, similar to his score four years later in The Battle of Britain. Much of the story was filmed at the Brookley Motor Racing Track, helping give a real sense of 1910s aviation with its lush green fields serving as landing strips, immense wooden hangars housing the new wave of planes, and an outfitted windmill serving as a lookout point for Fire Chief Perkins (Benny Hill). The aerial sequences are impressive, even on the pre-takeoff as we see hundreds and thousands of extras lining the airfields.

The one thing lacking here from most other roadshow epics is huge star power. There are some really solid actors/actresses here, but there's no gigantic star(s). Whitman and Fox get the leads as the American and British pilots, fighting to win the race but also to win the lady. Thankfully, this storyline isn't too painful to watch, bouncing among a handful of different pilots. Some of the other international pilots include Count Emilio (Alberto Sordi), the Italian family man with a penchant for crashing, Pierre Dubois (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the loving life Frenchman, Sir Percy (Terry-Thomas), the sabotaging Englishman with his maligned assistant, Courtney (Eric Sykes), Yamamoto (Yujiro Ishihara), the experienced Japanese pilot and the race favorite, Capt. Rumplestoss (Karl Michael Vogler), the inexperienced but proud German army officer, and MacDougal (Gordon Jackson), the fun-loving Scotsman. Not much star power, but we get a lot of memorable characters with some truly funny recurring bits.

While the scale on a large scale is always impressive, it's the recurring bits that help bring the movie up a notch. It's fun seeing Orvil and Richard go toe-to-toe, the American always looking good in heroic fashion. There's also Dubois swearing he's seeing the same girl over and over again, Irina Dernick playing all of the women. In a pre-World War I time, there's also national rivalries, the English believing they're better than anyone, the Germans doing the same, and the Italians and Frenchmen having fun at their expense. Dubois and his French crew constantly mess with the Germans, especially their commander, Colonel Manfred (scene-stealing Gert Frobe) and Rumplestoss. There's also James Robertson Justice making a quick appearance as the narrator, deadpanning his way through the Skelton bit, Flora Robson as Mother Superior, a nun with an incentive to help the race, Sam Wanamaker as Orvil's partner and friend, and an uncredited Ronnie Stevens as the race's public address announcer.   

'Flying Machines' isn't as long as many epics, wrapping up in just 138 minutes as opposed to so many other three-hour monstrosities. Much of the first 90 minutes is spent on the ground getting to know our pilots, including a whole lot of hijinks and shenanigans as our international lineup tries to outdo each other. The last 50 minutes focus on the race with some impressive aerial sequences, our antiquated looking planes flying across England, the English Channel, and finally Paris. I loved this movie, and more so as it went along. No star power? No problem. It's a gem, and one of the last true roadshow epics. Enjoy it.

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965): ****/****

Swiss Family Robinson

Certain movies stick with you for years. It doesn't matter how old you are, what mood you're in, or how many times you see it. You can revisit that movie, and pick it up like you never missed a beat. A childhood favorite of mine and still one of my favorite's, 1960's Disney's Swiss Family Robinson is a classic in every sense of the word.

Traveling to the colony of New Guinea, the Robinson family is aboard a ship caught up in a storm that wrecks the ship on a reef, the crew abandoning the ship and leaving the family to fend for themselves. Thankfully, an island is within sight, and the Robinsons -- including Father (John Mills), Mother (Dorothy McGuire), and their three sons, Fritz (James MacArthur), Ernst (Tommy Kirk) and Francis (Kevin Corcoran) -- are able to make it their with all the supplies, food and animals left onboard. Not knowing if rescue is coming, they make the most of their island paradise, embracing their new lives. But on this Pacific island full of animals and adventures, trouble awaits too including a pirate band (led by Sessue Hayakawa) who are after something the Robinsons possess.

In the current state and age of Disney with seemingly countless animated movies and generic shows on TV, it's hard to imagine Walt Disney movies of the 1950s and 1960s. Yes, it was a completely different time from now, a more innocent time, and because of that, movies like Swiss Family Robinson have an endearing charm that is hard to explain. It is an adventure, a trip to the exotic and is the definition of good, old-fashioned storytelling that is best accompanied by a big tub of popcorn. Everything from the musical score in all its epic, sweeping qualities (listen HERE, just scroll down) to the casting to the look of the movie adds up. They don't make them like this anymore, simple as that. It's a window to a Disney of the past when high-quality, professionally made and still entertaining feature films were released to adoring audiences.

One of the obvious appeals of 'Swiss' is that any kid who has ever read Robinson Crusoe or has the slightest bit of imagination has at some point wondered how cool it would be to live on a deserted island. Albeit this "deserted" island has plenty of food, water and supplies with lots of animals (elephants, tigers, zebras, ostriches) and adventure waiting around every tree. The coolest thing EVER though is the treehouse the Robinsons build and live in, an idyllic house in the branches that all viewers should want to live in. If you don't, you're lying. Get over it. HERE is the Disney's Magic Kingdom version. Director Ken Annakin shot this movie on the island of Tobago, and it is a stunning visual film. It is the island paradise we all dream of one day living on at some point. The screen is always full of incredible colors -- even the pirates seem fashion conscious -- and is a treat just to look at. To a point, everything else is just gravy.

An underrated facet of this movie's long-term popularity and success is the casting of the Robinson family using some Disney regulars and a few newbies. For starters, I believed this tiny, close-knit group as a family. They look out for each other, they fight, they celebrate holidays, and when needed band together to preserve their island paradise. John Mills and Dorothy McGuire are the quintessential parents, Father and Mother, no first names provided or needed. They just go together, an easy-going, believable chemistry between them. The boys include MacArthur as the athletic but smart Fritz, the intelligent and always trying to prove himself Ernst played by Kirk, and the curious, sometimes annoying Francis played by Corcoran, all three regulars in Disney movies. All five work together seamlessly, and then add in the adorable Janet Munro as Roberta, a teenage girl Fritz and Ernst rescue from pirates while exploring the island.

Growing up watching this movie on a regular basis, a long list of scenes were memorable to me, but none more than the finale when the Robinson family defends their island against a raiding party of pirates. It's the type of adventure where you never really believe they're in danger (would a Disney movie kill this family? I think not), but it doesn't take away from the excitement. Coconut bombs, pirate alarms, a pit filled with a tiger, a collapsing bridge, avalanches of logs and boulders, and booby traps left and right. All pretty ridiculous, and that's the fun. Reality got left behind a long time ago here. It is a great ending, the movie ending on a very positive note.

I could go on for paragraph after paragraph with this movie. Yes, Corcoran's Francis is annoying, but even that can't stop me from loving this movie. It is a gem, a classic, a keeper, whatever you want to call it. Great cast, great story, and one of the most fun, entertaining movies ever. Adventures with that Disney touch at its finest. You can watch it HERE at Youtube, starting with Part 1 of 10.

Swiss Family Robinson <---trailer (1960): ****/****