Storm Over Mont Blanc (1930)

Overview

In a lonely outpost atop the treacherous Mont Blanc, an intrepid scientist lives with minimal connection to the world below. Through the telegraph, Hannes (Sepp Rist) communicates with a beautiful astronomer (Leni Riefenstahl) and is occasionally visited by an airplane pilot (Ernst Udet) upon whom he depends on supplies. In the midst of a ferocious snowstorm, Hannes loses his gloves and his weather station is battered by the elements. Suffering frostbite and unable to descend the mountain, he sends out a desperate S.O.S. in the hope that someone can brave the elements and rescue him from certain death. Eerily romantic and overshadowed by the constant threat of doom, "Storm Over Mont Blanc" is a "quintessential" mountain film by Arnold Fanck, the genre's innovator and unparalleled master.