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The White Hell of Piz Palu (1929)

Director: Arnold Fanck, GW Pabst

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From Time Out Film Guide

The title of this late silent mountain picture refers to a sequence in which a party of rescuers brandishing flares enter a crevasse to retrieve the bodies of some students caught in an avalanche. The imagery is indeed hellish, the scene itself the only one to suggest that Fanck and Pabst might genuinely have collaborated. For the rest, a lengthy passage in which a grim, grief-stricken Diessl shares a mountain hut with a sexy couple (Riefenstahl and Petersen) is echt-Pabst, while Fanck's trademarks - distant figures traversing fantastic ice-scapes, the theme of endurance in the face of hostile Nature - are overwhelmingly present. The plot is rudimentary, with WWI ace Ernst Udet, as himself, flying in to round things up. Altogether a curious example of bifurcated auteur syndrome.

Author: BBa 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Arnold Fanck, GW Pabst

Producer: HR Sokal

Cast: Gustav Diessl, Leni Riefenstahl, Ernst Petersen, Mizzi Götzel, Ernst Udet, Otto Spring full cast

Genre(s): Action/Adventure

Duration: 133 mins


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