Sprawling adventure detailing the obsessive search for a crashed plane including spectacular scenarios , impressive images and maintains a fair degree of intrigue . Selfish and shady Chris Teller (a young Robert Wagner) pressures his older brother (snowy hair Spencer Tracy), a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims . As they set out to inspect an inter-continental routed aircraft that crashed in the French Alps . Suffering experiences in climbing the peak , it results to be evident that one brother intends to loot , while the other designs to save whatever he can .Wonderfully photographed story dealing with greed and selflessness . Interesting screenplay by Ranald MacDougall , being faithfully based on the novel by Henry Troyat . Top-notch Spencer Tracy as an expert climber who attempts to care his younger brother , as usual , he displays a quiet dignity . Acceptable acting by Robert Wagner as an ambitious young with a ruthless charm . Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses and script's shortcomings , especially the disparity in their ages is disconcerting ; as both protagonists playing brothers, Spencer Tracy was 30 years older than Robert Wagner in real life ; Tracy previously portrayed Wagner's father in the western Broken lance . Very good support cast playing brief interpretations , such as Claire Trevor as Marie , William Demarest as Father Belacchi , Richard Arlen as Rivial , E.G. Marshall as Solange and gorgeous Anna Kashfi film debut as Hindu Girl . Very real climbing images as well as perfectly staged scenes , being marvelously photographed by Franz Planer , he fills the screen with excitement and suspense. The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck .Filmmaker Edward , better known for overtly personal movies such as The Caine Mutiny was a craftsman whose career resulted to be interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result. The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury , Mark Stevens and Patrick Knowles . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ among others. Rating : a complete must see , it's recommended for Spencer Tracy and climbing buffs .

I had hazy memories of this movie from TV screenings many years ago. I remembered it as being pretty good, but having recently watched it again on Blu-ray, it is pretty slow and boring. The casting problem which others have mentioned does grate and Wagner's character seems like an idiot. Robbing a bank would be a lot less risky if he was bent on a life of crime. Nobody attempts an authentic accent but Tracy compensates by speaking veeeery slowly and was clearly in no condition to climb a flight of stairs, never mind a mountain. The VistaVision photography is good and the juxtaposition of location and studio footage is well handled but it's all a bit predictable.

Some breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography is the real star of this moralistic adventure tale of greed, compassion and tragedy. The film starts off interesting, suddenly descends into boredom but ends up on a high note. Average them all together, and you get a film of such different highs and lows that it ranks only average.An airplane crash on the top of a very high mountain peak has presumably killed the passengers flying from India to Paris. A rescue crew has to discontinue plans to get to the site, so young Robert Wagner decides to go there to steal money and valuables from the corpses and the shell of the plane. Determined somehow to stop him, his (much) older brother (Spencer Tracy) goes with him. The middle of the film focuses on the trek up the mountain and is so quiet with only infrequent dialog and sounds of the wind that it is rather difficult to remain awake. But once they reach the site, that's where everything explodes, making the dragging section of the film worth suffering through. Afterall, no matter how pretty snow can be, you get tired of looking at it, whether its on the movie screen or cluttering up your driveway.Spencer Tracy was still one of the hottest actors around in the 1950's even though he was in his mid 50's. Time and lifestyle choices made him appear to be a decade older than he was, even if he was still vibrant in his energy. He plays the character as world weary and possibly with some mental deficiencies, yet still physically strong and morally sound. But there is no way that he could be Robert Wagner's older brother. The thirty year difference between them appears to be more as Wagner looks more in his late 20's than mid 30's. Having just played a psychopathic villain in "A Kiss Before Dying", he adds an amoral one with this character, and it is fascinating to watch him being destroyed by his greed. So performance wise, this film is a triumph, but in structure, it is weak.Veteran actors Claire Trevor and William Demarest have small roles to add local color to the people at the foot of the mountain. I wanted to see more of Trevor and her character's devoted friendship to Tracy. So I must call this film a missed opportunity with artistic flair that lacks in an interesting narrative.

This movie is often described as simple and unidimensional. But in the context of spirituality and high moral character, this movie rates high.Spencer's character is described as dull, and his acting effort minor. But how else is a man reverent of nature and God supposed to be portrayed. The subtleties of this character are often overlooked in our glamorized, sensationalized society. Quiet reverence, devotion to God and family are the central messages of this movie. Observe how Tracy's character tolerates and endures the unruly "modern-ess" of his much younger brother, portrayed well by Wagner.This movie may be "sappy" to some, but I found it's moral message to be most uplifting and a pleasant departure from machine guns, gangster and starlets, sex and violence. Although, in a very minor respect, those elements are visible in this movie. This is a good family movie.